The Caledonian Mercury: “Scotland’s first truly online newspaper”. Plus, Useful Scots Words.

I’ve just discovered a “new” Scottish online newspaper that’s been around for nearly 3 years but which I hadn’t heard of until yesterday. It’s the Caledonian Mercury, which was launched in January 2010.

Their Heritage pages include a section on Useful Scots Words that looks very tempting. I discovered the Caledonian Mercury itself (I wonder what they call themselves on a day-to-day basis: the Mercury? the Cal Merc?) when I was looking for a definition of “dwam” for my “empty-nest” post. I found not just a definition but a whole article on dwam written by Betty Kirkpatrick, who is

…the former editor of several classic reference books, including Chambers Twentieth Dictionary and Roget’s Thesaurus. She is also the author of several smaller language reference books, including The Usual Suspects and Other Clichés published by Bloomsbury, and a series of Scots titles, including Scottish Words and Phrases, Scottish Quotations, and Great Scots, published by Crombie Jardine. She is a former columnist of the Herald.

Betty has also written an article on “hunker”, a word that I wrote about recently in Coping with Sandy: Hunkering and coorie-ing.

If you’re interested in Scottish news, news interpreted from a Scottish perspective, or Scottish words, then the Caledonian Mercury might be worth checking out (I say “might be” because I haven’t really checked it out myself yet).

Have a look, and let us know what you think.

By Marian Dougan

Empty-nest syndrome – a linguistic side-effect

I became an “empty-nester” when my daughter moved away in September to attend Leeds College of Music. Harry, our son, had left two years earlier. So lots of changes — emotional changes and practical ones too (for example, loading up the washing machine far less often and struggling to get to 30 items to qualify for the cheap rate with the ironing people).

But wasn’t until a telephone conversation with my Italian sister-in-law, Ada, that a much more profound change hit home to me. Ada had called from Rome for a chat and, in passing, asked me what language I speak with Vito. “Why, Italian of course”, I told her, “we’ve always spoken Italian to each other”.

When Harry and Olivia were born we were still living in Italy. From day one, I spoke English to them and Vito alternated between English and Italian. Vito and I spoke Italian to each other when the kids weren’t around. But English was definitely our main household language. That continued when we moved to Scotland. The kids would speak Italian when it was just them and Vito, but as a family, at meal-times, say, we’d all sit chatting (bickering?) in English. If Vito didn’t catch something, or — overwhelmed by teen-speak — went off into a dwam, then we’d switch to Italian to bring him back into the loop.

But now that it’s just the two of us, we’re once again, after 20 years, a fully Italian-speaking household (except for phone calls, of course, or when we have visitors). At home, here in the very Scottish Bearsden, I speak only Italian. I’m finding this really weird. Disorienting, in fact. It’s such a radical shift.

Has anyone else experienced this?

By Marian Dougan

Nouning and verbing: an ask too far?

It’s been a while since I wrote about my (and your) favourite or least favourite words. But at Glasgow’s State of the City Economy Conference last week (9 Nov), some of the buzzwords and -phrases used by the speakers set my teeth on edge. And then I read a Macmillan Dictionary blog post on nouning and verbing, so I thought it was time to revive the topic.

I reckon I’m a language conservative. It took me ages to start using “task” as a verb (as in, a committee tasked with drafting a new energy policy). And I still don’t use “impact” as a verb. Inconsistent and irrational, I know.

On Friday, the phrase that I most disliked was “going forward” (as in “Going forward, we’ll be adopting green energy policies”). Irrational again, but it really bugs me.

Then there was “the big ask”. That I don’t mind. But then one of the speakers said that if Glasgow’s business people are looking for specific skill sets in school-leavers or graduates, they should “present their ask” to the education community. They shouldn’t just sit around complaining that young people don’t have the qualities they need: they should “channel their ask”. That, for me, was an ask too far.

Any jargon gripes — or delights? Share them in the comments!

By Marian Dougan

Creative printing

This is great fun. For anyone who’s got old printer/fax/scanner hardware kicking around. All you need is a bit of creativity.

Brother ‘Printer Orchestra’ by Chris Cairns from Partizan on Vimeo.

Disclosure: having tried — and not at all liked — Canon and then Brother, I’m delighted and very relieved to be back with Epson.

By Marian Dougan

Glasgow’s times present: international ambitions, but we won’t speak your language

I attended Glasgow’s 15th State of the City Economy Conference today. There was a lot of talk about the importance of global marketing, exports, tourism, international financial services: international business, in short. There was talk too about education, training and skills, from school to college to university to apprenticeships.

But not one word about the importance of promoting language skills to support all this internationalisation the city aspires to.

Actually, there was a word — one single word. And what a word: “polyglot”. The Leader of Glasgow City Council mentioned en passant that the “polyglot” Liz Cameron, former Provost of Glasgow, is in Nantes right now promoting the city. Why does nobody put two and two together and realise that it’s precisely because Liz speaks French, Italian (and some German) that she’s able to do that promotional work so well? Not just by speaking people’s language, but by “speaking their language”. By understanding, and being interested in, their cultures. By understanding “where they’re coming from”.

I’ve just been looking at Glasgow’s tourism website, by the way. It’s in English only. Glasgow isn’t alone in this. Anne de Freyman points out that York — which she describes as a “supreme & fabulous tourism city” — only provides Google Translate. As Anne — a French-born York resident — notes, it’s hard to say which is worse: no translate, or Google Translate?

Glasgow’s International Financial Services District’s website (also in English only!) used to mention the city’s highly respected university language departments, and their graduates, as a factor in attracting international business. But now, only the business/financial faculties seem to merit a mention.

