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A drunk man looks at the thistle cover

A drunk man looks at the thistle

Chapter 6: GLOSSARY.
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About This Book

A long, free-ranging dramatic monologue in a Scots-inflected voice in which an inebriated speaker alternates between self-reflection and sharp cultural critique. Through digressions on language, song, literary icons, public ritual, and personal memory the speaker interrogates commercialization of tradition, the limits of rationality, artistic sincerity, and the tension between private feeling and public spectacle. The poem mixes colloquial register, ironic satire, lyric meditation, and philosophical speculation, shifting between comic invective and serious moral questioning while experimenting with form and voice to explore how history, identity, and art are remembered, commodified, and transformed.

GLOSSARY.

  • Abaw—abash, appal.
  • Abies—except.
  • Abordage—the act of getting on board.
  • Aft’rins—the remainder, off-scourings.
  • Agley—off the right line, wrong.
  • Ahint—behind.
  • Aiblins—perhaps.
  • Aidle—foul slop.
  • Aiker—motion, or break, made in water by fish swimming rapidly.
  • Airgh—lack, or what anything requires to bring it up to the level.
  • Airts—directions.
  • Alistto come alist; to recover from faintness or decay.
  • Aroint—clear away.
  • Arrears—goes backward.
  • Atour—out from.
  • Aucht-fit—eight-foot.
  • Aumrie—cupboard.
  • Awn (to)—to own.
  • Avizandum—to defer decision.
  • Back-hauf (to be worn to)—practically worn out.
  • Backlands—Glasgow slum tenements.
  • Baggit—enceinte.
  • Bairn-time—a woman’s breeding-time.
  • Barkin’ and fleein’—on the verge of ruin.
  • Barley bree—whisky.
  • Barrowsteel (to tak’ my)—to co-operate.
  • Ba’s—balls.
  • Bauch—sorry.
  • Bawaw—an oblique look of contempt or scorn.
  • Beanswaup—the hull of a bean, anything of no value.
  • Beddiness—silly importunacy.
  • Beeks—shows.
  • Belly-thraw—colic.
  • Belth—sudden swirl.
  • Ben (to gang)—to go in.
  • Benmaist—inmost.
  • Biel—shelter.
  • Bien—complacent.
  • Blash—sudden onset.
  • Blate—bashful.
  • Blebs—drops.
  • Blethers—nonsense.
  • Blinnin’ stew—storm through which impossible to see.
  • Blinterin’—gleaming.
  • Blottie O—a school game.
  • Bluffert—squall.
  • Bobby—policeman.
  • Bood to”—must.
  • Boss (of body)—front.
  • Bratts—scum.
  • Braw—handsome.
  • Breenge—burst.
  • Brough—ring (round moon).
  • Buddies—folks.
  • Buff nor stye—one thing or another.
  • Buik—trunk (of body).
  • Bursten kirn—difficult harvest.
  • Buss—bush.
  • Cairn—pile.
  • Camsteerie—perverse, unmanageable.
  • Cappilow (to)—outdistance.
  • Carline—old woman, witch.
  • Cavaburd—dense snowstorm.
  • Chafts—chops.
  • Cheatrie—deceit, fraud.
  • Chitterin’—trembling violently, shivering.
  • Chowed—chewed.
  • Chowl (to)—twist, distort.
  • Chuns—sprouts or germs.
  • Claft—shrunken.
  • Claith—cloth.
  • Claught (to)—to grab at.
  • Cleg—gad-fly.
  • Cleiks—the merest adumbration.
  • Clints—cliffs.
  • Clyre—tumour, gland.
  • Clytach—balderdash.
  • Cod—pillow.
  • Come-doon—degradation.
  • Connached—abused, spoiled.
  • Coom—comb.
  • Coonter—counter.
  • Corbaudie comes in—that is the obstacle.
  • Cordage—tackling of a ship.
  • Corneigh—enough (lit. cœur ennuyé, internally disquieted).
  • Cottons—cottar houses.
  • Coupin’—overturning, emptying.
  • Courage-bag—scrotum.
  • Couthie—comfortable.
  • Coutribat—struggle.
  • Cree (legs wi’)—not safe to meddle with.
  • Creel—in a state of mental excitement or confusion or physical agony.
  • Crockats up—on (one’s) dignity.
