Pronunciation help

[AMLK]

My 5yr old daughter has been given homework of memorising a scottish poem to recite in assembly in 2 weeks. Problem I have with this is that we are not scottish (only lived here 6 weeks), so i do not know how to pronounce some of the words. Can anyone help me with the words I am stuggling with, so I can help her? I have put the words I am not sure about in bold. There are other words in there that I am not familiar with, but presume they are said as spelt - please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

My wee doggie,
Does lots of tricks,
Fetches the paper,
Brings back sticks,
Chases aa the craws
That steal the hen's feed,
Lowps through a gird
Kids he's deid
Sits on his hunkers,
Gies a paw,
Then he gets
A bane to gnaw.

[Size Nine Elm]

AMLK said:

My 5yr old daughter has been given homework of memorising a scottish poem to recite in assembly in 2 weeks. Problem I have with this is that we are not scottish (only lived here 6 weeks), so i do not know how to pronounce some of the words. Can anyone help me with the words I am stuggling with, so I can help her? I have put the words I am not sure about in bold. There are other words in there that I am not familiar with, but presume they are said as spelt - please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

My wee doggie,
Does lots of tricks,
Fetches the paper,
Brings back sticks,
Chases aa the craws
That steal the hen's feed,
Lowps through a gird
Kids he's deid
Sits on his hunkers,
Gies a paw,
Then he gets
A bane to gnaw.

aa -> aw, as in "aw, isn't that nice"
gird -> as in gird up your loins...
deid -> 'deed'
Gies -> geez

[DrTre]

deid = deed

gies = geez

the others, christ knows. Tell her to knock back a bottle of Buckie and it'll all come naturally.

[paulmurr]

AMLK said:

My 5yr old daughter has been given homework of memorising a scottish poem to recite in assembly in 2 weeks. Problem I have with this is that we are not scottish (only lived here 6 weeks), so i do not know how to pronounce some of the words. Can anyone help me with the words I am stuggling with, so I can help her? I have put the words I am not sure about in bold. There are other words in there that I am not familiar with, but presume they are said as spelt - please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

My wee doggie,
Does lots of tricks,
Fetches the paper,
Brings back sticks,
Chases aa the craws
That steal the hen's feed,
Lowps through a gird
Kids he's deid
Sits on his hunkers,
Gies a paw,
Then he gets
A bane to gnaw.

aa - aww (meaning all)
gird - gird (fk knows what that means)
deid - deed (as in dead)
Gies - Geez (as in 'give me')

[AMLK]

Thanks - will start teaching her this weekend, once I have got my head round it!! Husband is not too keen on this, his point is that she should be learning to speak, read and write proper english rather confuse her with this!!! I can see where he is coming from, but I have pointed out that since we have chosen to live in Scotland then we have to follow their ways!

[DrTre]

AMLK said:

Thanks - will start teaching her this weekend, once I have got my head round it!! Husband is not too keen on this, his point is that she should be learning to speak, read and write proper english rather confuse her with this!!! I can see where he is coming from, but I have pointed out that since we have chosen to live in Scotland then we have to follow their ways!

Confusing? It's no different to Shakespeare from that POV, or Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear? All are odd words or "olde englishe". Kids are insanely adaptable at that age. If anything we ought to be teaching them more foreign languages...in English we have different words for the same thing, children see little difference between them.

[paulmurr]

Studying Robert Burns and Ian Crichton Smith was part of English when I was at school, no different to studying Shakespeare and the like. Just because it isn't modern english doesn't mean that it isn't proper english.

[WorAl]

paulmurr said:

AMLK said:

My 5yr old daughter has been given homework of memorising a scottish poem to recite in assembly in 2 weeks. Problem I have with this is that we are not scottish (only lived here 6 weeks), so i do not know how to pronounce some of the words. Can anyone help me with the words I am stuggling with, so I can help her? I have put the words I am not sure about in bold. There are other words in there that I am not familiar with, but presume they are said as spelt - please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

My wee doggie,
Does lots of tricks,
Fetches the paper,
Brings back sticks,
Chases aa the craws
That steal the hen's feed,
Lowps through a gird
Kids he's deid
Sits on his hunkers,
Gies a paw,
Then he gets
A bane to gnaw.

aa - aww (meaning all)
gird - gird (fk knows what that means)
deid - deed (as in dead)
Gies - Geez (as in 'give me')

Would agree however, I would say....

