From our archives 50 years ago Scots word of the week
5 years ago
Holyrood bosses have been accused of “outdated ethnic nationalism” by defining a Scot as someone “born in Scotland” in an initiative to name two meeting rooms in the Parliament’s historic Queensberry House building. The criticism was made by independent MSP John Finnie, who has taken issue with the criterion when it was used to ask MSPS for suggestions about what to call the rooms. Mr Finnie said the definition was “too narrow “.
25 years ago
The BBC has claimed victory in the Christmas Day TV viewing battle with eight of the top 10 mostwatched shows. BBC1’S big-hitters included Doctor Who, with more than 11 million tuning in to see the reworking of seasonal favourite A Christmas Carol, as the channel took all of the top five shows. The best-viewed show of the day was an hour-long edition of Eastenders with an average of 11.4 million tuning in to see Stacey Branning exit Albert Square
There is no sign of a respite in the big freeze, with weathermen warning of worse to come in the next few days. The coldest place in Scotland yesterday was
Altnaharra in Sutherland, where the temperature plummeted to -20.7°C and was expected to drop to -25°C last night. It was followed closely by Tulloch Bridge, near Fort William, at -20.5°C.
Glasgow is also facing a deeper freeze with temperatures expected to drop to -20°C.
EACHY PEACHY
Eachy peachy is defined in the Dictionary of the Scots Language as being equal to – “eeksie peeksie”, “on an equality, much alike, six and half a dozen”.
Eachy peachy, in dictionary terms, makes a relatively late appearance in DSL with a dry comment from Bill Mcghee’s 1962 novel Cut And Run: “It was as plain as the face round my nose that she didn’t like me, and for my part it was eachy-peachy”.
In the 21st century the term seems to have become commonplace in the reporting of sporting events. The Herald of May 2011 comments: “Lennon was not ready to concede the title yet with two matches still to play. ‘I can’t predict the future. There are so many variables in football so you just don’t know. It’s eachypeachy’ he said”.
However, eachy peachy has not always been confined to the description of equal shares. Today is the birthday of Liz Lochhead, one of our foremost writers and poets. I’m sure that from her early life she will remember eachy peachy in children’s counting-out rhymes. The spoken nature of words used in this way are notoriously difficult to find. Here are some DSL examples: Glasgow 1989, “Eachy-peachy play a plum, When does your birthday come?”; Banff 1990, “Eachy peachy pear, plum”; Edinburgh, 1991 “Eachy peachy penny and plum, Stuff the paper up the lum”. Finally, Edinburgh again in 1994, “Eachy peachy penny a plum I spy Tom Thumb”.
Scots Word of the Week is written by Pauline Cairns Speitel