Gin I wis Doric but nae Glesca,
Or I wisna Dundee nor Fife, nor yet
I wis some teuchter bumpin his gums
Shooglin on a tractor for his pey,
Fit wid I be but a dour carl
Wi a rochsome orra gab
An in my rauchlin couthieness
Fin’ some wad glory in’t
File ithers lauch?
So dinna jist lippen tae words alane
For it’s in the soon forbye there’s tent.
There’s the leid, ’at we aa unnerstaund
An fae the foons o’t spik it as well we micht.
Syne there’s the lingo, the twang
O aa the places we’ve bidden in,
Or far we’ve settlet or gaen for trade.
An ye canna pairt ane fae the ither
Ye canna see them striven because
The leid is but the lingo written doon.
Aye, fit we pauchle aff the dirtfu streets
Like keich an dub, words that ging yoamin
In oor moos for aa we’re genteel or wantin
Tae seem genteel an weel-bred in oorsels.
Afftimes, the best an worst o claic or sweerin,
The doucest or the coorsest cant o chiels an deems
Rises ower the lave o fowk mair mealy-mou’d
Draps aff the lip, gallus, canny, slee an mirthfu.
Ah, the lingo, gies the dirl tae whit we spik:
The leid is but the dictionar far-in oor words
Lie teem an knotless ayont the tellin.
The leid is jist meanin laid against a name
Later tae be said, later tae be heard.
© BH, 2018
Leid again. Guid Germanic word, thon. Got me thinkin aboot the difference atween fit we write doon (orthography?) an the way we spik (idiom, dialect?).
Ower muckle emphasis on the mair academic side o language kind o pits a cloot on the moo o conversation.
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