And yes, money’s tight and translation doesn’t come free. But with carefully selected translation languages — focusing on existing and target markets — the expenditure would soon repay itself. So an investment, not a cost.

If Glasgow really wants to be a worthy player on the international stage it should get its language act together.

By Marian Dougan

Glasgow’s times past

Cling on, Cherub

Looking for “doon the watter” links for my “Coping with Sandy” post, I discovered an amazing blog for anyone living in, from or interested in Glasgow. It’s called “Glasgow History” and describes the “Achievements and Archive Photographs of this Great Scottish City”.

Glasgow’s politicians and planners have done unforgivable damage to the city and in so doing have made it a lot less great. Anyone who can remember Sauchiehall Street,  St. Enoch’s Square or Charing Cross as they used to be will know what I mean.

Anyway, Glasgow History is a marvellous resource and a great excuse for a wallow in nostalgia.

The photo, “Cling on, Cherub”, shows a lovely detail from an abandoned building in Glasgow. It was taken by The Justified Sinner, who takes an equally sour view of the city fathers (and mothers too, I suppose) and the damage they’ve done.

By Marian Dougan

Coping with Sandy: Hunkering and coorie-ing

Merriam-Webster’s “Trend Watch” reported a spike in lookups of the word “hunker” in the run-up to Hurricane (Superstorm?) Sandy. They give this CNN headline as an example: “From Maine to South Carolina, states hunker down for storm.”

Here’s the definition of hunker, from the Online Etymology Dictionary:

hunker (v.)

“to squat, crouch,” 1720, Scottish, of uncertain origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source, cf. O.N. huka “to crouch,” hoka, hokra “to crawl.” Hunker down, Southern U.S. dialectal phrase, popularized c.1965, from northern British hunker “haunch.” Related: Hunkered; hunkering.

Here in Scotland we use to expression “to get down on your hunkers”, i.e. to squat. Not a very elegant expression, but then it’s not a very elegant position.

Another word that comes to mind in the aftermath of Sandy is “coorie” (or “courie”). Here’s the (slightly amended) Collins definition:

verb

(Scottish), often foll by doun, to nestle or snuggle

Word Origin

C19: from coor, a Scot word for cower

I’m more familiar with “corrie in”, not “coorie doun” (it’s weird, I use some Scottish words but not “doun”. And if  I did, I’d spell it “doon” – as in “doon the watter”).  So if you’re sitting on the sofa watching TV on a cold winter’s night, for example, you might coorie in to whoever’s sitting next to you (if you’re on friendly enough terms, that is) to keep warm and cosy.

To all readers affected by Sandy, I hope things are getting better for you and yours. And if you’re feeling cold and miserable, I hope you at least have the comfort of a wee coorie-in.

By Marian Dougan

Ministry of Justice language services: FUBAR?

Interpreters in the UK have been up in arms over the Ministry of Justice’s 2011 language services framework agreement with a company formerly called Applied Language Solutions (ALS). The service in question was court interpreting.

The National Audit Office has now published the results of its investigation into the contracting out of language services in the justice system, and the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee discussed the matter yesterday, 15 October 2012.

Download the National Audit Office report on Ministry of Justice language services contract (pdf, 352KB)

Watch the meeting of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on Ministry of Justice Language Services.

I can think of quite a few Italian public sector organisations who have made just as much as — nay, more of — a mess of their language-service outsourcing. At significant cost to the public accounts and to the quality of their communications.

I’m sure they know who they are. But do they care?

By the way: FUBAR is military slang for “fucked up beyond all reason”.

By Marian Dougan

A social networking rant. Tell us who you are, people!

Why do some business people go to such great lengths, on social networking sites, to avoid telling people who they are and what they do? Or to convey such a whimsical image of themselves on serious business platforms?

I’ve just been up-dating my profile on KILTR, a social networking site for Scots or people who have connections or an affinity with Scotland. The job-titles of suggested contacts included a Fire-Starter, a Chief Pixel and a Top Boy. Cringe!

Equally bad are listings that consist of just a name, with no photo, job title or company name. Or a generic title such as “Director”, with no indication of what said Director’s company does or which sector it operates in. On many networking sites, you only get to see members’ full profiles once you’ve made the connection — so we really should take the time to write informative listings.

In fact, having seen so many “Directors” on KILTR, I quickly revised my own listing so that it will, I hope, give people a better idea of what I actually do.

And don’t get me started on Twitter users with protected tweets.

We’re all busy, and there are lots of social networking sites competing for our time and attention. So let’s get to the point and convey direct, clear information. And stop wasting fellow users’ time.

Rant over — normal service will soon be resumed.

By Marian Dougan

Translator training: Wordfast in London (8 and 9 November 2012)

Translators, have you got your training schedule worked out for autumn 2012? If not, you might like to consider the Wordfast workshops being held in London in November.

The workshops are being held by John Di Rico, an English-to-French translator and experienced Wordfast trainer. Details are:

Wordfast Pro for Beginners:

Friday 9 November 2012, 10am – 6pm
Cost: €208 if you sign up and pay before October 11th. Register here.

Wordfast Pro Intermediate:

Saturday 10 November 2012, 10am – 6pm
Cost: €208 if you sign up and pay before October 11th. Register here.

The venue (to be confirmed) will be in the Kings Cross–St. Pancras–Bloomsbury area, so handy not just for Brits but also for Eurostar Channel-hoppers.

By the way: John is also a committed fund-raiser for Nothing But Nets: “a global, grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to fight malaria, a leading cause of death among children in Africa”. Here’s his fund-raising page.

By Marian Dougan