Scottish English

Moira and Alex come from different parts of Scotland. Listen to them talking about where they live.
Can you hear a difference in their accents?

Hi, I’m Moira Stewart. I’m an archaeologist. A lot of people say my kind of Scottish accent sounds, well, refined. I suppose … what they mean is that … it sounds quite posh compared to some accents, and that it’s quite similar to standard English. I don’t know if I agree, actually. It is quite soft, though, compared to elsewhere in Scotland.

The city I come from has several universities and a world-famous arts festival where they put on hundreds of plays each summer. And of course, there’s the Tattoo. That’s when marching bands from all over the world play music and put on amazing displays. We’ve also got an impressive looking castle that dominates the skyline of the city. There’s a gun that’s fired at one o’clock from the ramparts every day – it terrifies the tourists!

My parents used to take us on walking holidays when we were bairns. I first climbed Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest mountain, when I was nine years old. Maybe all that hill walking is why these are some of my favourite Scottish words: burn – a small stream, loch – a lake and glen – a valley.

By the way, did you know that Ben Nevis means mountain covered in fog?

My name is Alex McDougal. I’m an airport security guard. I’ve got quite a typical Scottish name, I cannae deny that. Gaelic names usually start with “Mac-” or “Mc-”, which mean son, so McDougal means son of Dougal. And then there are Germanic names like Blair, Brown or Stewart, of course.

Scottish English is a little different from English English. One thing is the accent. But we use different words, as well. Have you heard of quines and loons, for example?

Quines and loons are what they call girls and boys, and sometimes women and men, in the North East of Scotland. My grannie used to call me a wee loon. She was from Aberdeen. Oh, you know that wee means small? Aye, it does. Oh – and aye means yes.

Now the city I come from is near where the famous Strathclyde shipyards used to be. Strath means a large, flat river valley and Clyde is the name of the river, by the way. We have two football teams in my city, Celtic and Rangers. You support one or the other – for life!

Now here’s one last word you’ll never guess the meaning of: inch. No, not the measurement! You’ll find “inch” in place names. It means a meadow or island, Inch Kenneth, for example, that’s a wee island off the west coast of Scotland. It’s a fine place to visit in the summer.

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Scotland