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Scottish English Trivia Quiz

Scottish English derives from Germanic and not from Celtic. It is however certainly not degraded Standard English. This quiz is more about some similarities rather than about the differences.

A multiple-choice quiz by flem-ish. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
flem-ish

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
65,679

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
1576

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. In all of these Scottish English words you can replace the e by the same vowel and you obtain perfectly normal standard English words: gled, gless, seck. Which vowel must be inserted? Hint

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Question 2 of 10

2. According to William Graham's 'Scots Wordbook', what is the pronunciation of Scottish English words such as faither, cairt, raither and yaird? Hint

Same sound as in weather

Same sound as in gate

same sound as in why

same sound as in cat

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Question 3 of 10

3. Mull, hull, whup and whustle would not have a u in standard English, but an ___? Hint

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Question 4 of 10

4. What is the consonant that is dropped from the English model in words such as fummle, grummle, mummle and trummle? Hint

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Question 5 of 10

5. How do Scots pronounce the ei that occurs in eivil, seiven, streitch and weit? Hint

sound as in pit

sound as in feet

sound as in pet

sound as in day

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Question 6 of 10

6. There are many songs about bonnie lasses in the Scottish music tradition. But what exactly is a 'bonnie lass'? Hint

a good-hearted girl

a pretty girl

a girl who wears the traditional Scottish bonnie or bonnet

a good, reliable girl

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Question 7 of 10

7. Haggis is eaten with neips (also spelled neeps) and tatties. Tatties are potatoes of course, but what are neips? Hint

leek

carrots

turnips

cabbage

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Question 8 of 10

8. The widespread surname Halliday is of Scottish origin. What does it mean? Hint

literally hello-day, New Year's day when everybody says hello to the others

the famous Scottish Health Day, when there is a lot of toasting each other's health

All Hallows, the day of the saints

holiday

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Question 9 of 10

9. What does a Scotsman mean when he calls the weather dreich? Hint

dry

dull and dreary

windy ; stormy

dreadful; terrible

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Question 10 of 10

10. Baxter is another wide-spread surname of Scottish origin. What profession does it refer to? Hint

potter

baker

bricklayer

banker

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In all of these Scottish English words you can replace the e by the same vowel and you obtain perfectly normal standard English words: gled, gless, seck. Which vowel must be inserted?

Answer: a

In Scottish English, for the words want, warm, wash and water the a is retained in the spelling but, in contrast to standard English, after a w the same sound is used as in farm.

2. According to William Graham's 'Scots Wordbook', what is the pronunciation of Scottish English words such as faither, cairt, raither and yaird?

Answer: Same sound as in gate

Scottish English does not always signal the differences in pronunciation with Standard English. Broun, flouer, hous and mous are actually pronounced with the oo of soon, and not with the sound of loud as they are in English. Not the ou of soul either.

3. Mull, hull, whup and whustle would not have a u in standard English, but an ___?

Answer: i

Other examples are wrunkle for wrinkle and whurl for whirl.

4. What is the consonant that is dropped from the English model in words such as fummle, grummle, mummle and trummle?

Answer: b

The dropping of B after m is much more frequent in Scottish English than in standard English, which leaves the b unpronounced in lamb, dumb, comb, etc. but still writes it. Other consonants that create funny effects are: r that often changes position within the word: buRnt becomes bRunt and keRb becomes cRib.The other way round: scRatch becomes scaRt and and chRisten becomes kiRsen.

5. How do Scots pronounce the ei that occurs in eivil, seiven, streitch and weit?

Answer: sound as in feet

Other basic phonetic rules are that British English -all mostly becomes -aw, also spelled -aa. Examples: baw, caw, faw and waw for ball, call, fall and wall.

6. There are many songs about bonnie lasses in the Scottish music tradition. But what exactly is a 'bonnie lass'?

Answer: a pretty girl

It's a mistaken belief that all bonnies are 'over the Ocean' in America these days.

7. Haggis is eaten with neips (also spelled neeps) and tatties. Tatties are potatoes of course, but what are neips?

Answer: turnips

Neeps is a shortened form of turnips. What is actually most commonly used is the swede, a yellow turnip that gets its name from its Swedish origin. It is elsewhere called a rutabaga.

As should be clear from the name cock-a-leekie soup, neips are not leeks. Cabbage is Scottish english keil and comparable with standard English kale. In spite of all the horror stories about the haggis, the dish can be neatly presented and charmingly arranged as a kind of yellow, brown, white national 'flag'. Probably Scottish nouvelle cuisine.

8. The widespread surname Halliday is of Scottish origin. What does it mean?

Answer: holiday

Possibly a foundling (abandoned orphan) found on a holiday.

9. What does a Scotsman mean when he calls the weather dreich?

Answer: dull and dreary

There is also a Scots Gaelic word draik that means 'wet weather'.

10. Baxter is another wide-spread surname of Scottish origin. What profession does it refer to?

Answer: baker

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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