So with something called Burns night (is it?) up and coming and our house (not in the middle of our street) being promised a supper with haggis, neaps and tatties, och aye the noo, I thought I would make a topic about SCOTLAND and ask THESE questions...
1. Have you ever been to SCOTLAND?
2. Have you ever worn a kilt?
3. Do you have any SCOTTISH ancestry?
4. Do you own a Simple Minds album?
5. Which is better to toss - a caber, a coin or a salad?
If somebody asked you to list 'Scottish things,' chances are you'd mention haggis, or bagpipes, or tartan kilts.
But, shockingly, none of them actually originated in Scotland - however synonymous they are with the country today.
The Scotsman newspaper has put together a telling collection of traditional favourites that make up the fabric of the nation's tartan fibres.
Each example remains very much entwined with Scottish culture - it's just that the tartan, archaeological finds suggest, was first woven in Central Asia and Austria, rather than to the sound of bagpipes.
Oh, hold on. Bagpipes are believed to have come first from Egypt, and even Greece and the Roman Empire before the sweeping Highlands.
Alison Campsie writes that Nero (a verified emperor), is depicted playing a bagpipe-style instrument on Roman coins.
The Romans also fed a haggis equivalent to its army, as it happens. A Burn's Night classic, the dish we eat in modern times is believed to be English.
There are references to haggis in English textbooks as far back as 1615, but Burns claimed it for Scotland in his Address to the Haggis in 1786.
Whisky is a drink soaked deep into Scotland's fibre.
Yet the first written record of the tipple comes from Ireland in 1405 - although there it's spelled 'whiskey'.
The Scotsman goes onto name a number of other exports that are thought to be long-ago imports. It's quite remarkable.
I have been to a few Burns Night suppers but don't much care for haggis although the veggie option is offered as an alternative these days. I hope you have all the proper and traditional toasts and grace, AF.
1 Yes often 2 No 3 No 4 Yes and saw them live last year. 5 Salad
Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to.
1. Have you ever been to SCOTLAND? Yes 2. Have you ever worn a kilt? Yes - as Y said 3. Do you have any SCOTTISH ancestry? No 4. Do you own a Simple Minds album? What is that? 5. Which is better to toss - a caber, a coin or a salad? A coin
Post by Berry McPaper-cuts on Feb 14, 2016 14:33:01 GMT
The funeral after the one we attended on Friday was obviously Scottish themed- the coffin was lying on a saltire in the hearse, a piper piped the hearse into the cemetry and several of the attenders were wearing kilts( this was in Wales).
"Almost everything you know about Scotland is a lie" - I think you're exaggerating just a bit
I wouldn't trust anything I read in The Scotsman, not even the date on the front page. Once upon a time it used to be a respected newspaper with proper journalists...
This was one of my spoof news finds and I am merely a conduit between there and here.
Been to Scotland, used to have several kilts, have Scottish ancestry and Simple Minds are tucked away somewhere - don't ask me which one though!* Tossed salad sounds good as long as it is not to accompany haggis - bleargghh!