LL-L: "Scots" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 12.SEP.1999 (04)

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From: lcwilson at iee.org
Subject: LL-L: "Scots" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 12.SEP.1999 (02)

At 12:14 12/09/99 -0700, OleStig Andersen wrote:

>How was (is?) Scots suppressed? In concrete detail? I have been told, eg,
>that a man was sentenced for answering "Ay" in court in stead of "Yes".
>Can that be true? It is alleged to have happened less than 20 years ago.

There were some well-publicised cases in 1993-94. The article
below is from the Scottish national daily newspaper "The Scotsman"
but I also have an article about the same court case from the
"Wolverhampton Express and Star", a regional newspaper serving the
Midlands of England. The case obviously drew attention outside
Scotland.

>From "The Scotsman", 30 April 1994. (My own comments follow
at the end.)

****** article begins ******

"A second sheriff has ruled that the word "aye" will not do
instead of "yes" in a Scottish court.

Sheriff Irvine Smith, at a means inquiry court in Stirling
yesterday, intervened when Catherine Maher (20) of Davidson
Street, Whins of Milton, replied "aye" when asked by the
depute sheriff clerk to confirm her name.

Sheriff Smith asked Miss Maher, who was later jailed for
seven days for non-payment of a GBP 40.00 fine imposed
last year for shoplifting: "Do you not speak English? If
you think aye in Scots means yes, it doesn't".

Later, Sheriff Smith told Kevin White (20) of King Street,
Fallin, near Stirling, he should answer yes or no after
White, too, replied "aye" to the clerk's question.

Sheriff Smith added: "I'm trying to instruct you in elementary
English". White replied "I'm Scottish, sir".

Asked by the sheriff if he was familiar with Robert Burns's
ballad "Aye Waukin O", White said he had not read the Scots
bard.

Sheriff Smith, a Burns scholar, quoted the chorus "Aye waukin
o, waukin still and weary; sleep I can get nane, for thinkin
on my dearie".

When White again replied "aye" to a question the sheriff asked,
"are you trying to be insolent?" White replied that he wasn't.
Sheriff Smith jailed him also for seven days, for non-payment
of a GBP 75.00 fine imposed for possession of amphetamine.

Last night, Sheriff Smith commented "The point I was trying to
make was that "aye" as used by Burns, and in much Scottish verse,
means "always".

At a means court in Stirling in December, Sheriff James Nolan
ordered a Perthshire man to be taken to the cells for
repeatedly using "aye" instead of "yes".

****** article ends ******

Of course, there *is* a Scots word spelt "aye" and meaning "always",
as well as the one meaning "yes" and spelt "aye" or "ay". However,
in spite of the similarity in writing, they are quite distinct in
speech, and there can be very few Scots who would confuse the two.
Even those whose knowledge of Scots is completely passive would
know the difference, and if Sheriff Smith had been a "Burns
scholar" as he claimed, he would have known it too.

As it is, the court setting has allowed these ignoramuses to hand
out punishments to others, on no basis other than their own prejudice
and bigotry.

By the way, in case anyone is puzzled by the use of the term
"sheriff", in Scotland a sheriff is the lowest rank of legally-
qualified judge. He (most are men) presides over a sheriff
court, where the maximum penalty that can be given is three
years imprisonment. The only lower-ranking court is the district
court, presided over by a lay magistrate.

I'm very much looking forward to the chance to hear OleStig
Andersen's programme "Skotske Sprog" if it becomes available
from a WWW-server.

Colin Wilson.

**********************************************************************
                               the graip wis tint, the besom wis duin
Colin Wilson                   the barra wadna row its lane
postin fae Glesca              an sicna soss it nivver wis seen
                               lik the muckin o Geordie's byre
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