Chapter 8

Stewarton has a word for it

Speech styles, customs and dialects in Scotland vary from district to district. Before the advent of public transport and the influence of the wireless and talking pictures, they even varied from town to town and village to village.

   Until education became compulsory in the second half of the 19th century and a standard form of English was taught in the schools, Scots people used to write and spell as they spoke. Examples of this can be observed in many old documents, minute books, and letters still in existence, most of which are calligraphic miscellanies of English and "broad Scots," sometimes referred to as the vernacular or the Doric.

   An illustration of this kind of writing is to be found in the rules and regulations laid down by the Bonnet Court of Corsehill in the  17th century when "sichters" were appointed to "sicht" - meaning to examine by sight -the completed bonnets before passing them for sale at the markets in Glasgow. Sicht was and is the Scots way of saying sight; and nicht, ticht and fricht are other examples.

   "Ocht"  is  another  syllable  used frequently  and  it  substitutes  for the English  "ought."  Bocht  for  bought, thocht for thought, focht for fought and wrocht for wrourht are examples of this form of speech

   Another peculiar speech custom in Stewarton is the addition uf "ock" to certain names. This probably started with parents giving their children a kind of Scottish  pet  name  -  hence  we  have Jiminock, Daveock, Hughock, Sannock, Leezock, Mairock, and Jessock.

   While many people in the West of Scotland have  a tendency to say "ye know" at the end of a sentence, it's "ye ken" or "ken" in Stewarton.

   An example of "Parliamo Stewarton" of yesteryear is the statement: "Oor Jimmock wrocht  doon the  Bey in Kinycum's fur twinty year ye ken," which translated means: "My brother James  worked  in  Holm  Street  in Cunningham's factory for twenty years you understand."

   One word that is heard constantly is that curious Scottish pronoun "youse" or "yiz."  This  results  in questions like: "Whaur's youse yins gaun?" which means "where are you people going?"

   The best anecdote J ever heard in this connection, and it's a true story, is the day a local football player was coming off Strandhead Park after playing in a match. One disgruntled supporter, annoyed that Stewarton had just been beaten remarked: "Yiz wur terrible the day." The surprised player replied: "Ah didnae think Ah wiz too bad - Ah scored twa goals." Said the supporter: "Ah didnae say you Ah sid youse."

   Phrases in common use when greeting acquaintances on the street might be - "Whit ye savin' tae it the day?"or "Whit's fresh the day?" both of which are ways of enquiring if the person concerned has any small talk or gossip. And if someone profoundly states: "It'll be aw wan a hunner year fae noo," he means that the present   situation   or   bother   being experienced  will  not  matter  in  one hundred years' time. When someone says: "It's a sair fecht," he or she means that life is a sore fight or a harassing battle.

   When I was a boy in the town a man might ask me: "An' whit's your name son?" "Alastair Barclay," I would reply. "An' wha ur you furra Barclay?" he would then ask. "My father is Tom Barclay, the fitba'  player," I would say. "Oh, big Tarn. Ah kennum Fine - an' yur mither'll be Jeannie Broon?"

   Football sayings have always been a feature of local life. Back in the Twenties and Thirties Stewarton supporters used to shout: "Come on the 'ton!" (pronounced "tawn"). Ignoring profanity,almost.other shouts heard at Strandhead Park have included:  "That  centre-haufs  a  big puddin'." "The baw skeytit aff 'is fit fur a shy." "Oor goalie wiz yissliss -we goat bate seiven wan." "That yin couldnae kick 'is ain erse!"  "Awan get yur een testit ref yurblin!"

   In pre-war days there were few mums and dads in Stewarton and fewer, if any, maws and paws. But there were numerous mammies and daddies and most children addressed their parents in this manner. It was mammy and daddy until they reached their teens when it became mother and father or mither and faither. Today young children still call their father daddy but all or most ofthe mammies have disappeared.

   In  my  schooldays  schoolchildren tended to be tri-lingual. In school we spoke correct English without thinking and good manners were the rule. It was "please  miss"  or  "please  sir"  when addressing teachers and if you wanted to go to the toilet you asked - "please may I leave the room?" without embarrassment.

