Life in Newburgh on Ythan

By Talpa

A ghost sign on an old, rusty shipping container

Doric, the dialect spoken in the North-East of Scotland is rich in words and phrases associated with the land and the sea. I so much enjoyed my recent journey through the Doric dictionary that I plan to revisit it on an irregular and random basis. As before, the examples are taken mainly from Buchan Claik, The Saut an the Glaur o't written in 1989 by Peter Buchan and David Toulmin.

WAAR O THE WEER: The worse for wear. Can be applied to the human condition, or, as in my blip today, to rust and corrosion.

'Aal thingie-ma-jig, I've forgotten his name, onywye, he's the waar o weer the stock, boo't twa faal and hirplin on a stick.' (Old thingy-my-jig, I've forgotten his name, anyway, he's the worse for wear the unfortunate man, bent double and limping on a stick.)

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