Question to Scots about Scots Americans

So no Munros for you to climb on a wet day then. I've only climbed a handful, i know a man who has climbed every Munro in the country. That's about 300. They all have their own name, normally in Gallic. I suppose living in the coast must have it's benefits for you. Good sea air in the lungs! I had a quick shifty at the map and see Kentucky & Tennessee are a bit further north away from the coast. I always had them down south on the coast. The gulf of Mexico, that's why you're likely to get hurricanes where you live, i saw it on the satelite pictures rolling across the gulf of Mexico but nobody could be sure when it would touch down exactly. I seen earlier you said you're family lived on 'Eilean a' Cheò'. There's a famous old man lives there. i've touched him - that's my claim to fame! I do hope you know what i'm talking about lol (the old man of storr). Here's some pictures should you care to have a look: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Highland/Isle_of_Skye/
Some great wildlife there too, otters seals dolphins Ospreys, Golden Eagles etc. What's the wildlife like there? I believe it's Aligators they get in Florida. Are there any where you live? We used to get bears here and wolves but not anymore. I read yesterday that a woman and her two children in the US were (i didn't know how to spell picnicing?) having a picnic, and a bear snatched the boy. His mother (who is braver than i am!) distracted the bear so it would leave the boy alone. Meanwhile, upon seeing the bear gatecrash the picnic the daughter had ran away (that's more my style) but the bear ended up catching her and sadly mauled her to death poor lassie she was just young as well. It's a sad story but i love wildlife. Do you get bald Eagles in the Appalachian mountains?

Thanks for the pictures i see now where you're situated. The creek looks so calm and peaceful (but is it - i mean, are there any aligators there!). Canoeing is great fun. Do you like the rapids? I've only ever canoed in lochs it's better when they are peaceful. I think for the rapids i'd prefer the white water rafting. Why did you resign after Katrina? Was the timing purely coincidental or was it something to do with what happened? I think the amount of Highland games taking place it'll soon be an Olympic discipline/event lol. I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone professional over there? Apologies for the e-maill address not accepting mail but i'm not sure why it should say it's full when it isn't. If you could try again at this address: . It should work fine time, i'll hear the music yet. That world atlas was very useful, thanks for posting it, it came in handy - Made up for my lack of basic knowledge!

 

Interesting, that's the song i mentioned "Marching through Georgia" and Rangers fans do sing "The billy boys" to that tune. Do you say cracker there? It is sometimes used to describe someone or 'having a chat' but it's more commonly used like if someone tells a joke and it's funny "haha that's a cracker". Why did the American soldiers in ww1&2 break into laughter when this was played on their arrival to the UK? Am i missing something?

 

Also being a Presbyterian myself i knew about the Covenanters signing in blood but i'm not too familiar with the name Redneck. I don't think it's meant (original meaning or otherwise) to be very complimentary? I've read plenty of Robert Burns poetry i know green grow the rashes o from my school days (we all had to get up and perform in front of the whole school every year and read a Burns poem)

 

Thanks for the photos, those were beautiful.

As to wildlife here, we have lots of alligators, have seen some in that very creek i showed you. Deer, boar, black bears, coyotes, Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, hawks, Owls, turkeys, squirrels, raccoons, oppossums, armadillos, herons and cranes, dolphins, Rattle snakes and water moccasins, lots of stuff.
You mentioned wolves in scotland, its the MacQueens (my family) that were said to have killed the last native wolf there. Dont know to be proud or not lol.

I 'resigned" because all of our casinos were destroyed, and that I what I did, ads for two of the casinos. SO we were all laid off. Got a sweet severance though, been on 8 months vacation since.

As to highland games and olympics, there is the hammer throw, thats where it came from I believe, though the rules are different and the hammer is lighter I think. Shot putt is kinda highland too. And there is a pro circuit too.

Dont know whats up with the soldiers laughing, maybe it is is like
playing the Star Trek song when aliens land lol, dunno.

