SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 826 Title : Conversation 23: Couple talking about their Orkney roots Author(s): N/A Copyright holder(s): Prof Christian J Kay SCOTS Project Audio transcription F606: So you actually come from //Orkney, yeah?// M830: //Yes, yes, I was// born in Kirkwall //and// F606: //mmhm// M830: grew up there and then a while later I met Marjory in Aberdeen and she's been wi me for hoo long? F829: Twenty-seven years nearly, //[laugh]// F606: //Right [laugh]// M830: //twen- twenty-seven years so// //so I've lost// F829: //yeah.// M830: me accent a lot because o her. F606: Yeah [laugh] //[inaudible] but you go// M830: //[laugh]// F829: //An I've gained a lot [laugh] ehm so, so.// I was born in Aberdeen //[?]and eh[/?]// F606: //Yeah.// F829: I stayed there until I was seventeen, basically an then went back up to Orkney for a number of years, F606: mmhm F829: so F606: So you've actually lived in Orkney //too?// F829: //uh-huh// F606: Yeah. F829: lived there for a few years //before I came// F606: //Yeah.// M830: //Yeah.// //two or three,// F829: //back doon.// M830: two or three years //maybe,// F829: //Yeah.// M830: yeah, maybe more //[inaudible]// F829: //Maybe more, I think.// M830: But it's just long enough for ye tae sort of settle in an //meet folk an// F829: //mmhm// F606: mmhm M830: an then we came back tae Aberdeen, so mainly in this area F606: //mmhm// F829: //mmhm// M830: other than Orkney. F829: Yeah, yeah. F606: But you go back quite often? M830: //No,// F829: //No.// No. M830: not really, ehm F829: We, well I've been up most years M830: Yeah. F829: there's been some missed M830: But I've //tended, I've been// F829: //You've been up quite a number.// M830: I've been a f- well it disnae feel like it. F829: I know, but there were a few years //when we were at university you were workin through the summer.// M830: //There's a few years, a few years when I was at uni an I was// working in the summer and doin all that //so there was a long time I didn't go up.// F606: //mmhm// M830: We were up last year //an there've been// F829: //mmhm// M830: three years before that we hadna been F829: But that was unusual. F606: //mmhm// M830: //an then// so we do a week, maybe two weeks, that kinda F829: Yeah, two, three weeks //actually, not usually a week// M830: //Aye.// //mm// F606: //mm// F829: but it's, yeah Mm M830: So you'd say more regularly than I //would say [laugh]// F606: //[laugh]// F829: //I would say more regularly than you// would, yeah. F606: Yeah [laugh] M830: Well, me memory wipes //automatically [laugh]// F606: //Yeah [laugh]// F829: //[laugh]// //[laugh] yeah.// M830: //I've to fill it up wi, wi kids' reports, that's [laugh] [inaudible]// F606: So is it a good place to grow up, or? //[laugh]// M830: //Weel, I don't know if I grew up, I'm still [laugh] I'm still...// F829: //[laugh]// M830: A good, a really good place to grow up //[inaudible]// F829: //There's lots of freedom.// F606: //mm// M830: //Yeah that's right, an// I was, that same story, //I was// F829: //Go ahead.// M830: horrified when I came tae Aberdeen to discover that people didn't have inside toilets cause I'd never seen a place in me life with an outside toilet that didn't have one inside anyway F606: uh-huh M830: cause a lot o the older houses they had outside but they were all modernised, everyone had, an then I came to Aberdeen and the tenements all had these toilets outside, I couldn't believe it, it just seemed so //[laugh]// F829: //Archaic// M830: so old-fashioned, //archaic an// F606: //Yeah.// M830: it was a shock, so yeah I mean, Orkney, lots o freedom an yet it also seemed to be keeping pace wi the times in a way that Aberdeen hadn't completely. F606: //mmhm// F829: //mmhm// M830: But then there's poverty in the city that there isn't in the country, not the same kind of poverty, //[inaudible]// F606: //Yeah.// M830: an it felt different, an yeah community in Orkney and lack of it in //the city I think// F829: //mmhm// F606: //mmhm// M830: //was the obvious thing.