Origin of (Incorrect) Sterotype of 'Cheap' Scots?

[Swallowed_My_Cellphone]

@WotNot

The music hall performer was likely to have been Harry Lauder, who had the catchphrase “Bang goes sixpence!”, but that was probably based on the punchline to a cartoon in Punch magazine from 1868, so it was older than him – and the stereotype’s even older.

<tangent> I have a Harry Lauder album. It used to be my dad’s (aye, a Scotsman). Lots of old drinking songs on it, IIRC. </tangent>

ETA: Oh, and my dad’s family was certainly thrifty, but it had more to do with being in the U.S. during the Great Depression. The great, great grandparents weren’t tightwads, but I don’t believe the were big spnders either.

[Baron_Greenback]

@G. Odoreida

Eh, no, the source of the sheep shagging stuff is stupid people from the central belt who think that people who live in a city of 200 000 people are crofters. These same people also overlook the fact that Glasgow is closer to the real Highlands than Aberdeen is.

Ok, butt is a better choice of word than source

[The_Stafford_Cripps]

@Struan

Ok, butt is a better choice of word than source

If anything, that makes it seem even more obscene!

[Staale_Nordlie]

Calivinism is the likely source of the stereotype.

From http://www.coe.uga.edu/~rhill/workethic/hist.htm :

Calvin taught that all men must work, even the rich, because to work was the will of God. It was the duty of men to serve as God’s instruments here on earth, to reshape the world in the fashion of the Kingdom of God, and to become a part of the continuing process of His creation (Braude, 1975). Men were not to lust after wealth, possessions, or easy living, but were to reinvest the profits of their labor into financing further ventures. Earnings were thus to be reinvested over and over again, ad infinitum, or to the end of time (Lipset, 1990). Using profits to help others rise from a lessor level of subsistence violated God’s will since persons could only demonstrate that they were among the Elect through their own labor (Lipset, 1990).

[Mister_Rik]

@caligulathegod

"Scotch is a drink; Scots are a people. But we’re both great-tasting! "

Well I know that, and I’m sure my grandmother knew that, but this was coming out of her mouth very late in her life when her mind was going and she tended to say things that nobody would have blinked at when she was young but are inappropriate stereotypes now (most notably, she commented on my town’s large Hispanic population by complaining that “they steal our women with their reputations for being great lovers!”)

Anyway, the word “Scotch” was what they used to mean “thrifty” when she was young, so that’s the one that popped into her head and came out of her mouth. (Also, don’t forget there is, or was, a bargain grocery brand called “Scotch Buy”.)

[johncole]

I have a vague and elusive memory of an anecdote which detailed how the City of Aberdeen embarked on a very large and expensive civic improvement scheme (lots of granite) only to declare itself bankrupt when called upon to pay up.

This anecdote is referenced here.

For the lowdown on the most miserly Scot, see here.

[Askance]

Wonderfully, this stereotype is the source of the name of Scotch Tape:

@Wikipedia

Use of the term “Scotch” in the name has a pejorative origin. To cut costs 3M applied the adhesive only to the edges of the tape. A remark was made by a St. Paul automobile detailer that the “stingy Scotch bosses” needed to put more adhesive on it. Scotty McTape, a kilt-wearing cartoon boy, was the brand’s mascot for two decades, first appearing in 1944. The familiar plaid design, a take on the Wallace tartan, was introduced in 1945