# Quick question to you Scottish people out there **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112 "2001-06-08T22:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/1 "2001-06-08T22:20:28Z")
Hya, this is a call for all you Scots out there. I lived in Edinburgh for a while and when I was there I learned certain Gaelic expressions for which I would like to know the correct spelling (since you hardly ever write it the way it sounds). So help me out here. 1. Cheers/To your health - Sounds something like _‘Slange’_ or _‘Slange Va’_ 2. (This will sound weird): Up the arse/Up yours - Sounds something like _‘Pok me hod’_ I would be eternally in your debt if you could help me here. It has been annoying me for weeks. And while we’re at it… maybe some other foreign people can tell me what these things are in German/Finnish/Japanese/whatever. Please include phonetics as well, or otherwise I could never show off towards my friends… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/2 "2001-06-08T22:31:55Z")
“poke me haaaaaard” snicker. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/3 "2001-06-08T22:39:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aghris \* > \*\* Cheers/To your health - Sounds something like _‘Slange’_ or _‘Slange Va’_ > \*\* [url=http://violet.umf.maine.edu/~donaghue/toasts.html]Here\* I found that I had suspected, that _Slainte_ is Gaelic for “To your health!” and that it’s pronounced as if you quickly slurred “It’s a lawn chair!”. Can’t help ya with the other one though-or with ones in other languages. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/4 "2001-06-08T22:40:30Z")
Hmm…no. That’s not really what it sounds like 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/5 "2001-06-08T22:43:19Z")
Previous reply was meant for EJsGirl, not for you Lsura. Thanks tho. _Slainte_ is quite possible, but how to spell ‘Va’? _‘Mha’_? _‘Bha’_? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/6 "2001-06-08T22:52:30Z")
I also found a site that listed a band called [i}Slainte Mhath\*. Could that be it? And I’m having problems remembering to preview today. What in the world did I do to that link up there? Oh, I see(on previewing **this** post). I forgot to close it off. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/7 "2001-06-08T22:53:36Z")
preview, preview, preview. Would someone like to beat me now? ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/8 "2001-06-08T23:55:36Z")
Number two isn’t “up the arse”, it’s “kiss my arse”, I think. Pok ma honn. ‘Pok’=‘kiss’, ‘ma’=‘my’, ‘honn’=you get the picture. There’s an old film where some guy shouts it as he leaps to attack over a wall. He was just told to expound in gaelic, so he did. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/9 "2001-06-09T00:09:19Z")
Arabic - _kasak_ or _sukhatak_ Chinese - _gan bei_ Japanese - _kanpai_ (borrowed from Chinese) Korean - _gonbae_ (borrowed from Chinese) Czech - _Na zdravi_ (cf. Russian, Polish) Dutch - _Proost_ German - _Prosit_ French - _A votre sante_ Greek - _stin iyia sas_ or _see-EE-ah_ Hebrew - _l’chaim_ Hungarian - _Egeszsegedre_ Italian - _Alla tua salute_ or _Cin cin_ Polish - _Na zdrowie_ (cf. Czech, Russian) Portugese - _A sua saude_ Russian - _Na zdarovyi_ (cf. Czech, Polish) Danish, Norwegian, Swedish - _Skol, Skal_ Finnish - _Kippis_ and _skol_ Spanish - _salud_ Swahili - _Afya yako_ Vietnamese - _shuek ban niu shukwei_ Serbo-Croation - _Ziveli (m.), Zivile (f.)_ ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/10 "2001-06-09T02:48:09Z")
Well, it’s been a while and I can’t guarantee I’ve got the spellings (or pronunciations) right, but I understood that there are three toasts here. The simplest one is “Sláinte!” - “to your health” (sounds sort of like “slon-ja”). The second is “Sláinte Mhath!” - “Good health” (sounds sort of like “slon-ja va-ha”). To which the reply is “Sláinte Mhor!” - “Great health” (sounds sort of like “slon-ja va-hor”). All of which is based on very foggy memory. Maybe **ruadh** will wander by and help us. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/11 "2001-06-09T07:34:37Z")
It’s “slàinte” - the accent goes the other way in Scots Gaelic (it’d be “sláinte” in Irish). The other one is pòg mo thòin (Irish póg mo thóin) - kiss my arse. Phonetic pronunciation being “Pogue Mahone”, the original name of the band the Pogues. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/12 "2001-06-09T14:14:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > \*\*Japanese - _kanpai_ (borrowed from Chinese) > \*\* [funny story] While I was living in Japan teaching English, one of our students was a good friend with another English teacher there and always brought her little toddler, Yo-chan, to the lobby to hang out and play. One day Yo-chan was sitting in his high chair with a sippy-cup of tea, and I was sitting at the table reading. Well, I hear Yo-chan giggling and look over at him. He takes his sippy cup, holds it up over his head, yells “ **KANPAI!!!** ,” takes a huge gulp, then puts it down and laughs hysterically at his own cleverness. 😃 It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. [/funny story] ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/13 "2001-06-09T16:17:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*It’s “slàinte” - the accent goes the other way in Scots Gaelic (it’d be “sláinte” in Irish). > > The other one is pòg mo thòin (Irish póg mo thóin) - kiss my arse. Phonetic pronunciation being “Pogue Mahone”, the original name of the band the Pogues. \*\* Thanks **ruadh**!! Consider me eternally in your debt. I’ll be your personal slave from now on. Your wish is my command, oh master. 😉 Now, is _Mhath_ also written correctly? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/14 "2001-06-09T18:22:16Z")
I posted Gaelic from memory and the only correction **ruadh** makes is the direction of the accent??! Woo-hoo!! (How do you say “Damn, I’m good!” in Gaelic?) 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-to-you-scottish-people-out-there/68112/15 "2001-06-09T19:12:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aghris \* > \*\*Now, is _Mhath_ also written correctly? \*\* In Scots Gaelic, yes. In Irish it would be “mhaith”.