#scotstober

#Scotstober Day 30 #Mervaill (with English translation).

It’s the second last day of Scotstober! It’s been a challenge to keep up with doing the posts, getting my writing work done, and keeping up with comments and other blogs–sorry for being so lax on the last two, but I’ll be catching up in the coming days. Today’s word is mervaill. As a noun, it means a marvelous act executed by divine or other supernatural means of agency, a wondrous act, a…

#Scotstober Day 29 #Skreich (with English translation).

Today’s word, skreich, is pronounced skreech. The ‘ch’ at the end isn’t a hard k as it is in English, but the same soft, gutteral sound at the end of loch in Scots. It means screech, shriek, to yell out, a shrill cry. Here’s my response to the prompt (taken from Running The Asset): Hei oop, whar the lowe luntit maist sairly, ane o the firefighters oan the ledder ootside Rosa’s chaumer windae…

#Scotstober Day 27 #Sklent (with English translation).

Today’s word is sklent. As a verb, it means to move at a slant, to zigzag; to slope, to slant; to aim sideways; to look sideways, to squint. As a noun, it means slanting cut, slope, sideways movement, change of direction, sidelong glance. adjective: slanting Here’s my response to the prompt (taken from Running The Asset): Clamps soondit fae the wynd. Adam harled Elle intae heez airms an preesed…

#Scotstober Day 26 #Guisin (with English translation and the cheesiest joke known to Scot).

Today’s word is guisin. Nowadays, it means dressing up and doing the doors at Halloween. In Scotland, the kids–and sometimes teenagers–dress up and go around all the houses and entertain you for sweets and coins. How it usually goes is once the guisers get to the door, they ask what it is you want as your entertainment (a trick or a treat). The trick in Scots–in this context–is a joke. So, be…

#Scotstober Day 25 #Glisk (with English translation).

Today’s word, glisk, is a beautiful one–to me, at least. It means glance, glimpse, gleam, sparkle, brief moment, trace, touch, resemblance, similarity. What I find so beautiful about it is the sound. It starts off soft, then finishes on a hard k. Almost as if it mimics the sound of a sparkle (okay, the sound sparkles make in my head). Here’s my response to the prompt (taken from Running The…

#Scotstober Day 24 #Bogle (with English translation).

Today’s word, bogle, is a fun one. As a noun, bogle means an ugly or terrifying ghost, a phantom, a scarecrow, a bugbear, a cause of annoyance. As a verb, it means to bewitch, bamboozle, bellow or shout. Unfortunately, I haven’t written anything that has ghosts or phantoms in it since my screenwriting days, but I do have a snippet about a man-shaped cause of annoyance. 😜 Here’s my response to…

#Scotstober Day 23 #Skelp (with english translation).

Today’s word, skelp, gave me a wee bit of a headache. You see, I use it a lot in daily life and when I’m writing. But, when I’m writing, I tend to use it in a very different way than I do in everyday life. I’d best give you the definition so that you can see where my difficulty came from. As a verb, skelp means spank, smack, slap, hit; to hammer, beat, work with vigour, gallop, move fast. As a…