The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-01-14
SCOTCH IDloMs
Expressions That Seem Peculiar to One
Not Erred on the Heather.

Expressions That Seem Peculiar to One
Not Bred on the Heather.
Perhaps the commonest errors that
Scotchmen-even well educated Scotch
men-make are in the use Of shall" and
will" Everybody, we suppose, knows
the good old story of the Scotchman drown.
ing in the Thames, who shouts out, II will
be drowned, and nobody shall help me-"
A we'll known lady novelist in Scotland
says that her rule for the use of these aux
iliaries is to substitute the one for the other
when correcting her proofsheets. Knowing
that in the heat of composition she is most
likely to use the word that nature prompts,
which, she being Scotch, is nine cases out
Of ten likely to be wrong, she thinks her
plan capital substitute for instructive
knowledge.
Scotch people have some curious express
sions in connection with food. Thus they
sup" their broth, and they speak of broth
or porridge in the plural, e. g., "I'd like a
few broth or "They are too salt" The
word "sweet" is applied in ways strange to
English usage, as ''sweet butter" for fresh
butter, Sweet milk" for new milk. A
soup plqke is called a deep plate; broiled
steak is 'brandered;" tea is infused" or
more commonly 'niasked;" and the kettle
is said ito come to the boil" In phrases
such as bread and butter, bread and milk,
bread and cheese, the order Of the words is
usually reversed in Scotland, as milk and
bread"
Some Scotch idioms which are in daily
use are exceedingly absurd. For instance,
the phrase "the length Of" instead of "as
far as" is continually used when speaking
of actual distance Viscount Melville, who
was a thorough Scotchmap, once asked
Pitt for the loan Of horse the length Of
Highgate Hill, meaning of course that the
animal was to carry him as far as that
locality Pitt regretted that he had not Il
horse of the required length but sent him
his longest. 1t is quite common, too, to
hear an anxious mother in Scotland telling
her children to ''change their feet" instead
of their shoes, on wet day.
Besides changing his feet-or himself, as
the expression is when he is thoroughly
wet-a Scotchman does other equally
strange things, or, at all events, speaks of
doing them; such as looking over win,
dow, going into box in search of some,
thing, sitting into the fire when he is cold,
walking through his sleep, sitting under
his clergyman when he attends his church
has also the unusual power of being able
to feel a smell. AS if fearful to commit
himself to an unwarranted statement, he
can only say that he is quite better" not
that he is quite well.
"Honestlike' in Scotland has no moral
significance; it is equivalent to good look
ing. When you are failing fast" you are
not on the verge Of bankruptcy, as would
occur to an English ear but becoming fee
Die in health. When Scotchman tells
you that he did not mind" what you said
he is not guilty of deliberately paying nc
heed to you; his memory only has been at
fault And Scotch father who "chal-
lenges" his son for telling fibs does not
mean to fight him, but merely rebukes
him
The weather is as much, perhaps more, a
subject of conversation in Scotland as in
England, but Scotchman uses different
terms in characterizing it. Thus he speaks
of Il soft day for IL rainy day, blowy for
windy weather. fresh for thaw. 1t
rains hard in Scotland, not fast, and the
weather there is coarse, not rough.-Lor
don Tit-Bits