// F829: But I mean that's what I liked when I took the bairns up when they were wee //ehm// F606: //mmhm// F829: they got a type o freedom they never got here, //you know,// M830: //Oh yeah.// F829: so I mean even now there's a huge difference. F606: What, you can let them go out without //being frightened what would happen or// F829: //Yes, uh-huh// because I mean at that time we were staying right in the middle of Aberdeen in a tenement, you know, with access off the road into the garden so //you never felt// F606: //mmhm// F829: comfortable leavin them out, M830: Even as adults we didn't feel //comfortable, I mean you always// F829: //No, no.// M830: felt that your door was a, well it's like your, your home is your castle, your door was protection rather than an //access route.// F829: //uh-huh// F606: //Yeah [laugh]// M830: //[inaudible]// In fact it was very odd and coming out here to the Mearns made a big //difference tae that.// F829: //Yeah.// M830: We suddenly felt released again in the same sort o way as we had //when we were in Orkney.// F606: //mmhm// F829: //Yeah// that's right. F606: So you'd be quite happy to stay here or //[laugh] yeah.// M830: //Bought a house in the town so yeah [laugh]// F829: //yeah [laugh] yeah// F606: What do you miss about Orkney then? F829: Oh lots. F606: uh-huh F829: You don't know, people in Orkney, I think if you make friends there you have them forever, //an I don't think I've found// F606: //Yeah.// F829: that in the same way anywhere else, M830: No. F829: ehm because I thought although it must be twenty years really since we left, M830: mmhm F829: you know, you go back an it's just like you've never been away, F606: mmhm F829: but, I can't think o any 'buts' actually. M830: No I'm s- F829: I miss about Orkney though, the wide spaces, the big skies, M830: Big skies are the //things you miss, mmhm,// F606: //mmhm// F829: //the beaches.// M830: the wind every //day [laugh] [cough] [laugh] but there's// F606: //[laugh] yeah!// F829: //Well, maybe not [laugh] two-mile walk to the bus.// M830: something, we were watching a video o the bairns when they were home for, they were home for six weeks //[inaudible] and it// F829: //Yeah I took them up// M830: was a nice video of them playin out in the garden and for me the bit that was nostalgia-inducing was the sound o the wind, //the kids were runnin about an bein happy an their hair was flyin// F829: //[laugh]// //An it was summer, they just wee sh- dresses an// M830: //and they were just, it was bright summer day, the wind was// blowin an nobody was carin an I thought, "That kind o balmy, //lovely windy// F829: //Yeah.// M830: day is something //you don't get here".// F829: //Cause the children// also have had other summers where they spent their whole time runnin aboot in cagoules an bare feets cause it was so foggy //the whole summer.// F606: //[laugh] yeah.// M830: //[laugh]// //Yeah, it's a bit// F606: //Yeah.// M830: not foggy we get mist //a haar but we don't get fog.// F606: //yeah [laugh]// F829: //uh-huh, aye.// M830: Fog's a city thing //[laugh]// F606: //Aye.// F829: //uh-huh// However. F606: Are you aware of any special sort of Orkney words that you use, or, //You just said "haar", yeah.// F829: //Well,// //I always think that's a Scottish word, "haar", aye.// M830: //Well [inaudible] that's ju- that's just a north east word, maybe// but, but isn't it actually used by the Met office //to describe a, yeah it's, it's a, a word// F606: //I think they do now, yeah, uh-huh// M830: abint that mist that comes in //aff the sea at certain times o day// F829: //Off the sea, just rolls in or// F606: //I found// M830: //rolls in.// F606: people in the west coast don't know it. //I mean I knew it growing up in Edinburgh, yeah.// M830: //Do they not? No, yeah.// F829: //Oh not at all, yeah.// M830: But it, I mean obviously words like "peedie" //that// F606: //mmhm// M830: that is the common Orkney word or //"peerie" in,// F606: //[cough]// M830: "peerie" in Shetland. F606: //mmhm// F829: //Yeah.