Cracker here means white (usually southern) person, now mostly said by black people, with their own claims to what it means, and not complimentary. In language, "whats crackin" used to be said, not so much any more. There is a book called "Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South" written about the southern culture and why it clashed with the english culture of the north. Redneck here isnt a compliment lots either, but some say it jestfully, and some say it proudly. I call ignorant people rednecks, they proudly call themselves rednecks, and my friends from the city jestfully call me redneck, so it can be a term of affection lol.

Ok, gonna go send your music now.

 

fucki dy offidy .....see yer havenae lost yer scottish sense of humour . ..........now i depart or fuck off or as we say jib la ........be cool eat a fridge . .......chow .

 

I'm not sure where the hammer or the shot putt originated from. The eastern Europeans, Bulgaria etc, always do well it that competition. You have an abundance of wildlife there, of course there used to be millions of Bison roamed the USA as well, disappeared like the Wolves. I'm not sure when they are said to have disappeared exactly, i don't think that last Wolf was the problem, more likely the thousands killed before it lol. I think the nearest Wolves now are in France. I don't know any MacQueen's personally but there are still some around. I see Steve isn't the only famous one lol. We could re-introduce them again but there are no plans to do that, nobody misses them enough!

I don't know if this will be of interest to you or not, if not then just ignore it. It's something i have just started researching so i don't know much about it myself as yet. Ley lines they are called, 'apparently' there are mysterious forces at work . It's claiming that the standing stones (not just in Scotland) are aligned in a specific way and the result is it creates 'energy' fields. Anyway, you can read it if you wish. Thanks for sending the songs again. I haven't checked yet, i've had problems today with my pc. I had to put it back to factory settings so i hope i got them ok. I'll let you know.
http://www.leyman.demon.co.uk/Standing_Stones,_Ley_Line_and_Power_Points.html

 

"be cool eat a fridge". There's no doubting you're a smart cookie coming away with witty retorts such as that lol. English humour is different, i'll grant you that. Too busy laughing at themselves to be funny......who's that midden who keeps saying "i'm not bovered" in an extremely annoying voice/accent? The whole country was in fits of laughter so much so she's now a "big name" down there (but i don't know it)! If ever anybody needed to put a sock in it..

 

I've managed to download "Mountain Dew" "The Southern soldier boy" & "Dixie". Got them saved, now to get these speakers working again.........

 

Yeah, the english are funny to laugh at, mostly because of how they sound when they say it, rather than what was said ya know?

I am glad you got those three, they are good ones, but some more folky ones coming soon.

 

I think there's a sense that a lot of Americans 'like the idea' of being scottish etc., and that they want to possess it.

'Scottish' communities in Canada and America... I think that they can only claim to be Scottish to an extent, because they culture has changed and evolved and mixed. And also, since those have emigrated, Scotland has changed and evolved, gone through history, and isn't the same Scotland anymore. I don't think people from Quebec claim to be French. (this is the impression I have)

Personally, I think, if you can visit family, or take family along, that can show you around, have their own proper memories, then you can claim a type of nationality, but if you don't have that, if you're just a tourist, then you can't claim anything more than have Scottish, or French, or whatever ancestry.

 

Weasal, like others, you confuse countries for cultures. "Scotland" culture is different from "Scots-American" culture, but both are a "Scottish", or more accuratly, a "Gaelic" culture. An of course it is only to an extent, hence the -American being added. It is an american culture, that of scottish origin. It is just as much both.

The South isnt the old south, but it is still southern culture.

Im not reaching for justification, and in Scotland i would be just a tourist,
going to see where my family was from back in the day. But, if i drove 6 hours
to North Alabama, i would still be a tourist seeing where my family came from
back in the day.

And yes, people in Quebec are quite french, and proud of it.

 

So you're saying that country and culture are completely seperate?

 

Yes, of course it is. If all the scots up and moved to Pakistan, and took their culture with them, and all the english moved to the area of Scotland, which would be Scottish culture, and which would be Scotland culture?

