scotslanguage

102d

“The Scots language has many ways old and new to describe LGBT+ experience… queer Scots-speakers can play with the words they’re given to find a language for what was once unsayable”

UNCO: a queer Scots lexicon
by Harry Josephine Giles & Malin Lewis
🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

https://harryjosephine.com/portfolio/unco/

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #Pride #PrideMonth #Queer #language #LGBTQ

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79d

Apon the Midsummer evin, mirriest of nichtis,
I muvit furth allane, neir as midnicht wes past…

—in “The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen & the Wedo”, William Dunbar (c1465–1530) eavesdrops on three ladies discussing marriage. What begins as candid moves rapidly to obscene…

1/3

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #satire #medieval #15thcentury #16thcentury #midsummer

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100d

Robert Tannahill (1774–1810), “the weaver poet”, was born #OTD, 3 June – “second only to Robert Burns as a poet writing chiefly in the language of the working class of Scotland”

1/5

https://www.thenational.scot/culture/24360177.celebrating-scotlands-second-greatest-poet-robert-tannahill/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #18thcentury #19thcentury #Scots #Scotslanguage #workingclass

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73d

Colin Bramwell’s FOWER PESSOAS has won the 2025 Duas Leabhair na Gàidhealtacht / Highland Book Prize

“FOWER PESSOAS is a bold reimagining of Fernando Pessoa’s poetry… Colin Bramwell puts all four of [Fernando] Pessoa’s heteronyms into a present-day Scots-language vernacular, & so creates a parochial Pessoa for our own times”

https://www.highlandbookprize.org.uk/winner/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #FernandoPessoa #Scots #Scotslanguage

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97d

“The Sodgers”, by Alexander Scott (1920–1989)

Alexander Scott landed in Normandy in 1944 with the Gordon Highlanders, & saw action in the Ardennes & crossing the Rhine. He later became Head of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow, was president of ASL from 1976–79, & was a founding editor of our annual anthology NEW WRITING SCOTLAND

Today, 6 June, is the anniversary of D-Day

#Scottish #literature #DDay #poem #poetry #20thcentury #warpoem #warpoetry #WW2 #Scots #Scotslanguage

The Sodgers
by Alexander Scott

Nae wi the gallus captains
That niver jinkit war
But socht for glory's wildfire lowe
As wise men aince for anither star—

And nae wi the ramstam colonels
That leuch at the din o the drum
And skirled for the bleeze o battle's Inferno
As saunts micht skirl for Kingdom Come—

But aye wi the sweirt sodgers
That niver wished tae dee
And anelie marched the forrart road
Sen onie back they cudna see—

Near blind wi the reek o wappins
And the reek o leean words,
But niver near sae blind wi bluid
As faa in luve wi guns and swords.

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97d

Ye think thon wes the end?
Yon meetin in the wuids
When Thracian Orpheus heard the drum, the cries,
The whud o the bacchantes’ thrangan feet…

—“Orpheus”, by Tom Scott (1918–1995): born #OTD, 6 June
Published in A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS

1/3

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #Scots #Scotslanguage

Tom Scott
Orpheus

Ye think thon wes the end?
Yon meetin in the wuids
When Thracian Orpheus heard the drum, the cries,
The whud o the bacchantes’ thrangan feet
And, seik in saul,
Mad to be jyned for aye to his Eurydikee,
Strung his harp
And gaed to meet them wi a sang.
Ye think thon wes the end?

Na. Eftir the thrang breeled on, red
Fingert, bluidie-mawed, the riven limbs
Quiveran aye amang the mairtyred gress,
There wes a lull
And throu it syne a roun
And syne as muckle’s a moan
And syne a voice,
Yon voice o his
That quietit the forest and its fowk,
That reconcilit lion and lamb,
Ordert the rain,
Spoke frae the grund
And threept in the greitan tree
‘Euridikee! Euridikee!’

And at the name
A ferlie thing wes duin.
Thir broken bits o bodie, bits o bane,
Brisket, gash, airm and droukit hair
Cam thegither as gin some will
Mair nor the merely real
Had wrocht on them.
And on yon slauchtert grund was formed
Orpheus anew,
Orpheus the singer, Orpheus the makar,
Orpheus cleansed o the auld despair.
And by the halie tree
In the leaman licht o the wuid,
Squired by a houlet, a hawk and a doo,
Wes his Euridikee.

