Tom pid=66173 dateline=1563718296 said:
Thanks Stephen! I was prepared to apply to join your merry band Tony, but I only speak Yupper English, ya der hey.
When the English you speak isnt regarded by most as English at all, then you are at a major disadvantage. The teachers at school were obliged to teach us in The Queens English, and most of them did. We could probably all read and write English very well, but it is one hell of a difficult language to speak for some of us.
The simple proper English sentence:- The lady in the feuh coat is drawring a potrait., is just not possible for about 95% of Scottish people. We just cant manage that fur vowel sound, and neither can we add that extra r into drawing. They end up with two rs in the word drawing, but dont actually pronounce either of them. There should be two rs in portrait but the first one gets missed out. That must take years of practice.
For inspiration on how others cope with the vagaries of the English language, we Scots watch countless American TV shows and films, where they talk about an outlaw as being a bed men. The mind boggles.
Posh Scots try and incorporate all of the good bits and leave out all of the bad. Newbattle Abbey becomes Newbettle Ebbey, and that becomes thet. To the rest of us listening to them speak is like watching a comedy act, but they have the lest laugh, es they occupy the biggest hooses. They often drop their guard and the odd Scottish word drops in here and there.
It wid be gey borin if we aw spake the same Inglis, widdint it!
For those in any doubt here is what they reckoned we should have been taught in lowland Scottish schools. The language is our local Lallans, the comedian is Chic Murray, and he takes a fair bit of licence with the language. as youll hear. It is supposed to be a poetry recital, but as usual Chic turns it into a beautiful disaster. This isnt Gaelic, which is not of our culture at all. Another similar version named Ullans was used in Northern Ireland, but it has developed into what is now known as Ulster-Scots. Basically they speak the same as we did about 200 years ago. Fascinating, or not, as the case may be. You get Posh Scottish for 20 seconds, before Chic gets into his own version of Lallans.
Posh Queens English, Scottish style:-
