LL-L "Delectables" 2004.12.02 (03) [E/S]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 02.DEC.2004 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Delectables" [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Delectables
>
> CROWDIE, (obs.) ~-MOWDIE oatmeal and water mixed and eaten
>    raw.

I commonly ate this as a snack when a child, but:

    o    don't use rolled oats for this or you may get indigestion;
    o    it's a lot better if you let the oatmeal soak for an hour or two;
    o    oats are the best cereal for the heart, yet the most fattening, so
count the calories if you're using them for snacking.

"Crowdie" is also used as a more general term for oatmeal dishes, and
breakfast in the past was sometimes referred to as "crowdie time". Since
these terms were used by Burns you'll still hear them used occasionally now.

Here's a rather good "Witches Cauldron" scene from George Beattie's "John o
Arnhaa":

A gusty cawdron biled and feamed,
In which the beldames, eident, threw
Ingredients hideous to the view;
An aye's they steered them wi a theevil,
They mummelt "crowdy for the deevil."
An for a theevil they did use
A sturdy stump o knotty spruce.
Wi whilk a son cam crash, O vow,
Ootower his fathers bare auld pow!
An still the faithfu bark retains,
The sacrilegious sinfu stains,
O lappert bluid and human brains.

biled - boiled
feamed - foamed
beldames - old women
eident - eager
aye's - always as
steered - stirred
theevil - (see below)
mummelt - mumbled
crowdy - (see above)
deevil - devil
whilk - which
vow - wow!
ootower - above, upon, across, over
auld - old
pow - skull, top if head
lappert - splashed around

> GIRNEL, GARNEL, (obs.) GIRNER a storage chest for meal etc.

Obsolete since I discovered tupperware!

> PARRITCH, PORRIDGE, POSHIE (child's word noun, formerly frequently
>    treated as a plural) porridge, the dish of oatmeal (or rolled oats)
> boiled in
>    salted water.

No! Add the salt after boiling or later in the boiling process, or the oats
will harden before the cream forms.

> SOWANS a dish made from oat husks and fine meal steeped in water for
>    about a week; after straining, the liquor was again left to ferment and
> separate,
>    the solid matter at the bottom being the SOWANS, the liquor SWATS,

Tastes like piss. I think the point of making this was that the solid sowans
could be cut in cubes and stored away. It would then last for long periods
and could be boiled in water for eating. The sourness begins to develop
after just a couple of days soaking. I often do this because I begin soaking
then don't have time for breakfast so make the porage on the second or third
day - but it's an acquired taste!

> THEEVIL (now local North-Dumfries), THEEDLE (now local Caithness-Fife)
>    a short tapering stick used to stir food as it cooks, a SPURTLE.

This occurs in a Scots adaptation of Pop Goes the Weasel (pronounced Wi:z at l
in Scots):

Roond aboot the parritch pat,
Fechtin for the theevil,
That's the wey the money goes,
Pop goes the wheasel!

My wee boy's a bonny wee boy,
Your wee boy's a deevil;
That's the wey the money goes,
Pop goes the wheasel!

fechtin - fighting

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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