They say he made a new sang,
A nobler nor the auld,
And sings it aye in the great haa o the warld.

They say it will nevir end.

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93d

I mind when I was a bairnie hou ma mither
brocht out ae day a kist o skinklan things,
ferlies I thocht them, ilk mair rare nor anither,
aa kind o gowdies, stanes and chains and rings…

—Douglas Young, “Thesaurus Paleo-Scoticus”

10 June is Gies a Scots Poem Day

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #GiesAScotsPoemDay

Thesaurus Paleo-Scoticus
Douglas Young

I mind when I was a bairnie hou ma mither
brocht out ae day a kist o skinklan things,
ferlies I thocht them, ilk mair rare nor anither,
aa kind o gowdies, stanes and chains and rings,
braw orleges that made her guidsire vauntie,
auld fallals that belanged her grannie’s auntie.
I thocht ma forebears maun be queens and kings,
sic sma delytes can mak a bairnie canty.
I’m canty yet wi sma delytes, albeid
ma baird’s sae black and swack. I ken a thing
that’s like a kist o ferlies gif ye read.
Frae Jamieson’s muckle buik the words tak wing,
auld douce or ramstam, lown or virrfu words,
for musardry o thocht or grame o dirds,
our forebears useit, to flyte or scryve or sing.
I’d wuss to be a falkner o sic birds.

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90d

James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) was born #OTD, 13 June. As a physicist, he ranks alongside Newton & Einstein (“He achieved greatness unequalled”—Max Planck)

He also wrote poetry: “Rigid Body Sings” is based on “Comin’ Through the Rye” by Robert Burns.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45774/in-memory-of-edward-wilson-who-repented-of-what-was-in-his-mind-to-write-after-section

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #19thcentury #Victorian #Scots #Scotslanguage #physics #science #sciencepoetry

In Memory of Edward Wilson, Who Repented of what was in his Mind to Write after Section
BY JAMES CLERK MAXWELL

Rigid Body (sings).

Gin a body meet a body
Flyin’ through the air,
Gin a body hit a body,
Will it fly? and where?
Ilka impact has its measure,
Ne’er a ane hae I,
Yet a’ the lads they measure me,
Or, at least, they try.

Gin a body meet a body
Altogether free,
How they travel afterwards
We do not always see.
Ilka problem has its method
By analytics high;
For me, I ken na ane o’ them,
But what the waur am I?

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59d

“Scots poets might have a few lessons to teach the French”

In “Towards a Post-Colonial Alliance?”, Paul Malgrati offers some perspectives on Franco-Scots poetry translation, exploring questions of voice, place, & power

🇫🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2019/12/towards-a-post-colonial-alliance-some-perspectives-on-franco-scots-poetry-translation/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #language #translation #French #BastilleDay #quatorzejuillet

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58d

I can see da rüfs aa taekit, an da hens aroond da door;
Fok kerryin twartree paets hame, an rigs delled every voar.
Aa da lums ir reekin, an I hear da happy soonds
O peerie bairns skirlin, as dey play dem ower da toons…

—“Da Clearance”, by Rhoda Bulter (1929–94), born #OTD, 15 July

A 🎂🧵 – 1/3

Listen to Rhoda Bulter reading “Da Clearance” here:

https://www.shetlanddialect.org.uk/da-clearance

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Shetland #Shetlandic #Scots #Scotslanguage

Da Clearance
Rhoda Bulter

I can see da rüfs aa taekit, an da hens aroond da door;
Fok kerryin twartree paets hame, an rigs delled every voar.
Aa da lums ir reekin, an I hear da happy soonds
O peerie bairns skirlin, as dey play dem ower da toons.

I see eens sittin roond da fire, an twartree mair oot by;
Sookin infants at da breest, an weemen gjaan ta cry.
Da tochtfil, tried faces o dem at’s lived ower lang;
Fractious bairns feytin sleep, an sensin somethin wrang.

