Scotland may be small but there’s a fair old spread of language use. “Like” is used in a similar fashion to “but”, but neither is universal.
You: Hey Paul, fancy a pint?
Me: Aye, sure. Gotta get home for 8, but.
This is really characteristic of Northern Irish speech. Everyone I know from Northern Ireland does this, all the time. I’ve never heard anyone else doing it.
If Robert Frost were from Belfast, he would have written “Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, but.”
Who said poems have to rhyme?
Interesting. Where do you live? I’ve never heard it in Edinburgh/Perth before.
Now I’m embarrassed, goats butt.
I will point out that even in Australia it’s very specifically a New South Wales linguistic quirk. After I spent a few years living in Sydney and picked it up from my friends there, when I came back to Adelaide there was merciless ribbing when I finished my sentences with ‘but’. And I still do it from time to time, if I’m not thinking about it.
The more I think about it, the weirder it sounds but.
And it’s very much not a trailing but. The sentence is terminated.
If I may add a data point. I moved to the U.S. from Glasgow (and prior to that, the Northern Hebrides) in 1979 and while I’ve lost my accent, I definitely recall the common use of “…but.” at the end of a spoken sentence.
Whether it’s more of a Glasgow thing or a Hebridean thing, I’m not sure. One thing that I realised after moving here was how localized accents could be back in the UK. Glasgow is only about 50 miles from Edinburgh, but the accent, dialect and slang were very different.
Paul Parkhead’s example resonates, [del]but[/del] though.
Shniru, I think it’s the German equivalent of saying “right?” at the end of a sentence. It’s not exactly the same, but sort of looks for some sort of approval. I might be wrong though.
Agree with the rest that I (brit) only use “but” at the end of a sentence when I can’t be bothered to finish the thought, but…
(maybe there are other uses)
I live near and grew up around Glasgow. As has been noted, it’s probably a western Scotland thing, so if your experience with Scottish dialect is from Edinburgh and Perth, it makes sense that you wouldn’t have heard it.
I’m sure I’ve heard Colm Meany employ this usage in the Barrytown films, which are all set in Dublin.
It is not specifically an NSW linquistic quirk. It is a socio-economic quirk, if anything. It’s commonplace amongst a certain demographic in Qld. I suspect similarly everywhere else in Australia also.
It’s not really seeking approval. More, it’s a case of putting the word “but” in the wrong place. I mean, in my example I should have said “Aye, sure, but I need to be home by 8.” It’s just a linguistic tic. Another Glasgow one is adding “by the way” to the ends of sentences. “She’s gorgeous, by the way!”
Other dialects have them too. I mean, there’s an obvious one in Northern Ireland, so there is. You hear it all the time, so you do. A fair number of folks in the southeast of England throw around the word “innit” like it was going out of fashion.
I’ve run across this recently in a book. I’m thinking it was Trainspotting, but it may have been an Ian Rankin book. Something Scottish, at any rate.
Anyway, it was definitely an ending “but” with a period as opposed to a trailing-off “but” with ellipses. And it appeared to be a case of simply moving the “but” from the beginning of a clause to the end, with the meaning unchanged.
Some Queenslanders do it too. It used to annoy me, but I’m over it now. I personally still try to avoid it, but.
There’s also, “but, eh?” As in, “I see it’s going to rain tomorrow. We’re still going to the footy but, eh?” The voice doesn’t rise as the end of the “eh”, making it more like a positive declaration, like “aren’t we” is used sometimes.
She’s pure gorgeous, by the way. A very common use of the word “pure”
It is, yes. I seem to recall Prestwick Airport used to have a sign on the terminal building that read “Pure dead brilliant.” They forgot the “by the way”.
“She’s pure gorgeous, by the way. Fuckin’ mental, but. Wouldnae touch her wi yours.”
“She’s pure gorgeous, by the way. Fuckin’ mental, but. Wouldnae touch her wi yours, ye daft cunt”
Language!
Rocket.
delete