Comments on: Gettin involvit in the Scottish Pairlament

Gettin involvit in the Scottish Pairlament

xmutex — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 10:03:26 -0800

Gettin involvit in the Scottish Pairlament The Scottish Pairlament is here for tae represent aw Scotland's folk. We want tae mak siccar that as mony folk as can is able tae find oot aboot whit the Scottish Pairlament dis and whit wey it warks.

By: Zurishaddai

Zurishaddai — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 10:05:33 -0800

Scots aficionados will want to browse this old thread, too.

By: kavasa

kavasa — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 11:14:06 -0800

It's... not a joke. At least, not meant as one. Goodness.

By: ChrisTN

ChrisTN — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 11:18:09 -0800

It's... not a joke. Umm...who said it was?

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 11:33:09 -0800

????? ?????????? ?? ???-???? ???????????? ?????????? ?? ?????, ????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ??????, ??? ?????????? ? ??? ??????? ??????????? ?????????. ?? ??????????? ?????????? ?? ????? ???? ??????, ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????? ? ????? ??????????. That's not a joke either. They publish in all sorts of languages. It certainly makes sense that Scots is ane o' them.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 11:34:39 -0800

Shit. That was supposed to be Russian. MATT! Will you fix the freakin' preview problem already!

By: kindall

kindall — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 13:45:05 -0800

I dunno, "wabsite" just cracks me up. I sort of always assumed that the Scots accent was, at base, just a dialect of English, and that it would be spelled like regular English and simply pronounced differently. It's not like Boston residents spell "park the car in Harvard Yard" differently from Midwesterners. To see official government documents written in sounded-out dialect, as if the Scots couldn't understand it otherwise, is sort of weird and, yes, funny. But also cool in a way.

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 13:56:32 -0800

I dunnae ken.

By: skoosh

skoosh — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 15:13:31 -0800

languagehat: This Unicode character converter came in very handy for me in the Chinese "stuffy nose" thread. Useful hack while us writing-system geeks are waiting for our pony.

By: Utilitaritron

Utilitaritron — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 16:01:18 -0800

Scots is a language closely related to English (and Frisian). Scots isn't the same as Scottish-accented English.

By: Flitcraft

Flitcraft — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 19:22:39 -0800

Whilst Gaels can expect to be taught in schools to be literate in their own language, Lowland Scots like me can not. Instead literacy is taught through English, the result is that Scots-speaking children are taught not to use their own language but to regard it as an inferior variant of English. Despite the fact that the language has a rich literature stretching back to the 14th century, very few people can now write in Scots, though most people here can speak at least a few words and for many people it is still their first language - but it is often discouraged in the schools and replaced with English. I'm writing this in English because though I have a university education I am practically illiterate in my own native language. I can read it and speak it up to a point, but I can't write in it. Some of the worst prejudice against the language comes from people who come from a Scots speaking background but who are not used to seeing anything written in it - hence when they do see something like the website written in it their first reaction is one of ridicule. Scots is still spoken by thousands of people - many more than now speak Gaelic but instead of being treated as a national language and supported as one it is very much the poor relation. The fact that the Scottish parliament sees fit only to have a measly couple of pages in Scots and won't even give it status as an official language isn't a joke, it's a sad comment on how most Scots have been taught to look down on their own mither tung. There is one other place where the parliament has used Scots and that's cut into the pavement at the entrance where there's a quote from the New Testament in Scots Gin I speak wi the tungs o men an angels, but hae nae luve i my hairt, I am no nane better nor dunnerin bress nor a ringing cymbal

By: dhartung

dhartung — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 20:29:06 -0800

> O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 23:16:35 -0800

Oot aboot !

By: jb

jb — Sat, 11 Sep 2004 19:24:33 -0800

Don't be silly, troutfishing, that's not Scots - that's Canadian!

By: jb

jb — Sat, 11 Sep 2004 19:30:31 -0800

Flitcraft - thanks for your comment - it is always wonderful to hear from someone with personal experience with the post. Do you think the situation will change any with devolution?

By: Zurishaddai

Zurishaddai — Sat, 11 Sep 2004 21:56:19 -0800

written in sounded-out dialect, as if the Scots couldn't understand it otherwise Indeed, as Flitcraft says, Scots is not an uncredentialed newcomer of a written language. For example, the Aeneid was translated into Scots before it ever got turned into our more familiar dialect.

By: Zurishaddai

Zurishaddai — Sat, 11 Sep 2004 22:03:00 -0800

P.S. But OK, if you just want to laugh at Englishes you never thought people took the trouble to write down, google for some pidgin translations, e.g. Wass Da Scoops Bout Da Pidgin Bible?