I hear a lood, lood knockin, an da crump o monny feet;
Men's voices raised in anger, an da bairns start to greet.
I see da fok aa girded oot afore da laandloard’s men;
An aa da bits a things dey hed, fired ower da briggy-stane.

I see da bare waas staandin, an aa da laand lie green;
Lang syne da fire wis slokkit, an monny a year is geen.
Noo dey aa hae equal portions o aert ta tak dir sleep.
Tell me, wis it wirt it aa for twartree extry sheep?

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64d

NAMING THE SNAKES
New Writing Scotland 44
Ed. by Chris Powici, Allan Radcliffe & Anna C. Frater

The best new short fiction & poetry from forty-three writers who are Scottish by birth, residence, or inclination, writing in English, Gaelic, & Scots. Available for preorder now from all good bookshops! (And the evil one too.)

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws44/

#Scottish #literature #NewWriting #shortstories #shortfiction #poetry #poems #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #Scots #Scotslanguage #writingcommunity

Book cover:

Naming
the
Snakes

New
Writing
Scotland
44

Edited by Chris Powici and Allan Radcliffe
Gaelic Editor: Anna C. Frater

The cover image shows a mix of overlapping yellow, orange, and purple fabrics, semi-transparent, on top of a drawing of a hand holding a disc which rests on top of a pillar. The head of a snake coils up from below to rest on the disc.

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55d

I refer to my pup as a "cheeky wee bisom" meaning she's a cute cheeky wee thing.

Then I googled the word. In Ulster Scots it means a bad tempered woman, and the Dictionary of Scots Language at Glasgow Uni define it as a broom.

Have I misremembered my childhood? Does any one else use bisom in the sense of a rascal?

#ScotsLanguage #Linguistics #scotland #Scots

Edited 55d ago

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56d

She’s goat her legs oot –
her foldin plastic chair
oan the gress at Glesga Green –
an her airms an enough
creamy dimpled bosom
tae please Renoir…

—Sheila Templeton, “Glesga Fair”
published in Songs of Other Places: New Writing Scotland 32 (ASL, 2014)

The Glasgow Fair is a holiday dating back to the 12th century CE. Happy Fair Weekend to all the Glasgow Fairies!

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Glasgow #GlasgowFair

Glesga Fair
Sheila Templeton

She’s goat her legs oot –
her foldin plastic chair
oan the gress at Glesga Green –
an her airms an enough
creamy dimpled bosom
tae please Renoir;
bra straps oan show,
frock lirkit richt up
ower her knees
sittin lik a mannie
legs weel splayed as if
tae accommodate
magnificent baws –
but it’s no that.
It’s tae mak room
mak a space
for her belly,
lovely big roon
wumman’s belly
growthie in the sun.

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56d

“…on one occasion the Highland Queen was berthed by the master and a boy, the rest of the crew being quite incapable…”

In this blog post, Donald Meek explores the origins of the terms, common to Scots & Gaelic: “steaming drunk” & “smùid”

https://meekwrite.blogspot.com/2013/04/maritime-and-linguistic-studies.html

#Scottish #literature #Glasgow #GlasgowFair #DoontheWatter #Scots #Scotslanguage #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #boozecruise

A late 19th-century postcard. The printed text reads:

Mottoes for those going
“Doon the Watter”

If it's losing the boat,
or losing your drink—
lose the boat.

The image shows a colour illustration of a moustachio'd young man, standing at a bar, wearing a boater hat at a rakish angle, a dark green jacket, a yellow-and-white striped waistcoat and a red bow tie. He has one hand in his pocket as he looks over his shoulder, out of the door of the bar to see, in the distance, a steamship leaving the harbour. He raises a full pint mug to toast its departure.

