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A Little Respect
Posted by: Duncan
09 Aug 08 - 11:38
Hello aw, howp ye ar aw daein weill an managed tae survive the hinmaist week wiout a blog frae me tae keep ye gaein. I micht be awa up tae the heilands neist week, sae I'll pit a bittie mair intae this ane nor ordinar in case I dinna get tae dae nest week's ane on time.
Nou, I'm shair mair nor a few o ye read in the papers this week about a wee lassie doun South gettin shot in the face wi a bee-bee gun by sum wee scunner for haein a Scots accent, an I'm shair ye wis aw as scunnered as I wis tae leir o it. Chancily, the lassie wisna badly skaithed, but I wis fair thrawn whan I read it.
Nou, the want o respeck for the Scots leid is weill enou kent tae no need ma tellin o it, but tae actually see this extend tae an ack o violence agin a wean is naething short o sickenin. Is sum weys it's a "logical" (gin ye coud uise thon wurd for sic unthinking cairry-on) neist step frae seein the wey sum fowks speak as bein less guid nor the wey ye dae yersel. Again this is obvious tae onieane that cares tae leuk for a moment or twa. Fowk wi accents that's deifferent frae the norm is aye singled out for ridicule - whedder they soun ower-landward, ower-fremmit, ower-"proly" or ithirwise deifferent frae the accent o the bodie that speaks "richt." We see it ower an ower again in the history o Britain, frae Welsh tae Gaelic tae Scots - I jalouse ther's fowk readin this that can mind bein dinged in the schuil for haein the cheek tae speak their ain tung in their ain kintra, an nae dout ava the samen coud be said for fowks frae pairts o Ingland that didna tradeitionally speak like the Queen.
Whaur daes this come frae? Whaur dae sum fowk get the idea that ther's ae richt wey tae speak, an aw ithir weys maun be ignorant, glaikit an duin awa wi? It's a muckle question, an for shair I'm no the bodie best placed tae answer it, sae I'll airt ye tae John Tait's wabsteid, whaur he haed a guid airticle anent this verra thing:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wir (Sneck on "Language Prejudice", I canna get the link tae tak ye straucht tae the airticle tae wark).
It fair gars ma bluid bile tae read whit he's wrate in thon wee essay, an aw the mair sae for bein naething but the trowth,
Ach. Am I jist bangin ma heid agin a brick waw? I ken richt weill frae talkin wi fowk that hae been fechtin for Scots syne lang ere I wis born that whit I'm sayin an complainin about here is naething new. Nae dout maist o the fowk that reads this haes said seimilar things in the past, like as no wrate thaim doun as weill.
Sae whit for am I daein it? Gin aulder, wycer heids nor mine wi tungs an pens skeillier nor mine monie time ower hae made the samen caw for respecktin Scotland's ain leids (an in fack, the leids o aw the wurld frae Abanyom tae Zyphe (thank ye Wikipedia!) in prose, sang, musardrie, film, radio, the internet an e'en in jist talkin wi fowk an no won the fecht, whit for suld I dae it? Whit wecht daes ma vyce hae that Robert Fergusson's, Helen B. Cruikshank's an Billy Kay's dinna? In trowth, nane ava - but it's anithir stane on the cairn, as they say, an aiblins gin mair fowk - airtists, linguists an ordinar cheils wark for the respeck wir leid deserrs (if naething else as human richt o the fowk that speaks it) we'll bear the gree ae day, an ma wee stane'll no hae been pit there for naething.
God bless ye aw, howp tae be able tae dae a blog neist week. Gin no...leir tae juggle, gae for a daunner an recite the alphabet backwarts. In Urdu.
Aw the best,
Dunc
I ken it's no hailly richt tae dae sae, but this week I hae waled twa sangs for the week, syne baith haed been stuck in ma heid an baith is richt guid sangs.
Hellacopters - Toys and Flavors . Braw Swaddish rock baund wi enou smeddum tae pit thrie guitar solos in a thrie an a hauf minute sang. I haedna heird this sang syne it cam out in 2000 (whan I wis 11 an didna ken the first thing anent rock muicic), I mind seein it on MTV whan I wis awa on ma holidays. The ithir day the title popped intae ma heid for nae guid raison ava, an haein googled it (haed tae chyne the spellin tae American tae get it in the end) I cam across the sang again, an I'm gled I did. Jist ye luek me in the een an tell me their keybuird player disna leuk like Neil Innes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
Windir - Ætti Mørkna. I haed ane o their sangs (Journey to the End) as my sang o the week sum time back. This is a bit mair raw, but wi sum bonnie subtle melodies in there an aw. Prog fans micht like it mair nor ithir non-metal types.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
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