Now, are you speaking Scots? It's so hard be sure, isn't it? Luckily, the Scottish Government can help, with its new Aye Can website.
While Englishmen and women will be asked the usual probing questions as to whether they are Jedi knights or whatever in this decade's Census, for the first time Scots will be asked if they speak Scots. To the untutored it can just sound like E***ish in a Scottish accent, hence the website.
Apparently, Scots is used as a generic term for many Scottish dialects, including Glaswegian, Doric, Buchan, Dundonian, Shetland and Rabcnesbitt. (OK, the last is basically the same as the first.) It says that Scots and English are sister languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese.
The site includes audio files of speakers of Scots, and if you can get the gist of these, you should tick the box on the census form. Loose Wires does, and Loose Wires lives in the home counties. So expect a high pass rate north of the border.
Loose Wires is the GC Weekly equivalent of the backpage trivia in the now defunct ADSET Members' Update!
Fun with a serious twist (sometimes).
I need to work out how to bring the “fun” stuff into here – or maybe try a weekly newsletter to supplement the blog. Haven’t really thought it out yet but as I claw my way out of the pit of depression where I seem to have been for well over a year I need to catch up with contacts and renew business opportunities.
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