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!)
25. Stramash
Did that car just bump into you? Get it sorted but it’s not worth a stramash i.e., a commotion or brawl… Although mind you that’s a fair bit of damage. Photo: Monkey Business Images via Canva Pro
26. Goupin
If you’ve ever experienced throbbing pain like a sore finger then you know what the word “goupin” means i.e., throbbing with pain. Photo: Inna Kozhina via Canva Pro
27. Get Tae
At its most polite this can be thought of as meaning “get lost” essentially if someone is taking a behaviour too far and you’ve hit your limit then say “get tae”. Photo: PIKSEL via Canva Pro
28. Bouffin
Also associated with Scottish words like “hoachin” this refers to anything disgusting or ugly, if your mate has forgotten to use deodorant for example you can say “you smell bouffin”. Photo: Gerville via Canva Pro