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.
33. You're a wee scunner!
Often said in moments of impatience this is akin to saying to someone "you're such a nuisance!" Photo: max-marchenko_family via Canva Pro
34. Ah Dinnae Ken
A great phrase to highlight some basics of the Scots language, this literally just means "I don't know". Photo: PeopleImages via Canva Pro
35. Jings, crivens, help ma boab!
This is used as an exclamation of surprise or bewilderment and it originates from the famous Scottish cartoon 'Oor Wullie'. Photo: First Minister of Scotland via Flickr
36. I'm fair puckled
'Fair' is often used by Scots as a way of saying 'very', and in this case puckled refers to being out of breath. Photo: RealPeopleGroup via Canva Pro