Scotland is a multilingual country and our colourful vocabularies affirm that - from Scottish Gaelic to the Scots language and their dialects, any formal English speaker is sure to think “what is going on here” at least once.
If that’s you then dinnae get yersel in a fankle (don’t worry) because we asked our Scotsman readers ‘what’s your favourite Scottish word’ and they gave some fantastic answers so you’ll ken just fine in future.
Tying in with ‘A Year of Conversation and the International Year of Indigenous Languages’ in 2019 the Scottish Book Trust organised a vote for ‘iconic Scots words’ as the dictionary differs that much to standard English.
That said, rest assured that Scots words like “ken” are not beyond your ken. Here are 40 of the nation’s favourite Scottish words (and sayings) as voted by our Scotsman readers - gie it a swatch (check it out!)
9. Wabbit
No, this isn’t about Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes who’s out “hunting wabbits”, the word “wabbit” actually means exhausted or tired - being crabbit can make you wabbit. Photo: A8-dct via Canva Pro
10. Jobby
In technical terms this refers to excrement or “a turd”, it also closely resembles a brand of peanut butter that likely never sold well in the country because nobody wants “Creamy Jobbie”. Photo: Submitted
11. Blootered
Had one too many at the Christmas night out? We’ve all been there, and when we were there you could say we were “absolutely blootered” or just “very drunk”. Photo: PhotoAttractive via Canva Pro
12. Wheesht
A useful phrase if you’re feeling crabbit or wabbit, “wheesht” means “shut up” in the Scottish language - it is short for the lengthier version “haud yer wheesht” which essentially means “keep your mouth shut!” Photo: tomazl via Canva Pro