Awa’ ye go! It’s time tae celebrate our own language

The word “fankle” caused a stooshie in the House of Commons last week. Livingston MP Hannah Bardell was asked by Hansard – the service that records every utterance in the UK Parliament – to clarify her use of the word, suggesting she may have meant “tangle”.

Nope, or, perhaps better, nut. They were in the right area, thematically, but the wrong country, linguistically, because she did say “fankle” in describing the state the UK Government is in. See also guddle, midden, and so on.

I was pleased to see Scots deployed at Westminster. It’s a sair fecht that the reporters from Hansard didn’t recognise it, because it was in their own records eight times, including one use by none other than Michael Gove, who is Scottish whether we like it or not.

I’m Scottish but I’m worried I’m losing my Scots. Since I emigrated to Canada, I’ve mostly had to stick to English and limit the Scots words I use, just to be understood by the people around me. They think I have an accent but it’s more than that. And that was the other problem with the “fankle” incident. The Press Association, providing reporting of the Parliamentary incident to media outlets including The Courier, started its report by calling Scots a “regional dialect”.

I fear my reaction to that is a little Anglo-Saxon, so I will limit my comments to: Awa’ ye go.

Scots is a language and, if you grew up speaking Scots, English is your second language, at best.

Granted, the two tongues share most words, but the rich vocabulary of Scots in its many localised forms sets it apart as its own entity, and we should celebrate it.

My schooldays were punctuated by many teachers scolding us for using Scots terms, saying we weren’t speaking “properly” and we should use English instead. I’ll agree it’s better to be understood – as in my case – and words should be used appropriately as occasion demands, but demeaning Scots by suggesting it is improper is keech.

So, weel done Hannah Bardell and, by extension, Michael Gove, ba’heid though he may be. Keep speaking our language, till a’ the seas gang dry.

They think I have an accent but it’s more than that