 

But part of a nation's culture is what their immagrints bring to it. Look at Britain, that's certainy the attitude there.

And America, virtually all of what America is based on is import.

 

Exactly, if scots all moved to pakistan, then their culture would go with them, then the English that replace them in Scotland would bring their own.

Which is the Scottish culture? the ones the Scots took with them, or the one in Scotland where the English would be?

 

I watched a film yesterday "Ocean's twelve" i believe it was called - starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney. There's a couple of English actors in it as well (some 'comedian' called eddie izzard) and i must confess i do laugh when i hear an English accent on 'American' tv programs/films. It seems so out of place(EDIT: that's me being kind ). I think it must be down to the fact that i see more American films than i do English films and so i must be more used to hearing American accents. I might not be very popular saying this but some English people speak the worst English you'll ever hear. I'm not talking about their accents i'm talking about their basic understanding of the English language. For example, using double negatives such as "i ain't got nothing", which actually means 'i've got something!". So i'm afraid i tend to laugh at what they say and how they say it


I was speaking to an old boy the other day and he was telling me he was in Houston years ago while he was in the Navy. He did a bit of travelling in the south and assured me i'd struggle to understand the accent. His exact words were he 'could hardly make a word out with some of them'. I laughed when he told me that someone who was arranging a flight home for him said to him "i nearly sent you to the middle of nowhere there but don't worry fortunately i managed to get you a flight to London instead." He then asked the man "where did you nearly send me?" and when he was told Prestwick airport his words were "well you can just get back on that phone and send me to the middle of nowhere!,London is 500 miles away from where i live." Thinking that was far, the American then said "is that all" lol. I suppose 500 miles doesn't mean the same to you guys as it does to us.

 

lol, 500 miles is a good stretch, only about 7 hour drive. Thats nothing compared to driving 2000 miles to get to the west coast from here. We drive to Dallas a few times a year, its about 600, and that is a normal trip distance. Have driven 1000+ in a day before

Here "i aint got nothing" means you dont have anything. Normally its "I aint got shit" though lol. Nearly is put in front of lots of things, I said "I near bleed" once and got laughed at by some city people. Apparently that is incorrect =P Some of the dialect is hard. My wife is from L.A., and learned english as a second language, so is more proper, so my sons hardly talk like me, save a few select words. Anyway, my son says that some people cant say "window" they say "winder", and he saw a cigarette butt once and said that is a small cigaretter so i said "no thats da enda one", he says quit puzzled like "whats an enda?" Laughed my ass off.

Its crazy how different places are here. Hell, LA is almost as far as London is to Israel! That is why there isnt one "American" culture, just like there isnt one "European" culture.


One day you should come visit. I will take you around and let you talk to people, hear some bluegrass, and canoe down the river looking for gators. BTW, did you know all of the animals i listed? we have some unique ones here, like armadillos, oppossums and coons.

 

I ain't got nothing yet me old china but it's ok be cool, eat a fridge...




The only Ulster songs i can think of that shouldn't cause any offence to anyone is SLF (stiff little fingers) No sleep til Belfast! As i said my taste in music is varied, they're a punk rock band. Not everyone's cup of tea. Must admit i liked them, but they do like their 'folk' songs over there the lyrics can be often amusing. Mind you that depends on your sense of humour i suppose!

edit: i'm going to need to buy new speakers when i have time. Hopefully tomorrow.

 

Ha! eat a fridge. A friend and I joke all the time about how Americans think the english all sound gay, and how "fag" means cigarette there, but a derogitory word for a gay male here. How confusing would that be to an Englishman who didnt know that. We always imagine the English man saying in retort "Well, you are a....cigar! HA! Very Well! Bully!" Thinking this is the manner in which insults go here lol. So, eat a fridge means nothing to me, and I wouldnt know how to respond.

If you want punk mixed with folk, check out Flogging Molly.

 

put a sock in it if the shoe fits . think you might be referring to a character off little britain ( i could be wrong tho ) . english humour ? scouse humour man theirs a difference .