  • Cross-brath’d—braided.
  • Cross-tap—mizzen-mast.
  • Crottle—crumble away.
  • Cuckold—hoodwinked, diddled.
  • Cude—barrel.
  • Cull—testicle.
  • Cullage—genitals.
  • Dander—temper.
  • Datchie—sly, secret.
  • Daunton—overawe.
  • Deef—deaf, unimpressionable.
  • Deemless—countless.
  • Derf—taciturn, cruel.
  • Dern—hide.
  • Ding—bang down.
  • Doited—mad.
  • Donnert—dazed, stupefied.
  • Dottlin’—maundering.
  • Doup—backside.
  • Dour—intractable.
  • Dowf—hollow, gloomy, inert.
  • Dowless—imponderable.
  • Dowse—quench.
  • Dozent—stupid.
  • Drobs—falls like hail.
  • Drookit—soaked.
  • Drumlie—troubled, discoloured.
  • Dumb-deid—midnight.
  • Dwamin’—overpowering.
  • Dwinin’—dwindling.
  • Eel-ark—breeding ground for eels.
  • Eemis—ill-poised.
  • Een—eyes.
  • Eident—busy.
  • Eisenin’—lustful.
  • Elbuck—elbow.
  • Ettle—aspire.
  • Faburdun—faux bourdon.
  • Fair—completely.
  • Fanerels—accessories.
  • Fank o’ tows—coil of ropes.
  • Fankles—becomes clumsy.
  • Fantice—whimsicality.
  • Farles—filaments of ash.
  • Fash—trouble.
  • Feck—majority.
  • Fecklessly—impotently.
  • Ferlies—wonders.
  • Fey—fated.
  • Fidge—move.
  • Figuration—harmony.
  • File—defile.
  • Flauchter—flutters.
  • Flaught—abased.
  • Flech—flea.
  • Fleg—frighten.
  • Flet—flit.
  • Forfochen—completely tired out.
  • Forgether—meet.
  • Fork-in-the-wa’—means of diverting share of labour pains to husband.
  • Fou’—drunk.
  • Foudrie—lightning.
  • Fousome—disgusting.
  • Fratt—fretwork.
  • Fraucht—cargo.
  • Freaths—plumes of foam or froth.
  • Fremt—friendless, isolated.
  • Foziest—most stupid.
  • Fullyery—(lit.) foliage.
  • Gaadies—bloomers, howlers, gaffes.
  • Gaff—hook for fish.
  • Galliard—rapid dance.
  • Gallus—reckless.
  • Gammons—feet.
  • Gangrel—wanderer.
  • Ganien—rodomontade.
  • Gantin’—yawning.
  • Gantrees—planks for putting barrel on.
  • Gausty—ghastly, ascetic.
  • Gaw (to have a)—to have a catch upon.
  • Gealed—congealed.
  • Geg—trick, deception.
  • Gellon the gell, on the go.
  • Gemmell—double harmony.
  • Get—bastard.
  • Gey—very.
  • Geylies—very much.
  • Gill-ha’—pub of all weathers, hostelry of life.
  • Gird—hoop.
  • Glaur—mud.
  • Gleg—eager.
  • Gleids—sparks.
  • Glisk—gleam, glance.
  • Glit—slime.
  • Gloffs—darknesses appearing denser than other parts of atmosphere.
  • Glower—gaze at.
  • Goam—gaze stupidly at.
  • Gorded—frosted.
  • Goustrous—frightful.
  • Gowk-storm—storm of short duration (sub-sense of foolish fuss).
  • Gowls—hollows, opposite of gloffs.
  • Gree (to bear off)—carry off the palm.
  • Grieshuckle—embers.
  • Grue—revulsion.
  • Grugous—ugly.
  • Gruntle—pig’s nose.
  • Gurly—savage.
  • Guts—bowels.
  • Gy—spectacle.
  • Haggisunknown.
  • Hain—preserve.
  • Hair (kaimed to lift)—on the go.
  • Hairst—harvest.
  • Happit—covered.
  • Harns—brains.
  • Harth—lean.
  • Hauflins—adolescent boys.
  • Haw—hollow.
  • Heich-skeich—irresponsible.
  • Hod’n—hidden.
  • Howd—shorn down.
  • Howe—hollow.
  • How-dumb-deid—midnight.
  • Howff—public-house.
  • Hwll—ululation.
  • Ilka—every.
  • Ingangs—intestines.
  • Ingles—hearths.
  • Inklins—intuitions.
  • Jag—prick.
  • Jalouse—guess.
  • Jaup—splash.
  • Jizzen—child-bed, lit. in the straw.
  • Jouk—dodge.
  • Kaa—drive.
  • Kaim—comb.
  • Keethins—circles betraying fish’s movements.
  • Kelter—waggle.
  • Keltie—bumper.
  • Kilted (in a tippit)—hung in a noose.
  • Kink (to)—bend or twist.
  • Kirk or mill (to mak’ a)—to do the best one can.
  • Kist—chest, breast.
  • Kittle (adj.)—ticklish.
  • Kittle (to)—tickle.
  • Knool—pin or peg.
  • Kyths—appears, shows.
  • Larochs—foundations.
