Words

Obviously there are a lot of words that are different here – some of them everyone knows (wee, lass, lift); some I grew up hearing (peely-walley, crabbit, clipe); some are easy to guess (eejit, tattie, outwith); some are purely Orcadian (peedie, blide, abune); and with some it’s the same word, just with an accent (hoose, dug, auld).

Fortunately, the Orkney accent is a very easy accent to listen to and follow. It’s very soft, and somewhat musical, and apart from the elderly men Scout & I meet on our walks, I find Orcadians easy to understand. (I really think it’s just a combination of age and being from a small community that makes those gentlemen near-incomprehensible – I imagine years of smoking have made them ‘growly’, loose dentures has added a bit of a ‘slur’, spending 80+ years on a remote tiny island has them speaking in the local dialect almost exclusively, and the winter weather has their voice muffled up behind a scarf. Truly, I just grin and nod and say “uh-huh” when they address us, and say, “yes, she’s a very good dog.” They probably think I’m just daft.)

I joined a cookery club last week and during the conversation I realized I’ve started to pick up not only Scots words, but Orcadian ones as well. One lady ended many of her sentences with “d’ya ken” – sort of like the Canadian “eh”. They talked about making a peedie pot of soup, having neeps with their stovies, and going their messages before heading hame – and I followed all of that, easily. I also learned a few new words that night: they did have to translate when one lady spoke of a seafood dish with spoots and partan (razor clams and crab).

But there are some words that just sound wrong. As in PC-wrong. I have heard U.K. newsreaders use the word ‘oriental’ on air – I told someone that we don’t use that term in North America anymore and they were quite surprised. They throw the word ‘racist’ around a lot – if someone from London makes a comment about someone from Cornwall, they are ‘being racist’. Ditto comments about the Welsh, Geordies, etc. I don’t get it – it’s as if I teased my friends in Calgary and they accused me of racism?!?

My favourite is when I had a drink in The Clansman pub. I am looking at booking a couple of nights in May at Clansman hotel. When I signed up for a local discount card, it said ‘Welcome to the Clan!’. All of this looks okay in print, but saying any of it out loud feels weird to North American ears. Clearly no one else feels that way here – I’m the only one. Silly bunt.

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