Parliamo Scots? Drink (original) (raw)

Here, we concentrate on the effects of one of Scotland's favourite past-times.

• "Bazooka'd" and "Blitzed" clearly have their origins in wartime.
• "Bevvied" - derived from the word "beverage", a "bevvy" is an alcoholic drink and a particularly good drinking session is a "heavy bevvy" So to be "bevvied" is to be drunk.
• "Birlin'" - to "birl" is to spin or whirl round (as in certain energetic Scottish country dancing) so in Glasgow in particular someone who is "birlin'" has his head spinning!
• Blootered Someone who is very drunk as in "He came hame frae the pub absolutely blootered." But the word can also mean "a wild kick" as in "He blootered the ball over the cross-bar"
• Bucket Anyone who "takes a good bucket" consumes a large but undefined amount of alcohol.
• Guttered Extremely drunk, presumably derived from those who ended up in the gutter at the side of the pavement. Similarly, someone who is paralytic is unable to move as a result of too much alcohol!
• Steamin' You've guessed it! Very drunk! And someone who is "stottin" is someone who is so drunk that they cannot walk without staggering as in "He comes home stottin every Saturday night"
• Swally (Rhymes with Sally) Clearly derived from "swallow" it is usually used in relation to drinking alcohol as in "Let's have a swally at the pub after the fitba' match"
• "Ridiculous" - well, to people who are sober, people who are helplessly drunk often do appear "ridiculous".

Now some more words describing different types of drink and drinking!

• "Adam's wine" or "Adam's ale" - Water!
• "Auld man's milk" - a kind of egg flip
• "Birse cup" - a final cup of tea with whisky or other spirit added instead of milk.
• "Blithemeat" - food given to people in a house at the time of a birth (when home deliveries, rather than the hospital, were the norm).
• "Blubber-totum" - a name for any drink made too thin or weak (tea or gruel)
• "Bothan" - an unlicensed drinking house or hut
• "Cairry-oot" - food or drink which is carried out to be eaten elsewhere.
• "Cauld kail het again" - reheated broth (or other reheated food), no doubt a frequent occurrence long ago.
• "Collie will ye lick" - he never even invited me to have something to eat!
• "Cream of the water" - the first water drawn from a well on New Year's morning.
• "Divot" - a thick clumsy slice of bread or meat. Now used by golfers to describe the clump of earth and grass they sometimes dig up with their clubs!
• "Fine gabit" or "Nice gabit" - fussy or fastidious about food.
• "Foosty" - food which has become mouldy and smelly.
• "Glasgow punch" - not be confused with a "Glasgow kiss" (which is a head-butt!) Glasgow punch is made from rum, cold water, sugar, lemon and lime.
• "A hauf an' a hauf" - a small whisky with a half pint of beer as a chaser
• "Heather ale" - a drink brewed from heather, hops, syrup, ginger and water.
• "It's ma bell" - it is my turn to buy the drinks.
• "Lith" or "Skliff" - one of the segments of an orange.
• "Penny whaup" - a thin weak ale which used to be sold at a penny a bottle.
• "Scotch muffler" - a drink of any spirits but especially whisky, which will keep you warm...
• "Skoosh" - lemonade or any carbonated drink.
• "Wersh" - cooked without salt, tasteless.
• "Whit ur ye fur?" - what would you like to drink? A frequent reply might be "Mine's a voddy" (I'll hava a vodka) or "Ah'll hiv a hauf and a hauf" (I'll have a whisky and a half pint of beer as a chaser).
• "Willie waught" - a heavy swig, usually of beer.