Hi. There are a number of webpages that feature slang and terms used in the book, Rob Roy. Is there a webpage that lists slang and terminology from the movie Rob Roy?
Please let me know. Thank you.
Sincerely,
JGoldman10 (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
I’m sorry that I don’t know of any website that covers this aspect of the film. The dialogue is in the Highlands dialect of English, and its pronunciation and vocabulary is influenced by Scots-Gaelic. I think the film represents the dialect quite well. Some of the characters, the nobility and such, speak in a refined Scottish English accent (this is different from Scots, the traditional dialect of the Lowlands, and from the Highland accent).
You could try searching for some of these terms on the internet. If there are specific words, or just a general difficulty with the accent, I’d be glad to help you.
I think silkie was a term used in the film. What is a silkie?
This question has nothing to do with the film, but is "acting the maggot" an Irishism or a Scottishism?
[quote author=JGoldman10 link=board=omni;num=1093125981;start=0#7 date=08/26/04 at 14:20:30]I think silkie was a term used in the film. What is a silkie?
This question has nothing to do with the film, but is "acting the maggot" an Irishism or a Scottishism?
These words are features of Highland English rather than Scots. The kern(e) is a mediaeval Scottish or Irish foot soldier. The word comes from the Irish ceithearn, meaning ‘militia’ or ‘squadron’. I suppose it was the early mediaeval equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon fyrd. With the professionalisation of warfare, Irish and Highland soldiers were employed as skirmishers, and the Irish term for the group became the English word for the individual. Colloquially, the word is used to mean a lout.
The silkie, as Larry, has said is the mythological creature who is a seal in water and human on land. When used figuratively, it has the same kind of sense as ‘mermaid’.
Playing the maggot can have a number of meanings. The most usual is that it means ‘overly optimistic’, ‘fanciful’ or ‘being a dreamer’. It can also be used to describe someone who makes you feel rotten, or a sense of helplessness.
It’s said that you can get a fine selkie spouse if you hide his/her sealskin coat. If the coat is reclaimed, the selkie will leave. Here’s a little more on the origin of the term, quoted from another page at the link below:
When these ancient tales were committed to paper during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some of the old folk claimed that the Selkie Folk were, like fairies, fallen angels condemned to become seals until the Biblical Day of Judgement. Others insisted that the Selkie Folk were once human beings who, for some grave misdemeanour, were doomed to assume the form of a seal and live out the rest of their days in the sea.
The third possibility discussed by Orcadian storytellers of yesteryear was that the Selkie Folk were actually the souls of those who had drowned. One night each year these lost souls were permitted to leave the sea and return to their original human form.
I’m assuming "playing the maggot" is Irish? "Acting the Maggot" is Scottish?
Do Highland Scots use "kerme" as a slang term?
I’ve heard people say, "Stop acting the Maggot!"
It makes no difference whether you choose playing or acting, and it’s certainly not a dialect feature. Playing would be the more traditional choice of word.
Kern/kerne/cateran is only used nowadays to refer to a ruffian or a rogue in Highland English and Scots. It is sometimes used historically to refer to Highland reivers.
Garzo, do both the Scots and the Irish use the expression, "Playing the Maggot"?
Are there any other terms for Irish and Scottish fighters/warriors/soldiers that are used as slang by the Scottish and the Irish and both?