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56d

jack an jill
went up thi hull
“tay huv a wee refreshmint”

guess whut

—published in Tom Leonard’s INTIMATE VOICES 1965–1983 (Galloping Dog Press, 1984)

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Glasgow #GlasgowFair #KeepTheHeid

jack an jill
went up thi hull
“tay huv a wee refreshmint”

guess whut

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61d

Scots Language & Identity
24 July, Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Tickets £12

Prof Jennifer Smith takes attendees through the past, present & future of Scots. Where did it come from? How was it used in the past? How is it being spoken today, & by who? Hear how this living, evolving language is being used in everyday speech, in the creative industries, in writing, & what it might look like in the future.

https://www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/whats-on/scots-language-and-identity/

#Scottish #language #culture #Scots #Scotslanguage

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52d

Is there a whim-inspired fool,
Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,
Let him draw near…

Robert Burns (1759–96) died #OTD, 21 July, aged 37. “A Bard’s Epitaph” is the final poem in the 1786 Kilmarnock Edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect

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#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #RobertBurns #18thcentury #romanticism

A Bard’s Epitaph
Robert Burns

Is there a whim-inspired fool,
Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,
Let him draw near;
And owre this grassy heap sing dool,
And drap a tear.

Is there a bard of rustic song,
Who, noteless, steals the crowds among,
That weekly this area throng,
O, pass not by!
But, with a frater-feeling strong,
Here, heave a sigh.

Is there a man, whose judgment clear
Can others teach the course to steer,
Yet runs, himself, life’s mad career,
Wild as the wave,
Here pause—and, thro’ the starting tear,
Survey this grave.

The poor inhabitant below
Was quick to learn the wise to know,
And keenly felt the friendly glow,
And softer flame;
But thoughtless follies laid him low,
And stain’d his name!

Reader, attend! whether thy soul
Soars fancy’s flights beyond the pole,
Or darkling grubs this earthly hole,
In low pursuit:
Know, prudent, cautious, self-control
Is wisdom’s root.

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63d

On the oneness of self and universe

IT’S AW WAN
TAE ME

—Alan Spence, GLASGOW ZEN
published by @canongatebooks 2012

https://canongate.co.uk/books/333-glasgow-zen/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Glasgow #Scots #Scotslanguage #Zen

Alan Spence
GLASGOW ZEN

On the oneness of self and universe

IT'S AW WAN
TAE ME

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49d

miscarriage

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31d

I’ll ha’e nae hauf-way hoose, but aye be whaur
Extremes meet – it’s the only way I ken
To dodge the curst conceit o’ bein’ richt
That damns the vast majority o’ men.

—from “A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle”

A 🎂🧵 for Hugh MacDiarmid—born #OTD, 11 Aug 1892

1/10

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/hugh-macdiarmid

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #modernism #20thcentury #MacDiarmid

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31d

Scotland 1926
25 Aug, Edinburgh Book Festival

Kirsty Gunn, Alan Riach, and James Robertson revisit the Scottish Renaissance through landmark works including Hugh MacDiarmid’s A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, the early work of Neil M Gunn, & other under-sung voices including Willa Muir & Helen Cruickshank. Deep dive into a remarkable literary moment and the writers who helped reshape Scotland’s imaginative life.

https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/events/kirsty-gunn-alan-riach-and-james-robertson-scotland-1926

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #Scots #Scotslanguage

Fiction (Adults)
Kirsty Gunn, Alan Riach, and James
Robertson: Scotland 1926
Tue 25 Aug 2026 | 12:15 - 13:15
• Courtyard Theatre
Accessibility
Captioned

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46d

🎉PUBLICATION DAY!🥳

NAMING THE SNAKES
New Writing Scotland 44
Edited by Chris Powici, Allan Radcliffe & Anna C. Frater

The best new short fiction & poetry from forty-three writers who are Scottish by birth, residence, or inclination. Available now from all good bookshops (& the evil one too, if you must)!

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws44/

#Scottish #literature #shortfiction #poetry #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #Scots #Scotslanguage #writingcommunity

Book cover:

Naming
the
Snakes

New
Writing
Scotland
44

Edited by Chris Powici and Allan Radcliffe
Gaelic Editor: Anna C. Frater

The cover image shows a mix of overlapping yellow, orange, and purple fabrics, semi-transparent, on top of a drawing of a hand holding a disc which rests on top of a pillar. The head of a snake coils up from below to rest on the disc.

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46d

Hit wis da swans, dat’s whit it wis.
Dat’s whit set da day apairt.