   At home you spoke as your parents spoke  whether  it  was  broad  Scots Stewarton style, "proper" or "polite" English, or a happy medium of informal, but not too broad Scots. Outside on the streets or the playing fields the language was coarser and among the boys, intermixed with swear words.

   Stewarton children used to be warned by their mothers to "talk polite" in shops,  especially  in  Kilmarnock  or Glasgow. One ten-year-old boy was once taken by his mother to the Cooperative Shoe  Shop  in  John  Finnic  Street, Kilmarnock, where he duly received this. warning before entering. After trying on a pair of black shoes the female assistant asked the lad how they were for fit. Just to be awkward the boy replied: "Ah don't like  thae  shin  -  Ah waant a pair o' tacketty bits." When she got him outside the mother gave him a clout on the jaw and stated that she was "black-affronted." I know this is a true story for that boy was me.

   Talking pictures had a tremendous influence on speech customs in Stewarton and everywhere else in the country and it was not long before the slick American words and phrases became part of everyday language. And they are still in use to  this day.

  When the population of Stewarton increased during the Sixties and Seventies and newcomers arrived to live in the town, many from Glasgow, the north Ayrshire provincial dialect of Stewarton began to be augmented by the Glesca patter. Although Stewarton and Glasgow are only seventeen miles apart there is a marked difference in the vocabulary and manner of speech of the average bom-and-bred Stewartonian and his or her counterpart from the city. While the intonation is similar, "Parliamo Glasgow" of the glottal stop and the '"rerr terr at ra ferr" is not the language of the Bonnet Toun, where a broader, auld Scots "braw bricht min licht nicht the nicht, ye ken" style of speech is the mither tongue. The softer, east coast dialect with the raising of tone at the end of sentence is also not a north Ayrshire trait.

   Not all Stewartonians or Glaswegians talk broad and there are many who, due to  home  or educational background, speak perfectly good, refined English - albeit with a Scots accent. Some too, are bilingual, depending on the company or the occasion. Those who are either born with or adopt an ultra polished accent are often accused of talking "pan loaf" or "Kelvinside."

   Today in Stewarton, while the older Stewartonians stick to the language they were almost born with, a less parochial and  more  cosmopolitan  atmosphere prevails.

   Sadly, many of the old words and sayings have disappeared or are hardly heard now - and there are only a few Jimmocks and Daveocks left.

    In the streets, shops, pubs and clubs, all  kinds  of  accents  are  to  be  heard including an assortment of Scottish and English,  plus Welsh, Irish and  several foreign intonations. It takes all kinds to make a mini new town.

   Like most small towns, Stewarton had more than its share of nicknames but this is  another aspect  of local  life that has almost become extinct. At one time the town  was  full  of  "characters"  or "worthies,"  all  of whom  had  some distinguishing feature, either in speech, manner, dress or personality. Today,that indefinable quality is called charisma.

   In listing nicknames I must emphasise that in no way do I wish to offend either the persons concerned or their relatives. As Tommy McGuinness, a local character himself, once wrote - "the nickname was a  badge  of  distinction  affectionately earned in a more leisurely age."

   Although some of the nicknames are self-explanatory, how others came about remains a mystery. The following is a list of Stewarton nicknames over a long period:   Paurliament  Tarn, Tibby, Picadilly Bill, the Kaiser, the General, Tidy Tarn, Chanty, Punt, Heely, Goosey, Bummer, Tipper, Kyeks, Rnty, Barra.Jingler, Fud, Bender, Toaffie Tarn, Spoot Rab, Bun, Scoaney, Spin, Corky, Moses, Cheeser, Basher, Sweg, Peeler, Tarrants, Honey Pears, Toorie, Skiff, Stump, Big Tarn, Hopper, Peely, Sikes, Bimbo, Slogger, Dally, Pints, Bud, Spud, Toby, Bobbinsticks, Cappy, Chippy, Healy, Speedy,the Professor, the Duke,