Scotch (adjective)

Scotchis anadjectiveinEnglish, meaning "of or fromScotland". Many Scots dislike the termScotchand some consider it offensive. The modern usage in Scotland isScottishorScots, and the wordScotchis now only applied to specific products, mostly food or drink, such asScotch whisky,Scotch pieandScotch broth.
The verbto scotchis unrelated to the adjective.Middle Englishscocchenderives fromAnglo-Frenchescochermeaning "to notch, nick or pierce", fromcoche, "a notch, groove".
The adjective or nounScotchis anearly modern English(16th century) contraction of theEnglishwordScottishwhich was later adopted into theScots languageIt more or less replacedScottishas the prevailing term in England in the 17th century. The English playwrightWilliam Shakespeareused the wordScotchto describe ajig, but always employed the termScottishwhen people were the subject.Scots(the modern Scots language form ofearly ScotsScottis) predominated in Scotland until the 18th century whenanglicisationbecame fashionable andScotchcame to be used in both England and Scotland. A 1788 letter byRobert Burnssays in part: "Apropos, is not the Scotch phraseAuld lang syneexceedingly expressive? There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled through my soul. You know I am an enthusiast in old Scotch songs."("Auld Lang Syne" inThe Burns Encyclopedia, at robertburns.org). Burns wrote of himself in 1787, "The appellation of a Scotch Bard, is by far my highest pride; to continue to deserve it is my most exalted ambition."
From the early 19th century, however,ScotsorScottishincreasingly became the preferred usages among educated Scottish people,Scotchbeing regarded as an anglicised affectation. By 1908, this was described byThe New York Timesas a "long-established… preference" (see article). In modern usage in Scotland, "Scotch" is rarely used, other than as described in the following paragraph for certain articles; it has gathered patronising and faintly offensive connotations ("frugal with one's money").
In modern current British usage, in England as in Scotland, the general term for things from or pertaining to Scotland isScottish.Scotsis used for theScots languageandScots law, although one increasingly hears it used of people and organisations, especially in newspaper articles.Scotchremains in use in only a few specific cases. 'Scotch terrier' was once one of these legacy uses, but has increasingly  been replaced withScottish terrier. Only inUlster, especially inCounty Donegal(chiefly in East Donegal andInishowen) andCounty Tyrone(especially in rural West Tyrone), is the termScotchstill widely used.
Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to introducecompulsory educationfor all children in 1696, administered in each parish by theKirk. When the British government eventually chose to centralise and regulate the system in 1872, the Scottish school system was initially placed under a "Scotch Education Department" with offices inLondon. In 1918, as a result of objections from within Scotland, the department was moved toEdinburghand renamed theScottish Education Department. This reflects thelinguisticpreferences of modern Scotland.
In 1965, the historianA.J.P. Taylorwrote in hisPreface to English History 1914–1945: "Some inhabitants of Scotland now call themselvesScotsand their affairsScottish. They are entitled to do so. The English word for both isScotch, just as we call les français the French and Deutschland Germany.  Being English, I use it."
"Scots" is the modern preferred usage in all levels of society in Scotland, but occasional use of "Scotch" in varieties of theScots languagecontinues with terms such asScotch and English(a game),Scotch fiddle(itchiness),Scotch mile and ell(measures) and many other examples (see the Scots Dialect Dictionary compiled by Alexander Warrack M.A. (1911) republished by Waverley Books 2000). There are other good indicators that the use of "Scotch" has been "whitewashed out" and become ashibboleth. Early versions of dictionaries produced in Burns' wake in the 19th century had titles such as "A Dictionary of the Scotch Dialect of the Lowlands" and modern place names now written as "Scots" e.g., Scotstarvit and Scotscalder existed in previous incarnations as "Scotch".Scotch Cornersurvives as a place-name in England.
In a reminiscence on his early training as an advocate inEdinburgh,Sir Walter Scottdescribes the law as "Scotch Law" some four times and as "Scots Law" just once. By the 1840s, other writers were using the phrase "Scots law", and this usage is now standard (although not universal) world-wide. Scots law reports in the nineteenth century show frequent judicial usage of 'Scotch' as referring to people; by the turn of that century, and since, practically no examples (other than by English judges) can be discovered.
In 1978, the song "Scotch Machine" by the pan-European groupVoyagewas released in the UK as "Scots Machine".
In the 1937 filmStorm in a Teacup, the Scottish/Scotch debate is a running joke. In one scene, Vicky (Vivien Leigh) is mixing cocktails. She explains to Frank (Rex Harrison) that her father,ProvostGow (Cecil Parker), who is standing forParliamentas a member of the "Caledonia League", "...wants to be prime minister of the first Scotch parliament." "Scottish, Vicky, Scottish!" her father pompously corrects her. "Well then, fix yourself a scottish and soda!" she replies, and flounces out of the door. In another scene, one of Gow's Caledonia League minions says to him "I've never seen the like in thirty years of Scotch politics!", with the same stern rebuke from the provost.
In the chorus of his song "I Love a Lassie (My Scotch Bluebell)",music hallcomedian and singer SirHarry Laudersings "I love a lassie, a bonny hielan lassie... Mary ma Scotch bluebell."
All editions ofRobert Louis Stevenson's 1887 collection of essaysMemories and PortraitsuseScotchas both an adjective and noun throughout.
The first edition of John Kenneth Galbraith'sThe Scotchwas published in the UK under two alternative titles: asMade to LastandThe Non-potable Scotch: A Memoir of the Clansmen in Canada. It was illustrated by Samuel H. Bryant. Galbraith's account of his boyhood environment in Elgin County in southern Ontario was added in 1963. He considered it his finest piece of writing.