Child's play

I much enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith's column which spoke of childhood games in Scotland. [January 2021 edition] In Galloway we played 'beds' with a stone called a 'peevie'. Wondering if my memory was serving me well, I resorted to an old friend, 'Chambers Scots Dictionary', and looked the word up: 'Beds, n. the game of hopscotch'.

While on the subject of Scots words, what has happened to that fine descriptive word 'jag', as in 'Ow! – jaggy nettles', 'this jaggy jumper my granny knitted' and 'the doctor gi'ed me a jag in ma bum'? 'Jab' is an English word and is creeping into Scotland with the vaccine.

Cicely McCulloch, Penicuik