  • Lave—rest.
  • Lear—learning.
  • Leed—strain.
  • Liddenin’—going backwards and forwards.
  • Lift—sky.
  • Little-bodies—fairies.
  • Lochan—little loch.
  • Loppert—coagulated.
  • Lourd—heavy, over-charged, cloudy.
  • Lowe—flame.
  • Lowse—free, loosen.
  • Lozen—window.
  • Lugs—ears.
  • Maikless—matchless.
  • Mapamound—map of the world.
  • Marrow (winsome)—a creditable limb.
  • Mells—mixes.
  • Mirlygoes—dazzle.
  • Mocage—banter, irony, contempt.
  • Mochiness—closeness.
  • Moniplies—intestines.
  • Moosewob—spider’s web.
  • Muckle—big.
  • Muckle Toon (p. 17)—Langholm in Dumfriesshire.
  • Mum—silent.
  • Munkie—rope with noose at end.
  • Munks—swings away.
  • Mutchkin—liquor measure, half-bottle.
  • Nae mowse—perilous.
  • Natheless—nevertheless.
  • Natter—rant.
  • Neist—next.
  • Nesh—full of awareness.
  • Nocht—nothing.
  • Oorie—weird.
  • Ootby—outside.
  • Ootcuissen—outcast.
  • Ootrieoutré.
  • Orra—not up to much.
  • Peepy-show—cinema.
  • Peerie—spinning-top.
  • Penny wheep—small ale.
  • Pickle—small quantity.
  • Pirn—reel.
  • Plumm—deep pool.
  • Pokiness—congestion.
  • Prick-sang—compositions.
  • Quean—lass, woman.
  • Quenry—reminiscences of dealings with women.
  • Raff (of rain)—a few streaks of rain.
  • Ragments—odds and ends.
  • Ramel—branches.
  • Ratt-rime—incantations for killing rats.
  • Rax—strain.
  • Recoll—reminiscences.
  • Reishlin’—rustling.
  • Reistit—dried.
  • Ripe—search.
  • Rippit—rumpus.
  • Ripples—diarrhœa.
  • Rit—scrape.
  • Rived—torn.
  • Rooky—misty.
  • Root-hewn—awkward.
  • Rouk—smoke, mist.
  • Row’d—rolled, wrapped up.
  • Rowin’—rolling.
  • Rumple-fyke—itch in anus.
  • Runkled—wrinkled.
  • Samyn—deck of ship.
  • Sclatrie—obscenities.
  • Scount—small example.
  • Scouth—scope.
  • Scunner (to)—disgust.
  • Scunnersome—repulsive.
  • Seilfu’—blissful.
  • Sentrices—scaffolding.
  • Ser’—serve.
  • Shasloch—loose straw, litter.
  • Sheckle—wrist.
  • Sibness—relationship.
  • Siccar (to mak’)—to make certain.
  • Sinnen—sinew.
  • Shoon—shoes.
  • Skime—gleam.
  • Skinklan’—shining, twinkling.
  • Skirl-i’-the-pan—fried oatmeal.
  • Slorp—lap up, slobber over.
  • Slounge—sharp fall.
  • Sonsy—contented.
  • Spalin’—burning away.
  • Spiel—climb.
  • Spier—ask.
  • Splairgin’—spluttering.
  • Stang—paroxysm.
  • Sta’-tree—pole for tethering cattle to.
  • Steekin’—shutting.
  • Stegh—glut.
  • Stented—appointed.
  • Stertle-a-stobie—exhalations.
  • Stour—dust.
  • Stramash—rumpus.
  • Stramulyert—panic-stricken.
  • Strawns—strings or chains.
  • Swack—active, supple.
  • Swaw—ripple.
  • Swippert—lively.
  • Swith wi’ virr—vehement.
  • Swither—hesitate.
  • Syne—thereafter.
  • Taigled—entangled.
  • Tapsalteerie—topsy-turvy.
  • Thieveless—impotent.
  • Thorter-ills—paralytic seizures.
  • Thow—thaw.
  • Thowless—impotent.
  • Thrang—busy.
  • Thring—shrug.
  • Toom (to)—empty.
  • Toories—pom-poms.
  • Twaesome—the two of them.
  • Tyauve (to)—struggle.
  • Ugsome—ugly, horrid.
  • Ullage—deficiency in contents of barrel.
  • Unco—very.
  • Unkennable—unknowledgable.
  • Vennel—lane, narrow street.
  • Vieve—vivid.
  • Wab—web.
  • Wae—woeful.
  • Waesome—woeful.
  • Waesucks—alas.
  • Wanchancy—unfortunate.
  • Waun’ert—confused.
  • Waur—worse.
  • Weird—fate.
  • Weirdless—worthless.
  • Wheengin’—complaining.
  • Wheesht—hush.
  • Whummle—overturn.
  • Widdifow—perverse.
  • Windlestrae—straw.
  • Wizened—shrunk.
  • Worm-i’-the-cheek—toothache.
  • Wuppit—winding, wound round.
  • Yabblin’—gabbling.
  • Yank—throw.
  • Ygdrasil—(Celtic) Tree of Life.

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