Gies - Gee'ez - as in 'give me' (2 Syllables)

[AMLK]

I agree - I don't have any problems with her learning this, it is my husband that is not keen. I think he is worried that she will get confused with learning gaelic words alongside english, but like you say kids are very adaptable at that age - she already knows sme spanish and french, so I don't see any difference with this.I do understand where my husband concerns but I think they are needless, he is just a big worrier!!

[Hugo a Gogo]

WorAl said:

paulmurr said:

AMLK said:

My 5yr old daughter has been given homework of memorising a scottish poem to recite in assembly in 2 weeks. Problem I have with this is that we are not scottish (only lived here 6 weeks), so i do not know how to pronounce some of the words. Can anyone help me with the words I am stuggling with, so I can help her? I have put the words I am not sure about in bold. There are other words in there that I am not familiar with, but presume they are said as spelt - please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

My wee doggie,
Does lots of tricks,
Fetches the paper,
Brings back sticks,
Chases aa the craws
That steal the hen's feed,
Lowps through a gird
Kids he's deid
Sits on his hunkers,
Gies a paw,
Then he gets
A bane to gnaw.

aa - aww (meaning all)
gird - gird (fk knows what that means)
deid - deed (as in dead)
Gies - Geez (as in 'give me')

Would agree however, I would say....

Gies - Gee'ez - as in 'give me' (2 Syllables)

geezabreck pal, it's wan syllable!

gies in that sense is 'gives' - but as in 'give us' is pronounced the same

'deed' is short, not like 'a good deed' in English

funnily enough, you'd say "he's dead good" for very good, but you'd say "he's deid!" if "thurrs bin a murrderr"

Edited by Hugo a Gogo on Thursday 14th January 11:54

[WorAl]

AMLK said:

I agree - I don't have any problems with her learning this, it is my husband that is not keen. I think he is worried that she will get confused with learning gaelic words alongside english, but like you say kids are very adaptable at that age - she already knows sme spanish and french, so I don't see any difference with this.I do understand where my husband concerns but I think they are needless, he is just a big worrier!!

No Gaelic words there, just broad scottish, not too dissimilar to geordie - probably why I understand it.

[DrTre]

It's not Gaelic, just colloquialisms/Old Scots. It's just the written form of the way I think?

She'll hear "deid" and "gies" soon enough in the playground...well...hopefully not "deid"....

[Hugo a Gogo]

you could watch "Parliamo Glasgow"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0rgETg2Hoo

[AMLK]

WorAl said:

No Gaelic words there, just broad scottish, not too dissimilar to geordie - probably why I understand it.

Sorry - didn't realise, just presumed. If it is similar to geordie then I should find it easier to understand people since we have just moved form the north east, but I am still struggling! But to be fair, I struggled with some of the broad geordies, and don't even get me started on the mackems!

[paulmurr]

WorAl said:

paulmurr said:

aa - aww (meaning all)
gird - gird (fk knows what that means)
deid - deed (as in dead)
Gies - Geez (as in 'give me')

Would agree however, I would say....

Gies - Gee'ez - as in 'give me' (2 Syllables)

There are two distince colloquialisms here;

'Gies' can be pronounced

'geez a pie an a tin ah ginger'

or

'gee-us a pie an a tin ah ginger'

I use both quite frequently when 'blooturt' and in the chippie

[catso]

AMLK said:

Husband is not too keen on this, his point is that she should be learning to speak, read and write proper english rather confuse her with this!!!

Yes and if they don't understand then get her to SHOUT LOUDER.

[.:ian:.]

Are they not showing re-runs of Taggart you can pick "the lingo" up from ?

[Lemmonie]

Is this not a bit of a tall order for a five year old?!

Can 5 year olds read?

[Eric Mc]

Shows how far ahead Scottish education standards are.

[jamieboy]

Going against the grain, and it wouldn't fit the poem, but I'd pronounce that "dayed".

Born in south-west Scotland, now Edinburgh-ish.