Define Scottishness

[lkc]

There's an article today on the beeb news website about The formula for Scottishness where they question what it is that makes people Scottish. It's a subject I'm interested in as to many people I'll never be Scottish even though I've lived here most of my life.

Does your country of birth really define who you are or is it your upbringing? For instance a good friend of mine was born in Germany as her father was stationed there at the time but she'd never class herself as German and most people would say she was Scottish. I was born in England for similar reasons and yet I'd say there's an even split between people who consider me Scottish and those who consider me English - and not just a border split either.

So, what makes someone Scottish? Is it language? Attitude? Or is it more inherent and down to parentage, place of birth?

Opinions?

btw, I'm just curious about this - no other reason than that

 

[Stuart]

to me its where you're born, no offence intended to anyone who considers that incorrect, its what I was brought up thinking and nuff said.

Where you are born tho dosnt define who you are, lifes experiences are for that.

 

[lkc]

to me its where you're born, no offence intended to anyone who considers that incorrect, its what I was brought up thinking and nuff said.

Where you are born tho dosnt define who you are, lifes experiences are for that.

No offence taken especially as I don't consider it to be necessarily incorrect. But then I don't regard it as the absolute characterisation either...

In fact I'd go as far to say I no longer have a clear idea of what defines nationality. As a teenager I'd definitely have agreed with you but that was more because it was fun to antagonise the teuchters than anything else :laugh: Nowadays I'm not so sure and lean more towards it's where you feel you belong which is why I'm curious to see what others think

Another example to think about. One of our students is from Nepal, as is his wife, but their daughter was born in Aberdeen. Does this make her a Scottish national albeit born to Nepalise parents? He finishes his studies soon and they plan return to Nepal. There's a strong chance they'll never return so does that make a difference?

 

[gengis]

Being PROUD I suppose...
Proud of our engineering heritage.
Proud of the people and their values.
Proud of the scenery.
Proud that you couldn't eat better anywhere in the world, without having many Michelin stars. but at the same time celebrating the deep fried Mars bar.
Pround of our Scotch Whisky, and at the same time proud of the Jakie lying on the pavement with his new trainers.
Proud of our Saltire...is there a better flag?
Proud off our bloody mindedness and humour.

The list is endless...

 

[msb89]

I regard myself as Scottish, as i was born and bread in Scotland my entire life.

The debate comes when we take into consideration that my dad is English, and mum is scottish, so technically, blood wise anyway, im half and half..

still regard myself as scottish tho, and not just to annoy dad! lol

 

[lkc]

Being PROUD I suppose...
Proud of our engineering heritage.
Proud of the people and their values.
Proud of the scenery.
Proud that you couldn't eat better anywhere in the world, without having many Michelin stars. but at the same time celebrating the deep fried Mars bar.
Pround of our Scotch Whisky, and at the same time proud of the Jakie lying on the pavement with his new trainers.
Proud of our Saltire...is there a better flag?
Proud off our bloody mindedness and humour.

The list is endless...

Yeah, that's a pretty good summation although I'm not so sure about the Jakie with the new trainers - mainly though cos I've never seen one in anything other than tatty old boots. Mind you the Aberdeen lot are too busy getting their heads stuck in bins to worry about their footwear :laugh:

I'd add to the list our language. It's diverse and sometimes just 20 miles is enough distance for the dialect to change completely but no matter where you are it's expressive and our words are often far more discriptive than their English counterparts. The article gave some good examples

I think "glaikit" is a superior term to "stupid", "messages" preferable to "groceries" and "shoogly" more mellifluous than "unstable".

I regard myself as Scottish, as i was born and bread in Scotland my entire life.

The debate comes when we take into consideration that my dad is English, and mum is scottish, so technically, blood wise anyway, im half and half..

still regard myself as scottish tho, and not just to annoy dad! lol

Funnily enough when I was going through my antagonistic phase my mother used to point out I was half Scottish and it was only thanks to the Royal Navy that I wasn't born in Dunfermline. She probably won't admit it now but I suspect I used to annoy her declaring myself as English lol

 

[neeny09]

my real dad was born and raised Scottish. He now lives in Swindon. He always wears a kilt to weddings but it seems very false since he has the english dilect and accent. He is very english now in his mannerisms and the way he talks. He also has the typical english belief that most Scots are lazy lay about's even though by definition he is Scottish.

I think it is very much a feeling of where you belong my aunt's family is a good example
My aunt was born and stayed in Australia until she was about 8 or 9 her parent are both Scottish, She can apply for an Australian or british passport.

