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.
17. Yer bum's oot the windae!
Literally translated to "your bum is out the window" this saying ultimately just means that you're talking absolute nonsense. Photo: NDE via Canva Pro
18. Yer aff yer heid!
"You're off your head!" Useful in a variety of situations you can use this phrase to say someone's acting stupid or downright crazy. Photo: 123foto via Canva Pro
19. Ye think I came up the Clyde on a banana boat?
A well-known Glaswegian phrase which essentially means "Do you think I'm stupid?" Photo: diane10981 via Canva Pro
20. Whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye
"What is for you will not go by you" in other words if it was meant to be it would be so don't worry about it too much. Photo: shironosov via Canva Pro