Twa cygnets, happit in emsket,
a midder, a faider. A peerie geo

aa ta wirsels, whaar waves yockit
sands saftly, maas cried oot abun,

an da sun drappit waarmest hugs
apö wir shooders…

—Maxine Rose Munro, “A fine day”
published in NEW SHETLANDER #295, 2021

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/a-fine-day/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Shetlandic #Shetland

A fine day
Maxine Rose Munro

Hit wis da swans, dat’s whit it wis.
Dat’s whit set da day apairt.

Twa cygnets, happit in emsket,
a midder, a faider. A peerie geo

aa ta wirsels, whaar waves yockit
sands saftly, maas cried oot abun,

an da sun drappit waarmest hugs
apö wir shooders, glinkin atween

white cloods o oo. Bit da swans,
no buddered be dat, skoited at wis tochtfully,

saw a faider, a midder, twa bairns,
an lat wis in. As wir bairns played

da cygnets circled, curious, comin closs,
closser, skeetin awaa, owre shy efter aa,

ta hoid anunder midder’s wing. Wir bairns
wis much da sam, unsure o da uncan.

Lookin up fae wipin sand fae a peerie
een’s face, I lockit een wi midder swan

an richt den I kent shö wis seein hersel.
An richt den I kent I saw mesel tö.

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30d

Upon his guilded chariot led by hours,
With radiant glories darting throw the air,
The sun, high sprung in his diurnal course,
Shed down a day serenely sweet and fair…

—Allan Ramsay (1684–1758), “The Eclipse”

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #eclipse #astronomy #18thcentury #Scots #Scotslanguage

The Eclipse
Allan Ramsay

Upon his guilded chariot led by hours,
With radiant glories darting throw the air,
The sun, high sprung in his diurnal course,
Shed down a day serenely sweet and fair.
The earth mair beautiful and fertile grew;
The flow’ry fields in rich array,
Smil’d lovely on the beamy day,
Delightful for the eye to view;
Ceres, with her golden hair,
Displaying treasure ilka where,
While useful plenty made her stalks to bow.

A thousand little suns glanc’d on the wave;
Nature appear’d to claim the sun’s respect,
All did sae blyth and beauteously behave.
“Ah!” cry’d the moon, “too much for him ye deck;
“My aking een cannot this glory bear;
“This sun pretends nane in the sky
“Can shine but him, then where am I?
“Soon I the contrary shall clear:
“By ae bauld strake,
“With him I’ll make
“My equal empire in the heaven appear.”

“’Tis me that gives a lustre to the night;
“Then should not I my proper right display,
“And now, even now dart down my silver light?
“I give enough, this sun gives too much day.”
The project fram’d, pale Cynthia now to shaw
Her shining power, right daftly run
Directly ’tween the earth and Sun.
Unwise design! the warld then saw,
Instead of light, the Moon
Brought darkness in at noon,
And without borrowing, had no light at a’.

Thus many empty and imprudent men,
Wha to their ain infirmities are blind,
Rax yont their reach, and this way let us ken
A jealous, weak and insufficient mind.

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44d

Rock an’ stane lay glisterin’ on aa the heichs abune.
Cool an’ kind an’ whisperin’ it drifted gently doon,
till hill an’ howe war rowed in it, an’ land an’ sea war gane.
Aa was still an’ saft an’ silent in the smoky smirr o rain.

—George Campbell Hay, “The Smoky Smirr o’ Rain”

A poem for World Rain Day 🌧️

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #rain #WorldRainDay

The Smoky Smirr o Rain
George Campbell Hay

A misty mornin’ doon the shore wi a hushed an’ caller air,
an’ ne’er a breath frae East or West tie sway the rashes there,
a sweet, sweet scent frae Laggan’s birks gaed breathin’ on its ane,
their branches hingin beaded in the smoky smirr o rain.

The hills aroond war silent wi the mist alang the braes.
The woods war derk an’ quiet wi dewy, glintin’ sprays.
The thrushes didna raise for me, as I gaed by alane,
but a wee, wae cheep at passin’ in the smoky smirr o rain.

Rock an’ stane lay glisterin’ on aa the heichs abune.
Cool an’ kind an’ whisperin’ it drifted gently doon,
till hill an’ howe war rowed in it, an’ land an’ sea war gane.
Aa was still an’ saft an’ silent in the smoky smirr o rain.

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