Her husband was born and brought up in Kenya brought back when he was around the same age was born to scottish parent again he can apply for a African or Scottish passport.

So my aunts first born has a pakistani father so he can play for either pakistani national team or Scotlands also Australia's I also believe he can apply for a Pakistani or Australian and of couse a Scottish Passport if he can prove his lineage

My aunts second born is to her husband he can if he can prove his lineage can apply for an African, Australian or Scottish passport and play for any of the national teams.

but every single member of the family see's themselves as Scottish through and through. My aunt misses australia but she believes that she belongs here.

 

[Andi9386]

I can't really say much as I'm not Scottish.
The only Scottish relation in my family is my Step-Dad, but I get told by people that I have a slight 'twang' for an accent.
Well what do you expect with a Glaswegian Step-dad & my sister's partner is also Glaswegian.
I can't hide my English accent & I also get told it's a posh accent (posh my arse), just because I'm from the South Coast.
But the way some people speak does irritate me (no not any of you lot ), for instance people saying "messages" instead of shopping, "cerd" rather than card "hame" instead of home.

 

[lkc]

my real dad was born and raised Scottish. He now lives in Swindon. He always wears a kilt to weddings but it seems very false since he has the english dilect and accent. He is very english now in his mannerisms and the way he talks. He also has the typical english belief that most Scots are lazy lay about's even though by definition he is Scottish.

I'm not sure most of the English do believe the Scots are lazy except maybe the Daily Mail readers who aren't worthy of thought.

What does irk me though is when they get upset because our systems work and expect us to change in line with them. An example of which is from a few years ago when I was down in Norwich for work so arranged to meet up with family who lived down there. One of my cousin's had a wife who is a teacher and she was complaining about how Scotland doesn't have to do the SAT system and how unfair it was that we were exempt. When I asked her to explain why Scotland should be made to take on a failing programme she said it was to make things equal. It didn't even occur to her that perhaps England should adopt Scotland's model instead :rollseyes:

I think it is very much a feeling of where you belong my aunt's family is a good example
My aunt was born and stayed in Australia until she was about 8 or 9 her parent are both Scottish, She can apply for an Australian or british passport.

Her husband was born and brought up in Kenya brought back when he was around the same age was born to scottish parent again he can apply for a African or Scottish passport.

So my aunts first born has a pakistani father so he can play for either pakistani national team or Scotlands also Australia's I also believe he can apply for a Pakistani or Australian and of couse a Scottish Passport if he can prove his lineage

My aunts second born is to her husband he can if he can prove his lineage can apply for an African, Australian or Scottish passport and play for any of the national teams.

but every single member of the family see's themselves as Scottish through and through. My aunt misses australia but she believes that she belongs here.

One of my closest friends lives in Australia. She's NI by birth but like me grew up in the NE of Scotland. She moved there because her husband is Australian and can't cope with Scottish winters. But she clings to her Scottish roots and has called her 2nd daughter Heather as well surrounding herself with contemporary Scottish literature and music.

Mind you I think her insistence of returning home every few winters is taking it to extremes :laugh:

I can't really say much as I'm not Scottish.
The only Scottish relation in my family is my Step-Dad, but I get told by people that I have a slight 'twang' for an accent.
Well what do you expect with a Glaswegian Step-dad & my sister's partner is also Glaswegian.
I can't hide my English accent & I also get told it's a posh accent (posh my arse), just because I'm from the South Coast.
But the way some people speak does irritate me (no not any of you lot ), for instance people saying "messages" instead of shopping, "cerd" rather than card "hame" instead of home.

That'll be me then And many others on here for the other instances too.

There's a saying that's quite apt but I can't quite put my finger on it. Something to do with sugar...

 

[neeny09]

Same here I say messages and hame and breed instead of bread I add a lot of likes at the end of sentences too lol I also say a lot of words like dinnae or cannae I sometimes call a cloth a clute thats an oldie I also call my grandad my Di thats a miners word another word the English have problems with is when us scots say clap the dog rather than stroke the dog.

 

[lkc]

Don't mention the clap!

Remember what happened last time :laugh:

 

[Stuart]

what happened last time?

 

[lkc]

The annoyed/sad thread had a momentary identity crisis

 

[mrcinquecento]

The annoyed/sad thread had a momentary identity crisis

:laugh: that's one way of putting it :laugh:

 

[Andi9386]

Don't mention the clap!

Remember what happened last time :laugh:

God nooooooooooooooooooooo lets not go there again please....
:lol::lol: