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From: normanh@idec.stc.co.uk (Norman Hilton)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: grooving with a pict
Message-ID: <718@argon.idec.stc.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 3-Oct-86 17:02:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: argon.718
Posted: Fri Oct  3 17:02:15 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Oct-86 23:38:48 EDT
References: <565@mtunh.UUCP> <4035@brl-smoke.ARPA> <1041@cheviot.newcastle.ac.uk>
Reply-To: normanh@idec.stc.co.uk (Norman Hilton)
Followup-To: soc.culture.celtic
Distribution: net
Organization: STC Network Systems, Stevenage, UK
Lines: 53
Keywords: Scots Scotch
Summary: `Scots' may be an affectation

In article <1041@cheviot.newcastle.ac.uk> lindsay@cheviot.newcastle.ac.uk 
  (Lindsay F. Marshall) writes:
>Eggs, whisky or mist only please. You mean Scots or Scottish, and yes I
>DO know that Walter Scott used the term and that it was perfectly
>acceptable in Victorian times. It is, however, no longer acceptable to
>the majority of Scots.

Not quite. 

Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary (1972) has:
	Scotch attorney		Scotch barley		Scotch bluebell
	Scotch bonnet		Scotch broth		Scotch cart
	Scotch collops		Scotch cuddy		Scotch curlies
	Scotch draper		Scotch egg		Scotch elm
	Scotch fiddle		Scotch fir		Scotch hand
	Scotch kale		Scotch mist		Scotch pebble
	Scotch rose		Scotch snap		Scotch tape
	Scotch terrier		Scotch thistle		Scotch verdict
	Scotch woodcock
and there is also
	Scotch love
I haven't seen the last one in a dictionary, but it is not at all rude
and I can define it if anyone is interested.

Chambers also has this definition of `Scot':
	Scot, skot, n. one of a Gaelic-speaking people of Ireland,
	  afterwards also in Argyllshire (hist.): (now) a Scotsman
	  or Scotswoman of any race or language.

Fowler (1965) says:
	Out of deference to the Scotsman's supposed dislike of
	"Scotch", that word has been falling into disuse in
	England also ...

I agree that the use of `Scotch' as an adjective meaning `Scots'
or `Scottish' is now frowned upon, but in the past it was quite
acceptable. I don't know the reason for this change and would
like to know it. I am enclined to blame the genteel people of
Edinburgh, but this is my personal predjudice and not based on
serious investigation.

I think that the dogmatic insistence on `Scots' is an affectation
and is as unpleasant as the unthinking use of `Scotch'.
Perhaps we should devote more of our time to correcting those
(expletives deleted) people who call us `English'.

BTW why are people trying to decipher Jethro Tull lyrics on
soc.culture.celtic? Surely the correct newsgroup is
net.lang.c :->

Regards,
	Norm
	====