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!)
17. Haver
“And if I haver, oh I know I’m gonna be I’m gonna be the man who’s havering to you…” The word “haver” that features in The Proclaimers hit song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” means to talk foolishly or babble. Photo: Ian West
18. Winter Dyke
Remember how we mentioned we’re approaching the cold winter months? Well this has nothing to do with that. A Winter Dyke is simply a clothes horse used for drying clothes indoors. Photo: Backyard Productions via Canva Pro
19. Coorie
In short this word means “to snuggle”, if a Scot was to look at the picture above they might say “och that’s sweet the cat and dug are having a wee coorie”. Photo: chendongshan via Canva Pro
20. Glaikit
On the flip side of things if someone says you’re “pure glaikit” then maybe reassess what you’re doing as this means “stupid” or “foolish”. Photo: DSGpro via Canva Pro