COLUMNS appearing in The National are helping to bolster a renaissance in the Scots language.
More than 40 Scottish terms have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) this month, and you can now officially refer to the Unionist case against indyref2 as consisting of “hee-haw”.
Other additions included coorie, eeksie-peeksie, black-affronted and bamstick.
Two of the new additions are sourced directly to The National.
The OED cites our columnist Thomas Clark’s article published in January 2018 for the word “bauchle”.
He wrote: “Ah wisnae aboot tae hae [the Star Wars films] mansplained tae me bi a wee bauchle wi an egg for a profile pic.”
Bauchle had two definitions provided: “a mess, a muddle; (hence) a source of ridicule or derision, a laughing stock,” or “an old, decrepit, or shabby person. In later use also as a generally dismissive term: an insignificant or worthless person or (occasionally) thing.”
Clark said: “The Scots language is undergoing something of a renaissance right now, and a huge part of that is down to outlets like The National which are publishing great work in Scots. It’s fantastic to see words from our language making their way into English (and beyond!), and I’m over the moon to have played a part in that!”
The National also provided a key source “fantoosh”, defined as: “Fancy, showy, flashy; stylish, sophisticated; fashionable, exotic. Often used disparagingly, implying ostentation or pretentiousness.”
The National has previously been referenced for douce, and the English words alide and gilt-edged.
The newly added “bawbag” debuted as an official word on STV by news presenter Kelly-Ann Woodland.
More than 650 new words were added into this year’s OED. , with the dictionary celebrating 90 years since it was first published.
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