Do the Scottish really use "lad" as much as fantasy writers would have us believe?

It never stops, Dominic. Our respective parents still refer to my wife and myself as “the kids,” despite the fact that we’re both 33 and expecting a baby of our own.

But getting back to Scotland, what about “Ach!”? Any of you lads of Scottish descent ever catch yourself loosing a few of those at opportune moments?

“Ach”/“Och” - to my ear it’s a sound in between the two - are pretty common in some parts, aye.

I’ll say something like “Ach, Ahm jist away oot” or “Och, a cannae be bothert”*.

I think that the word is used in most of the Scots dialects/accents, but the degree of Ach verses Och varies.

Dittoing on the north of England sounding ‘feller-me-lad’.

Lad and Lass are terms which are used fairly commonly in parts of Scotland but it depends on the context. If a mate in Dundee refers to someone’s lad then I know it’s a boyfriend. If my cousin in Edinburgh talks about someone’s laddie then they are speaking about a child. That said, we speak English so some peeps may never use the word.

I only use ‘Ach’ if I’m pissed off about something. :slight_smile:

“Laddie” and “Lassie” are used commonly to refer to children, all over I think, often with “wee” added before. I don’t know about Dundonians though, they’re a strange lot - possibly the only people to eschew consonants atogether “I ate it all” becomimg “a e’ i a’”.

Early settlers in this area came mostly from Scotland, hence we have towns named Renfrew, Arnprior, Perth, Calabogie, etc.

People in the Ottawa valley don’t have sons or daughters; they have “young lads” and “young ladies.” No kidding. People will say things like “I have to take my young lad to hockey tonight.”

My grandmother, a child of the north shore of Lake Eire and a descendant of the Highland Clearances, called a child “a wee braw laddie / lassie.” Her unfortunate grandson was called “the wee Jamie.” The old woman also always rememberer Queen Victoria’s birthday.

Scottish people still say “hoot mon” though, right?

Groundskeeper Willie from the Simpsons must be Dumdonian then.
Bart: “Where’s my dog?”
GW: " I ate im."

Pardon my spelling, Dundonian.

How about “Dinna fash yourself”? I’m assuming it means don’t get your knickers in a twist. Do you hear/say it much?

Yup that’s what it means (I think from the French facher). I don’t use it at all or hear it very often. Seems to be dying out.

Around here (southern Scotland) lads and lassies are wains.

If you’re referring to young children and not farm carts, it’s spelled wean, but the pronunciation is the same.

Not according to my Scots Dictionary or local practice.

Wain means to carry. A child can be a wean or a wain, both pronounced as wind VANE.

Whereabouts are you in the south are you Pjen? I lived for a few years near Newton Stewart, and it was always pronounced there as in John Wayne.

Don’t forget the wee bairns.

Dumfries. Sorry, I meant ryhmes with vane, not as wean. Sorry for the confusion.

definitely spelt wain though.

And why do the British say “bloody” all the time in all the movies?

The SDSAB apparently aren’t sure .

It’s to let the audience know that the Aussie with the wierd accent is really playing a Brit.

TBH the worst use of bloody was in an episode of B5 when Marcus the git, I mean ranger, came out with “that’s a bloody big lot of ships”. By Og I wished death on him and the writer of that line.

1 down 1 to go :smiley:

I mean any true Englishman would simply have said “Fuck ME!”

Hmm, interesting. I’ve never, ever seen it written as wain.

My Chambers has it as wean, a contraction of ‘wee ane’

The wean wants a cradle,
And the cradle wants a cod:
I’ll no gang to my bed,
Until I get a nod.
Robert Burns-- News, Lassies, News.