// M830: But I'm, I'm no aware o them but folk notice me usin things an I don't, I've an awful habit o sayin "me" instead o "my", F606: mmhm M830: //an some o the members of staff found that very disconcerting to begin with,// F829: //[laugh]// M830: "Whaur's me coffee?", when I should say, "Whaur's my coffee?", F606: [laugh] yeah. M830: "Me an me wife", instead o //"my wife", it's just a// F829: //Yeah.// M830: sorta slight, but it's just that kinda, an the way we pronounce "AN" at the end o words instead of "ING" for present participle //kinda things, like "hingan",// F606: //uh-huh// F829: //uh-huh// M830: "hingan", an sorta reverse the //"i" "a" bit! [laugh].// F606: //Yeah [laugh]// F829: //[laugh] yeah.// M830: but [inaudible] it's just wee bits like that that I'm aware o folk noticin. F606: mmhm M830: Some o the kids in class say, "Oh, you're pronounce that wrong", which is quite nice; //it means they've noticed, they know// F606: //[inaudible]// F829: //[inaudible]// M830: how to spell it ken, an pronounce it correctly, that's F606: mmhm M830: [laugh] F606: Do you teach any Orcadian literature or anything? M830: //I have done.// F829: //Well,// //George Mackay// F606: //Yeah.// M830: //Yeah, George Mackay// F829: //certainly.// F606: //Yyeah uh-huh.// M830: //Brown and, and// that's the core one because my, my main interest would be would be poetry and eh that's obviously where people start with Orkney literature, it tends to be George Mackay Brown F606: mm M830: an then they move outwards into various others, but, because Dave is interested in poetry and Orkney poetry, I've been feedin him //various obscure Orkney poets [laugh],// F606: //[laugh]// M830: Robert Rendall //writes// F606: //mmhm// M830: in Orkney dialect, a lot o dialect poetry F606: Yeah. M830: from F829: [inaudible] isn't it? //Is that what you're talking about, the [inaudible]?// M830: //mm, no that's a different farm.// That's the mainland, Robert Rendall's eh Westray. F606: //uh-huh// F829: //och yeah.// M830: But eh, no I'm, I don't know. When I was workin at the university a bit I, I did a course on Orkney literature specifically then //about literature// F606: //mm// M830: and landscape an the portrayal of the islands through history in both an that was, that was interesting, //weel for me, I don't know what the students, they, they kind- [laugh] they might o yawned a fair bit but// F606: //[laugh]// F829: //[laugh]// //Yeah.// F606: //uh-huh// M830: but no I'm, I don't know, the curriculum doesnae really support that kind o localised stuff in the way you'd want it to, you can do it in first and second year but as ye move up intae Standard Grade and Higher it //kinda expects more// F606: //mmhm// M830: //canon,// F829: //Standard text.// F606: //mm// M830: //more of the canon, yeah.// F829: mm M830: And the universities would expect the kids to have the background in the canon rather than, //it's that, it's that sense of// F606: //Yeah.// M830: that, although all universities now have Scottish Literature departments, they seem to be developing that F606: mmhm M830: still there's this, it feels like a niche market for some people. F606: uh-huh //[laugh]// M830: //[laugh] That's an awful thing to say,// it is, but it, you know, you've got parents who come in an go, "Well why's he doin this when he could be doin //Shakespeare", they always// F606: //Yeah, Shakespeare.// F829: //Yeah.// M830: wheel out Shakespeare despite the fact they hate it. //Parents hated it,// F606: //Yeah [laugh].// M830: the grandparents hated it, you try an offer them somethin else and they go, "Whaur's the Shakespeare?" F606: Yeah. Yeah it's the same with speaking Scots, //isn't it, that// M830: //That's right,// you gotta do Burns, //[laugh]// F606: //uh-huh// F829: //Yeah.// M830: Well it is, it's the same as speakin Scots, you do Burns in January an then the rest o the year there's virtually no nod in the direction of the language o the place ye live in. F606: //mmhm// F829: //No.// M830: It's terrible! F606: mm M830: We hiv, have you come across 'The Kist'? //Yeah, we use that,// F606: //Yes, yeah.