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Useful Scots Words

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Barbara:
Hello everyone!  Sorry I've been missing in action.  I was reading an online Scots newspaper and ran across some old Scots words so thought I would share some.  :D

Tonight's word is "keek."

From the Caledonian Mercury

Useful Scots word: keek

March 21, 2011 by Guest Writer

By Betty Kirkpatrick

I was in a bus the other day when a toddler was attempting to get the rest of the passengers to join in her game. She was covering her eyes with her scarf, then removing it and shouting out “keek”.

Most of the passengers took part with enthusiasm, even those who obviously had no idea what keek means. Still, they got the essential message of the game, which in Scotland is called keek, keekboo or keekaboo and in England peekaboo.

The game is derived from the Scots verb keek, which means to take a quick look at something. The quick look often involves some degree of secrecy, inquisitiveness, or surreptitiousness. A nosey neighbour might keek through a chink in the curtains to see what their neighbour is up to. A would-be cheat might try and keek at someone else’s answers during a school test.

Keek can also be a noun, with meanings corresponding to that of the verb. Thus, before venturing into a restaurant, you might try and get a quick keek at the menu so that you can make sure that there is something on it that you will like – and be able to afford. Fortunately, many restaurants now take the surreptitiousness out of keeking by displaying the menu in the window.

If you decide to keek in on someone you pay them a short visit, often unannounced. This visit is known, not surprisingly, as a keek. Remember that not everyone is enthused by such unscheduled keeks.

Keek, which is pronounced as it is spelt, appeared in Scots in the late 15th century. It is derived from Middle English kiken or keken and has connections with Dutch kijken, to peep or look.

Keek has given rise to various compounds or phrases. Keekin-glass is a looking-glass or mirror, reminding us of those vain people who cannot pass anything shiny without having a quick keek to check on their reflection. A keek-hole is a peep-hole, a chink in something through which an inquisitive person can keek in order to satisfy their curiosity. Rather poetically, keek o’ day is dawn or sunrise and keek o’ noon is midday.

A keek-the-vennel is a nickname given to a school attendance officer who was out to identify truants and bring retribution to them. A vennel is a lane or an alley. Presumably the attendance officer was always taking quick looks up such alleys with a view to glimpsing those who should have been safely behind their school desks. In similar vein, a keek-roon-corners is a spy, roon meaning round,

The best-known derivative of keek nowadays is keeker. This originally referred to a person who keeks and was particularly used of a peeping Tom. It then went on to mean the eye, the organ that is keeked through. Keeker is also used to refer to a microscope, a far-keeker being a telescope.

However, these are violent times and the most appropriate meaning of keeker for such times is black eye, sometimes known as a blue keeker. Allegedly, such keekers are most commonly caused by walking into doors.

Keek o'night everyone.  ;D

Barbara

Ernest Thompson:
Good one Barbara. Down under we've translated "keek" to "geek'.
As kids we would always nominate the most junior amongst us to take a quick geek to make sure the way ahead was clear.
Ern

John ThomsonHollingsworth:
Great one Barbara.
Its great to learn new words
John

Barbara:

--- Quote from: Ernest Thompson on March 23, 2011, 09:22:34 PM ---Good one Barbara. Down under we've translated "keek" to "geek'.
As kids we would always nominate the most junior amongst us to take a quick geek to make sure the way ahead was clear.
Ern

--- End quote ---

LOL!  I like "geek" too Ern.  ;D

Barbara

Barbara:
Another useful Scots word: Wersh

Wersh is a Scots word which is often used in relation to food. It is not the kind of word that you would find on a menu because it is far from complimentary. Something described as wersh is unlikely to tempt the diner’s appetite.

Wersh has two food meanings and this can lead to ambiguity. Usually the distinction between two meanings is obvious from a context, but this is not necessarily true of wersh. It can, for example, be used of soup in both its meanings.

The older of the two food meanings can be used of soup that is pretty tasteless, being decidedly lacking in flavouring or seasoning. In some cases it is almost impossible to identify what kind of soup it is meant to be.

This older meaning is quite closely related to the Middle English word werische, meaning insipid, from which wersh was formed. The other meaning, and the more modern of the two, is used to refer to food that it is unpleasantly tart or bitter. For example, you could describe soup that has lingered rather too long at the back of your fridge and developed a disagreeable sour taste as wersh.

Soup is by no means the only item of food or drink that can be described as wersh. The old (well, let us hope it is old) British way of overcooking vegetables until they turned to slops resulted in something that was decidedly wersh in the sense of tasteless. Flavourless sauces optimistically intended to improve the taste of fish or meat but failing lamentably to do so, can be called wersh.

In the days before there were health scares about salt, unsalted porridge was often described as wersh in the sense of tasteless. Flat beer also sometimes merited the term.

Cheap (or not-so-cheap but overpriced) wine, the kind that burns your throat and stomach and all parts in between, is often referred to as wersh in the other sense of unpleasantly sour. Salad dressings which are heavy on the cheap-quality vinegar and light on the extra-virgin olive oil can also be labelled wersh.

The sour sense of wersh is the more modern and said to be the more common nowadays. However, quite a few people still use the tasteless meaning. The ambiguity remains. All you can be certain of is that you are unlikely to find something described as wersh as palatable unless you have an unusual liking for the bland or the sour.

Barbara

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