# Do the Scottish really use "lad" as much as fantasy writers would have us believe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657 "2006-12-18T17:35:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigDoggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce7236/32.png) [@BigDoggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDoggie)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/1 "2006-12-18T17:35:09Z")
It seems like whenever there’s a Scottish-based character in a fantasy book, he can’t get through 3 sentences without saying lad or feller-me-lad. “See here young feller-me-lad, a lad like you won’t make it through the desert. Do ya understand me, lad.” Do the Scottish really use those colloquialisms that much? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/2 "2006-12-18T17:41:06Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/3 "2006-12-18T17:47:20Z")
A second no. (I was born in Scotland.) However, it _is_ used frequently here in the Ottawa valley! In fact when I first moved here as a 20-something year old _lad_ I was quite offended being referred to as a _lad_. Until I realized that it’s part of the vernacular. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/4 "2006-12-18T17:52:28Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] A second no. (I was born in Scotland.) However, it _is_ used frequently here in the Ottawa valley! [/QUOTE] Aye. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/5 "2006-12-18T18:10:16Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] No. [/QUOTE] To expand on my somewhat curt response (my tea was ready!), you do hear it now and then, but it’s not one of the true markers of a Scots speaker. You are more likely to hear “lad” used by a Geordie or a Yorkshireman, at least in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/6 "2006-12-18T19:13:44Z")
And all this time I thought Scottish people really existed. Now I learn that they’re only characters in fantasy novels, like elves and dragons. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/7 "2006-12-18T19:22:21Z")
I think it’s more likely to be used in Yorkshire than in Scotland. Admittedly, on the other side of the pond, the two are easy to confuse. (But Yorkshiremen are known to be much more careful with their money than the Scots). ---
**Author:** ![scott62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@scott62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott62)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/8 "2006-12-18T19:23:29Z")
[QUOTE=BigDoggie] Do the Scottish really use those colloquialisms that much? [/QUOTE] Scousers do. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/9 "2006-12-19T00:40:24Z")
Writers also chuck in ‘lassie’, ‘bonnie’ and ‘heather’ every few paragraphs. Bit like saying ‘Si’ as your sole attempt at a Mexican characterisation. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/10 "2006-12-19T00:50:38Z")
“Feller me lad” is definitely not Scottish, and sounds more Lancashire than Yorkshire, what with that enunciated “r”. My Dad, who was about 70% Lancashire and 0% Yorkshire, said it all the time, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/11 "2006-12-19T01:14:23Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] And all this time I thought Scottish people really existed. Now I learn that they’re only characters in fantasy novels, like elves and dragons. :smack: [/QUOTE] You should have gotten a clue from the “No true Scotsman” fallacy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/12 "2006-12-19T01:21:47Z")
[QUOTE=Mk VII] Writers also chuck in ‘lassie’, ‘bonnie’ and ‘heather’ every few paragraphs. Bit like saying ‘Si’ as your sole attempt at a Mexican characterisation. [/QUOTE] It’s that song–“Wild Mountain Thyme” which has been done by every bleedin folksinger in existence. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/13 "2006-12-19T03:18:43Z")
In a related question, why is it that dwarves are so often portrayed as having Scottish accents? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/14 "2006-12-19T04:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] In a related question, why is it that dwarves are so often portrayed as having Scottish accents? [/QUOTE] Really? I can’t think of any besides John Rhys-Davies’s Gimli (and while I’d have picked it as a rural accent of Great Britain, I would not have presumed it to be Scots, figuring it might have as easily been Welsh). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/15 "2006-12-19T04:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Rerally? I can’t think of any besides John Rhys-Davies’s Gimli (and while I’d have picked it as a rural accent of Great Britain, I would not have presumed it to be Scots, figuring it might have as easily been Welsh). [/QUOTE] The Dwarves in World of Warcraft ALL sound like they’re doing bad impressions of Mel Gibson in _Braveheart_. Okay, maybe not _that_ often. It just seems like it to me because I play way too much WoW… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/16 "2006-12-19T05:12:05Z")
And in most of the fantasy I’ve read, they have been given goot Cherman accents. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/17 "2006-12-19T09:27:57Z")
LOTR-movie dwarves got German dwarves. WoW Spanish dwarves got some sort of strange lisp. The location-name translations are one of those details with which you can get the whole spanish community up in arms. I’ve seen only one player defend them. It was some decision from On High and from what I know from speaking with people in the translator team, they hate them too. In Spanish it is not as common as in English to try and reproduce speakers’ pronunciations. Vocabulary yes, but not pronunciations. So in LOTR-book everybody speaks normal Spanish; different characters may have some words they use more often, different phraseology… but they don’t have an actual accent. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/18 "2006-12-19T16:16:44Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] And in most of the fantasy I’ve read, they have been given goot Cherman accents. [/QUOTE] That’s probably because of all the _Zwergen_ working in Central European circus troupes. Like in _The Tin Drum_. When you want to hire height-challenged talent, who you gonna call? Willie Wonka was filmed in Germany. The Oompah Loompahs were German. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/19 "2006-12-19T18:26:07Z")
Being a careful Yorkshire person, almost as careful as a Scot, I won’t take umbrage at that slur on us Yorkhire folk, besides which, its not tight to want to see something of solid worth for ‘t’ brass. Lad is more likely to be used in South Yorkshire, if you are an aging person you may well be described as t’owd lad or t’owd lass (not to be confused with ‘t’owd man’ which is a differant thing altogether) Yorkshire folk might also describe their parents, or significant other as t’owd lass or t’owd lad. Scousers might describe someone who is not worldly wise as being a ‘soft la’ or ‘daft la’, and any other male as just a la’. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657/20 "2006-12-19T19:30:17Z")
It’s used pretty much all across the North of England. > [@](#): > > In fact when I first moved here as a 20-something year old lad I was quite offended being referred to as a lad. When I return home, I’m still a “lad” despite being in my twenties. Ottawa must have been populated by Northerners 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-scottish-really-use-lad-as-much-as-fantasy-writers-would-have-us-believe/384657.md?page=2)