Scotch (adjective)
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Scotch is an adjective in English, meaning "of or from Scotland". Many Scots dislike the term Scotch and some consider it offensive. The modern usage in Scotland is Scottish or Scots, and the word Scotch is now only applied to specific products, mostly food or drink, such as Scotch whisky, Scotch pie and Scotch broth.[1][2]
The verb to scotch is unrelated to the adjective. Middle English scocchen derives from Anglo-French escocher meaning "to notch, nick or pierce", from coche, "a notch, groove".[3][2][4]
Usage
The adjective or noun Scotch is an
From the early 19th century, however, Scots or Scottish increasingly became the preferred usages among educated Scottish people, Scotch being regarded as an anglicised affectation. By 1908, this was described by The New York Times as a "long-established… preference" (see article). In modern usage in Scotland, "Scotch" is rarely used, other than as described in the following paragraph for certain articles; it has gathered patronising and faintly offensive connotations ("frugal with one's money").[9]
In modern current British usage, in England as in Scotland, the general term for things from or pertaining to Scotland is Scottish. Scots is used for the
Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to introduce
In 1965, the historian
"Scots" is the modern preferred usage in all levels of society in Scotland, but occasional use of "Scotch" in varieties of the Scots language continues with terms such as Scotch and English (a game), Scotch fiddle (itchiness), Scotch mile and ell (measures) and many other examples (see the Scots Dialect Dictionary compiled by Alexander Warrack M.A. (1911) republished by Waverley Books 2000). There are other good indicators that the use of "Scotch" has been "whitewashed out" and become a shibboleth. Early versions of dictionaries produced in Burns' wake in the 19th century had titles such as "A Dictionary of the Scotch Dialect of the Lowlands" and modern place names now written as "Scots" e.g., Scotstarvit and Scotscalder existed in previous incarnations as "Scotch".[citation needed] Scotch Corner survives as a place-name in England.
In a reminiscence on his early training as an advocate in
In 1978, the song "Scotch Machine" by the pan-European group Voyage was released in the UK as "Scots Machine".
In the 1937 film Storm in a Teacup, the Scottish/Scotch debate is a running joke. In one scene, Vicky (Vivien Leigh) is mixing cocktails. She explains to Frank (Rex Harrison) that her father, Provost Gow (Cecil Parker), who is standing for Parliament as a member of the "Caledonia League", "...wants to be prime minister of the first Scotch parliament." "Scottish, Vicky, Scottish!" her father pompously corrects her. "Well then, fix yourself a scottish and soda!" she replies, and flounces out of the door. In another scene, one of Gow's Caledonia League minions says to him "I've never seen the like in thirty years of Scotch politics!", with the same stern rebuke from the provost.
In the chorus of his song "I Love a Lassie", music hall comedian and singer Sir Harry Lauder sings "I love a lassie, a bonny hieland lassie, Mary ma Scotch blue bell."
All editions of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1887 collection of essays Memories and Portraits use Scotch as both an adjective and noun throughout.
The first edition of John Kenneth Galbraith's The Scotch was published in the UK under two alternative titles: as Made to Last and The Non-potable Scotch: A Memoir of the Clansmen in Canada. It was illustrated by Samuel H. Bryant. Galbraith's account of his boyhood environment in Elgin County in southern Ontario was added in 1963. He considered it his finest piece of writing.
See also
- Scotch-Irish American
- Scottish English
- Ulster-Scots Agency
References
- ^ "Scotch | Meaning of Scotch". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020.
- ^ a b "Scotch definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ "Definition of SCOTCH". Merriam-Webster.
- ^ "scotch | meaning of scotch". Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
- A.J. Aitken in The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press, 1992. p.892
- ^ "Scotch jig" (Much Ado About Nothing, Act II,I), "Scottish prisoners" (Henry IV, Part I, I,3), "Scottish power" (Henry IV, Part I, III,1), and "Scottish lord" (Merchant of Venice, I,2
- ^ Inglis was the Early Scots word for English, and the modern form can be found in surnames and place names containing Ingles or Inglis, such as Ingleston or Ingliston, where it is pronounced /ˈɪŋəlz/
- ^ "Robert Burns Country: The Burns Encyclopedia: National Bard, Scotland's". www.robertburns.org.
- ^ "Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions". Answers.
- ^ Taylor, Alan John Percivale English History 1914–1945 (p.v) The Oxford History of England, vol.XV (ed. Sir George Clark), Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1965, reprinted (with corrections) 1966