Say What? GPP Crusade

Numpty was recently voted Scotland's favourite word, according to the BBC. This Scots word means a fool or an idiot and is often used to describe politicians. There are several Scots words for foolish, how about dippit or glaekit? These are words that even Sassanachs (English people like me) use on a regular basis. Other Scots words and expressions I use include:

in a fankle - in a tangle, a mess
crabbit - bad tempered, grumpy
dour - miserable (person or weather)
drookit - soaking wet (from the rain)
peely wally - pale and sickly
blether - talk, chatter, ramble on and on or to describe someone who talks a lot
puggled - too exhausted to do anything
bumfle - creased, wrinkled
shoogle - to shake from side to side

For more Scots words and phrases, visit here.

There are various dialects of Scots spoken in various parts of the country but the most telling difference between the two main cities is said in English rather than Scots:

You arrive at someone's house in Glasgow to be greeted with: 'You'll be wanting your tea, then?' whereas in Edinburgh it will be: 'You'll have had your tea then?'.

These types of small differences can be fascinating. For example, my partner's family, when they say they're going to 'stretch their legs' mean they're going to sit down, whereas my family mean they're going for a walk when they say exactly the same thing.

I remember a wonderful phrase of my Grandmother's 'I'm off to see my aunt' she'd say as she went off to the bathroom.

There are so many weird word usages! I know several people who will say 'what a wombat!' when someone does something silly (hey come on we're in Scotland, what's wrong with numpty!!).

I spent two years in Malawi and there are a couple of Chichewa words I will still use:

Zikomo - thank you, excuse me, look out there's a lion behind you (admittedly this last usage has declined since I returned to Scotland.)
Osoandola - don't worry
Chabwino - Okay, fine
Tikupita - let's go! My partner has corrupted this into chick pea pizza for some reason.

I grew up in Lancashire and for lots of regional words from that area, please see Sue Berry's entry for this prompt.

Tattoo

This is my art journal page for the archive GPP Street Team Crusade on the topic of tattoos. I reality I couldn't face the pain of having a tattoo done, not sure either that i'd want something that permanent. If I did have a tattoo though it would be a dolphin leaping over my shoulder blade. I sometimes have flowery henna tattoos when we go clubbing or for the long summer days. When we go clubbing, we get our hands stamped, sometimes with a seahorse, sometimes with a catspaw, either of which look a bit like a tattoo, sometimes with an inky mess that takes forever to fade and is just annoying! Of course if I'm being a glamour goth for the night and wearing long gloves, then the stamp will go elsewhere, usually on my upper arm.

Journalling the Everyday - GPP Street Team

The GPP Street Team prompt this month is to journal the everyday. I used a small junk mail brochure (not only a useful base material but also very everyday!). The pages each show some aspect of my everyday life, using publicity materials, photos from magazines and my own artwork. The photos in this post are the pages for: love, cinema (showing information from Edinburgh's Cameo Cinema and a ticket from a film showing at the Edinburgh Filmhouse), languages (showing part of the front page of the Italian language magazine Focus, which i like to read to practice my Italian) and clubbing (including a flier for an Edinburgh goth club). Over on Crafty Green Poet, there are pages on technology, our pet rabbit, green lifestyle, nature, Edinburgh and poetry, which can be seen here. I could also have included pages on clothes, work and reading.

Playlist = best bands to see live

Partly inspired by Gel of Emerald Eyes with her Tuesday Afternoon Tunes and partly by GPP Street Team's archive prompt of Playlists, I decided that I will post playlists on a random and occasional basis, usually on this blog, sometimes over on Crafty Green Poet. Today I was thinking of the best bands I have seen live. The bands that give the most memorable performances, the concerts with the best atmosphere, the gigs when you return home thinking 'that was awesome!'.

1. Cruxshadows. Live they are truly fabulous. They really put loads of effort into their concerts and both the lead singer and the violinist wander through the audience, most of whom are devoted fans.

2. Indigo Girls. In terms of sitting down to listen to music, Indigo Girls are at the top of my list. I've seen them in concert three times (it would be more except they don't come over here very often!) and there's always a great atmosphere and good audience sing alongs.

3. Dead Kennedy's. The new lead singer was obviously a fan of theirs previously and looks totally awestruck to be on stage with them, which is really sweet. They totally rock.

4. Screaming Banshee Aircrew. Like the Cruxshadows their lead singer wanders round the audience. Great concerts.

5. Dream Disciples - partly I say this because the concert we saw was at a goth Christmas event and was my introduction to world of goth clubbing. It was a fabulous night and I've not stopped dancing since!

My Rockstar Moment

I recently discovered GPP Street Team, Michelle Ward's inspiring blog of creative challenges. I intend to join in on the challenges as they happen in the future, but first I think I'll catch up a little on the archives. So here is my Rockstar Moment. This is a couple of years back when I was one of only two poets performing at the music stage at the Meadows Festival, Edinburgh's best community festival (sadly the festival has had troubles recently and didn't really happen last year and may not happen again). It was slightly surreal but great fun to be on stage between two excellent local rock bands! It was also very sunny, hence the shades!

Since GeL asked, here are links to a couple of the poems I performed. I'll add more if I can, though some of the poems I performed aren't online:

Tarragona Widow

Mythologies of the Moon

I don't think I'm famous, but I've been stopped in the street on more than one occasion and recognised in restaurants.....