and mine angels round about you . . .

Conversation

Aye – yes, aye, aye – yes, yes frequently said in twos or threes

Hi Ya – as in “Hello there”

No’bad – used in response to “how are you?”

Magic – used in response to “how are you?” if you are really upbeat and positive

“Emm” – used in place of “uhh” in Scotland. They think it is an actual word because they use it all the time, begins most sentences.

Lovely – all purpose word for “great,” “wonderful,” “very nice,” etc.

Brilliant – “excellent” or “great idea” or just to indicate that what you propose to do is fine. Frequently used – everything that is okay with a person is “brilliant”

Cheers–“goodbye”, also “your welcome”, and sort of “have a nice day”

Chatter – get together and talk – as in let’s get together for a“chatter”

Blether or blather – visit and long talk, usually over tea

Knackered – spent, exhausted, worn out

Gobsmack – utterly astonished, totally amazed. Gaelic derived: Gob mouth or face- hence smacked in the face in utter astonishment. I first heard this used by a Stake President in stake conference referring to some miraculous event.

Green-faced: a novice, green-faced at driving on the left side of the road.

Bonnie – beautiful

Cannae – cannot – as in “I cannae make it to the stake picnic”

Guid – for “good”

See ya’elater – as in good bye “see you later” pronounced as one word.

Wee – small or little, as in “ I will have a wee drink”

Muckle – large or big

Sairy – for sorry – said all the time in the grocery store when they walk in front or cross paths or whatever, an all purpose acknowledgement you are there

Close – alley

Half-7 (or any other hour)  – meaning 7:30

Back 10 (or any other hour) – meaning 10 minutes to 10, or 5 minutes to 10, or 10?? Time is not too precise here. Did I mention they do the 24 hour clock, military time – hate it, have to do arithmetic every time you want to see what time it is- this will fade in time.

Fortnight – two weeks

Dreich – dull, bleak and miserable. “It is a dreich day with all this rain”

Haste ye back – come back soon

Come along –  get with the program, get with it

Fit Like?-An Aberdeen greeting, meaning how are you?

Leave it with me – as in “ I will take care of it”

Chock-a-block –full, packed tightly

Easy-peasey –no problem, simple, quite easy

Smart – well dressed, “You always go to an interview smart”

Braw – beautiful

Crabbit – bad tempered

You’re a longtime deid – enjoy life now

Unwell – sick, “my wife is unwell right now, so we will not be coming.” Really no one is sick they are always unwell.

Wabbit – under the weather, exhausted

Hogmany – New Year’s Eve (except it lasts all week)

Laird – lord, landowner

Rubbish – trash; bin – a barrel or container, thus rubbish bin is a trash can

Torch – flashlight

Uni – University – used whenever speaking of a university except in the formal name e.g. University of Edinburgh

Hospital – means the same but never used with an article in a sentence; as in “The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to hospital” not even the name of the hospital, just hospital

Loo – toilet or water closet

Dreich – damp and dismal weather

Eejit – idiot  (my dad used this term all the time – did not know it was Scottish)

Muckle – much; as in “A misst ye sae muckle!” (I missed you so much)

A dinna kin – I don’t understand

Haur ye gae! -Here you go (as in giving some one something)

Food Words and Eating

 
Neap – a turnip and slang for an idiot

Taties – potatoes

Bits – pulp, as in “Orange juice with bits.”

Puddings – generic for desserts, they have lots of desserts with sauces but any dessert is a pudding.

Crisps – potato chips; they eat them all the time, more crisps in the store than anything but booze

Biscuits – cookies

Courgette – Zuchini

Digestives – graham crackers

Savory biscuits – can mean a flavored, non-sweet cracker

Chips – French fries and served in pubs
with everything including pasta

Mushy peas – mashed and over-cooked peas (yuk) served with many things especially Fish and Chips (and mushy peas) contrasted with Garden peas which are unmashed

Haggis – Traditional Scottish food made of  [you do not want to know] and cooked in the stomach lining of a sheep.

Black pudding, blood pudding or blood sausage – type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. Very popular for breakfast with eggs and beans.

Traditional Scottish breakfast –most frequently offered version: toast, eggs, blood sausage, and beans (like pork n’ beans). May also have haggis, potato scones, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, and maybe streaky bacon

Sweets – candies and cakes

Dinner consists of a starter (appetizer), mains (main course) and pudding (dessert)

Geography and Travel/Transportation
 
Lorry – a truck

Bonnet – the engine compartment

Boot – the car trunk

Burn – creek

Glen – valley

Brae – hill

Loch – lake

Firth – where the river meets the ocean or sea; The Firth of Forth is the bay where the Forth River meets the North Sea

Ben – mountain

Kirk – parish church

Verge – the edge of the road

Slip road – a merging lane

Dual carriage – two-way divided road

Single track with passing – single lane road with periodic passing places

Central refuge – the median in a road offering some protection for pedestrians or just to separate traffic

Zeebra, Pelican, Puffin, and Toucan – various kinds of pedestrian crossings

Traffic calming – various speed bumps, protrusions, and obstacles to slow down the speed of vehicles.