Our Belgian friend Christian, physicist and book collector, gave me a 1901 collection of poetry by Robert Burns (1759-1796) with a glossary of Scottish terms. Amazing treasure! Here are some great words we’ve lost and ought to get back, either for the sound or the sense. Say them aloud and think of some appropriate occasions to drop them in your conversation.:
Aff loof: extemporaneously (He was speaking aff loof.)
Aizle: a hot cinder (Doesn’t it sound like one?)
Batch: a lusty party
Bawk: open place in a cornfield
Blellum: an idle talking fellow
Brooses: after a country wedding, the horse race back to the groom’s house
Chiels: Young fellows
Clishmaclaver: Idle talk [My favorite]
Custock: the center of a stem of cabbage (Who knew?)
Daurk: a day’s labor (Like writing blog posts)
Dusht: pushed by a ram or ox [Don’t you just hate that?]
Fashous: troublesome (Oh, this scene is so fashous.)
Fidgin-fain: fidgeting with eagerness [A story here!]
Geck: to toss the head in wantonness or scorn [Go ahead, do it!}
Goavan: looking around with a strange, inquiring gaze [How did we lose that one?}
Hash: a soft, useless fellow
Hirples: walks with difficulty (He was hirpling along.)
Ingle-lowe: the household fire.
Lickit: licked with desire.
… and I think I’ll stop with lickit.
Pamela Schoenewaldt, historical novels of immigration and the search for self in new worlds: WHEN WE WERE STRANGERS, SWIMMING IN THE MOON, and UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY (all HarperCollins).
pamelaschoenewaldt.com 
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