Scottish words and sayings, combined with a world-famous accent, can easily make the English used here sound like a totally separate tongue. It aptly reflects the fact that Scotland historically never had one uniform language spoken by all its ancestors (and to this day we still have languages like Scots and Scottish Gaelic.)
In the Scottish Highlands you were more likely to encounter Gaelic once upon a time while in the lowlands Scots was preferred.
We asked our Scotsman readers what “their favourite Scottish saying is” and they offered spectacular answers from “yer lookin’ peely wally” (you look sick) to the classic “whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye” (what’s meant to be will be!)
These are forty of Scotland’s favourite Scottish sayings and phrases as voted by our Scotsman readers.
9. Gonnae no dae that
An iconic saying from the Scottish lexicon, this simply means "don't do that" when someone's irking you with their behaviour. Photo: YouTube Screenshot
10. A nod's as guid as a wink tae a blind horse
"A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse" - basically that small hints are often enough to convey what we want to say. Photo: RobertHud via Canva Pro
11. Black as the Earl of Hell’s Waistcoat!
We use this to refer to something being very dark, during the night for example it could be used to say its pitch black outside. Photo: shironosov via Canva Pro
12. Haud yer wheesht
This basically translates to "shut up" and can also be said as just "wheesht" for a short and snappy way of making someone quiet. Photo: Stolk via Canva Pro