Caithness words/phrases

[Murdina Bug]

Hi all, a previous thread has set me to thinking...

We quite often say someone is 'through -by' meaning in the other room/other end of the house etc. We really got some blank looks in England with that one but I hadn't really considered it dialect. Does anyone consider that it is peculiar to this part of the country?

[angela5]

:( i can understand getting blank looks if you said 'ben eh house'.
through the house is not peculiar to me, maybe in England they are more specific - 'he is in the kitchen
- 'he is in the bathroom
:confused: it will be interesting to read other replys.

[hails4]

did ye see e' size o at scorrie! i think we is e only people in e world that calls em that!!

[twee dledum]

I got a funny look the other day when I went into
the bakery and asked for a broon loff!:confused:

[Tugmistress]

I have lived in a few diffenr places in the UK and most places have words and saying peculiar to that area.
now i will admit i have not heard the word 'shoogle' before and don't have a clue what that is, but as for other caithnessian words, most are easy to decipher but there are some i had to ask!
As for scorries, it is a perfect name for them :D

[golach]

I have lived in a few diffenr places in the UK and most places have words and saying peculiar to that area.
now i will admit i have not heard the word 'shoogle' before and don't have a clue what that is, but as for other caithnessian words, most are easy to decipher but there are some i had to ask!
As for scorries, it is a perfect name for them :D

Tugmistress. "Shoogle" is to rock or gentley shake i.e to shoogle a bairns pram or crib and is more a Scots word than a Caithness word

[twee dledum]

the word "shoogle" . When you might say "shoogle it about a bit" is like "shake it about a bit":D

[Tugmistress]

Hi Mickey,
No, unfortunately by birth a Liverpudlian, but thankfully moved away at the tender age of 6 weeks ;)
been up here since 1st october 2002 and never regretted one second of it (even though i got less than 12 hours notice of the move)

[Tugmistress]

Thanks Golach & Twee dledum
It seems like it is one of those words when heard in a sentence that you would 'cotton on' to it :)
that is how i have picked up most of the dialect specific words from around.

[abalone]

you try explaining to an englishman what "shoogle" is!

In Hampshire they say shiggle

[twee dledum]

hows aboot" i'll sweel yer mooth oot way fairy liquid if ye say at again"

[Chillie]

then yell need som cat litter tea dry it oot.

[scotsboy]

Dont think these are peculiar to Caithness but found them interesting:

Shuftie = to have a look at somothing
The Arabic word for look/see is SHUF

Bint = girl
The arabic word for daughter is BINT

[twee dledum]

when we were younger there was this rhyme we used to all say and I cant remember how it went, but I know it started "Hark,hark, the dogs will bark".
Can anyone remember how it went after that?:D

[cullbucket]

Interesting Scotsboy.....

We used to say that we were going on the peev.....
Russian / Czech word for beer is Peva

Also norwegian word for child is barne and cow is coo!

[scotsboy]

Aye I have come across the Pivo/Piva as well.

One that really suprised me was when I was out for a peev with an English mate in Wokingham (Berkshire) he told us the establishement we were in was frequented by people who sold stuff they had CHORED. I asked him to repeat what he had said as I was sure that CHORE was only used in Caithness - it transpires it is used by the Travelling/Gypsey community throughout the UK (and probably elsewhere) to mean steal.

[Rheghead]

I find that Caithness dialect is very similar to Cumbrian dialect. Just the pronunciation can throw me sometimes.

[kenimac1]

I've found a few words that I thought were peculiar to one area used somewhere else. I thought 'Gadgie' was only used in the North of Scotland but it's used in the Teeside area as well.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Chav(vie) is a Caithness word. It was, until recently, hijacked. I once explained to my Brasilian flat mate that when one goes out to drink heavily, one is, in actual fact, going out on the "wraxer" or, to get, simply, "wraxed."

I think you'll find wraxed actually means to overstretch. Still...

[Blast!]

How about havin' a 'deek' at something - that always gets a mystified expression.

Or an old foggies favourite - 'ben eh hoose'

[hereboy]

Interesting Scotsboy.....

We used to say that we were going on the peev.....
Russian / Czech word for beer is Peva

Also norwegian word for child is barne and cow is coo!

and the german for cullbucket is "pflucken kubel"

which literally translated means "get a grip"...

[cullbucket]

How about

"Hereboy, yer sleverin noo. Ye're needing a skelp with my flammel across the mung, manchetrie"

Enough of the pan loaf....cullbucket in orcadian is actually muckle flugga (I think)...

And in Ross-Shire, hereboy is herebiiiiiyyy

[hereboy]

cullbucket,

your reply was a "stonner!" (the o pronounced like "on" not like "one"). If ye skelped my mung I'd be at 'e muntin biy.

However til skelp ma lug ye'd hev til be twice 'e man ye 'hink ye are, an 'at id still be jist half 'e man I am biye" afore ye'd fired a digit I'd put the brew off ye.

But in fairness, what you say about Ross-shire is... "right eeeee-nuff cove"

[mischief]

can anyone tell me why is a sack barrow called a spanker in Wick?