Doric Dialect (Scotland) - Select Vocabulary

Select Vocabulary

The most distinctive and common Doric phrase is Ay ay, fit like?, "Hello, how are you?" (Ay Ay, whit like? - ay is sometimes spelt aye. The SND also states: "The spelling of this and the preceding word in Sc. is irregular, but ay = yes, and aye = always, seem to predominate. Both words in Sc. are markedly diphthongal but not identical in pronunciation. N.E.D. and Un. Eng. Dict. prefer ay = always, and aye = yes, the first of which rhymes with the ay series of Eng. words like say, day, etc., while the second does not. The Concise Eng. Dict. spells ay = yes, and aye = ever, always.")

• A'm awfu sair needin the lavvy - (awfu pronounced 'affa' or 'affi' depending on location) I am bursting for the toilet.
• A'm fair dancin mad - I am in a rage.
• A'm fair forfochten - I am very tired.
• ay is't - reply to the greeting fine mornin
• ay fairly or ay michty ay - yes indeed.
• aye peckin or peckin awa - Literally "Always pecking." The reply to Fou's yer doos?
• the Broch - Fraserburgh also Burghead near Elgin.
• caumie doun! - Calm down!
• Causey Mounth - the road over the "Mounth" or Grampians
• come awa ben the hoose for a fly an a piece - Welcome. Come in and I'll make you a cup of tea and something to eat.
• Claik - the Doric dialect of Buchan fishing villages - also used more generally to mean either gossip.
• dinna be coorse or A'll skelp yer dowp - Don't be naughty or I will smack your bottom. dock can also be used instead of dowp.
• fa? (wha?) fit? (whit?) fit wey? (whit wey?) faur? (whaur?) fan? (whan) - "who? what? what way? why? where? when?"
• far aboots? (Whaur aboots?) - Whereabouts? (Aberdeen is nicknamed "Furry Boots City" from a humorous spelling of far aboots - furry boots.)
• far div ye bide? (Whaur div ye bide?) - "Where do you live?"
• fit? (Whit) - "What?"
• fit like? (Whit like) - A greeting, essentially, "How are you doing?", to which the response might be "Nae bad. Yersel?" "Aye tawin on", "Fine, thanks" or "juist tyauvin awa'"
• fit ye deein? (Whit ye daein?) - "What are you doing?"
• fit's adee? (Whit's adae?) - "What's wrong?"
• foggy bummer - Bumblebee
• for a filie (for a whilie) - for a long time
• fou lang (hou lang) - how long
• fou's yer dous? (Hou's yer dous?) - literally "how are your pigeons?", now used as "how are you?" A stock phrase, not so often used in speech as to send up Doric.
• futrat (Whitrat) - Weasel or other Mustelid, but commonly used for ferret now.
• gealt - cold
• gie's a bosie! - "Give me a hug!"
• gulsochs - sweets, cream cakes, doughnuts, caramels etc.
• knapdarloch - dung hanging in knots in wool round a sheep's bottom
• louns an quines (louns an queans) - Lads and lassies, boys and girls. (NB loun or loon has no derogatory connotation in Doric)
• min - Man, as in Ay ay, min.