// M830: I use that every year, and I think Dave uses it too, //an it's amazing// F606: //mmhm// M830: how little the kids understand oot o it, //although they speak it// F606: //mm// M830: if you get them tae read it //an just don't think aboot the// F606: //Yeah.// M830: meaning they'll speak it an they'll, they'll sort of be able to get, swim in it, //as it were, the, the language// F606: //mmhm// M830: becomes more natural. But if ye, ye get them just to sit an read it to themselves quietly in their heads "I don't understand!" F829: Yeah. F606: Yeah. M830: It's a shame. F606: So your own kids go back to Orkney, F829: Yes //uh-huh, ehm// F606: //Yeah.// F829: we've always taken them up since they were tiny so, //keep them.// M830: //An they're still tiny.// F829: Well yes, but eh Caitlin finishes school this summer an she would quite like to go up and spend some time in Orkney next year, //before she goes on// F606: //mmhm// M830: //She does.// F829: to do something else, so, must have had an impact //on them too surely.// F606: //Yeah [laugh].// Aye. F829: But eh M830: [inaudible] it's, it's just sprung to me an O-, an Orkney word that I've used and I know that, that flummoxes folk, is 'yammals', meanin 'freends'. //It, it's eh// F606: //mm?// M830: "Wi, wi my yammals, I did this wi my yammals", Y.A.M.M.A.L.S. //And it's,// F606: //mm// M830: it seems to be something that I ken that I grew up sayin F606: uh-huh? M830: and it meant just that we are friends but I've never seen it //virtually anywhaur else, means 'friends', yeah,// F606: //'Friends', yeah, uh-huh?// M830: just in 'me, me yammals', //[laugh] I don't know [laugh] no no, it did not!// F606: //[laugh]// F829: //[laugh] You sure you didn't come up wi this yourself? [laugh]// //uh-huh, yeah.// M830: //It's just, no, it's just, it's an odd word that,// that's one I used an it seems, I don't use it anymore cause folk just haven't a clue whit I was talkin aboot, //soon as I// F606: //mmhm// M830: came oot o Orkney. An the other one is 'skeevlo' F829: Oh yeah, 'skeevlo'. M830: which I fund roots o in the Norn dictionary fae Shetland, Jakobsen's Norn //Dictionary.// F606: //mm// M830: But it's a dog, ye know, when ye get a dog an it's been whipped, somebody's mistreated it an it does that sorta low //crawl thing an it rolls its eyes// F606: //Oh yeah.// F829: //A crawly kind o thing// M830: up tae look at ye, its t- tail end's up //an it's tryin to wag its tail// F829: //It's like really// F606: uh-huh M830: an that, we ca that a s-, a skeevlo, a dog that's been treated like that, or //or if a human being's one o those// F606: //ah// F829: //Or if you're bein crawly// //[laugh]// M830: //one o those crawling sort of// //it, it's gone from what you'd// F606: //Yeah, cringing.// F829: //yeah.// M830: put on the animal tae what we put about a cringing kinda human so a skeevlo is a, a word that I use as weel an folk haven't a clue //then.// F829: //Yeah.// M830: But like I say it must be an auld one cause it was Jakobsen had a version of it in a, //fae the// F606: //mmhm// M830: early twe-, nineteen-ten or so, //his dictionary came out,// F606: //Yeah.// F829: //Yeah.// //Then of course 'whaups'// M830: //the Norn// 'whaups', aye //'whaups' meanin 'seagulls'.// F829: //'whaups', that's what I mean.// F606: uh-huh M830: Aye. an 'megs' meanin 'hands'. F606: 'Megs'? M830: 'Megs' M.E.G.S., yes, uh-huh, yes, 'warm me megs be the fire', //that's just [laugh] I don't know what a that's aboot,// F606: //[laugh]// //Yeah.// M830: //me megs but,// it's, I did come across it in a story aboot eh, it was selkies, cause they were talkin aboot the selkie's megs, meanin its //fins or its// F829: //Fins// M830: flippers //so I guess it's// F606: //mmhm// M830: it's, it's in there somewhere but F606: mmhm M830: but that's, words like that must have come tae me in me early childhood fae Sooth Ronaldsay in Orkney cause I grew up in Kirkwall, //the metropolis,// F606: //uh-huh// F829: //[laugh]// M830: but I did a lot o holidays in South Ronaldsay where me grandparents a grew up so //the island itsel m-// F606: //uh-huh// M830: would have retained more o that F829: Aye. M830: maybe. F829: Well it always does //to some degree, the further you go from// M830: //Yeah.// //Yes.// F829: //the town.// This work is protected by copyright. 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Information about document and author: Audio Audio audience Adults (18+): For gender: Mixed Audience size: 2 Audio awareness & spontaneity Speaker awareness: Aware Degree of spontaneity: Spontaneous Special circumstances surrounding speech: Participants had been asked to select a topic in advance Audio footage information Year of recording: 2005 Recording person id: 606 Size (min): 13 Size (mb): 51 Audio setting Education: Recording venue: school staff room Geographic location of speech: Laurencekirk Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers Not previously acquainted: Speakers knew each other: Yes Audio speaker relationships Family members or other close relationship: Audio transcription information Transcriber id: 631 Year of transcription: 2005 Year material recorded: 2005 Word count: 2618 Audio type Conversation: Interview: General description: Part-conversation, part-interview. Discussion about Orkney. Participant Participant details Participant id: 606 Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1940 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 18 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Protestantism Occupation: Academic Place of birth: Edinburgh Region of birth: Midlothian Birthplace CSD dialect area: midLoth Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Glasgow Region of residence: Glasgow Residence CSD dialect area: Gsw Country of residence: Scotland Father's place of birth: Leith Father's region of birth: Midlothian Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: midLoth Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's place of birth: Edinburgh Mother's region of birth: Midlothian Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: midLoth Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: All Language: Scots Speak: No Read: Yes Write: No Understand: Yes Circumstances: Work Participant Participant details Participant id: 829 Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1960 Educational attainment: Highers/A-levels Age left school: 16 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Brought up in Protestant faith, married in Catholic faith Occupation: SEN Auxiliary Place of birth: Aberdeen Region of birth: Aberdeen Birthplace CSD dialect area: Abd Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Laurencekirk Region of residence: Aberdeen Residence CSD dialect area: Abd Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Clerk Father's place of birth: Aberdeen Father's region of birth: Aberdeen Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Abd Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Cook / catering assistant Mother's place of birth: Aberdeen Mother's region of birth: Aberdeen Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Abd Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: At all times Participant Participant details Participant id: 830 Gender: Male Decade of birth: 1950 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 16 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Catholicism Occupation: Teacher Place of birth: Kirkwall Region of birth: Orkney Birthplace CSD dialect area: Ork Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Laurencekirk Region of residence: Aberdeen Residence CSD dialect area: Abd Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: B.T. Manager Father's place of birth: St Mary's Father's region of birth: Orkney Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Ork Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Housewife Mother's place of birth: Edinburgh Mother's region of birth: Midlothian Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: midLoth Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: All Language: Scots Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: All