Residents of the capital have developed their own colloquial way of using words to describe situations or phrases that outsiders sometimes struggle to wrap their head around.
Hearing words like ‘Reeking’ or ‘Chum’ would not throw an Auld Reekie local off their stride but to the uninitiated it can leave them baffled and puzzled.
Our unique way with words is often a comfort to native sons and daughters of the capital but we learned from our West Coast reporter, Angus, that they can be confusing for not only tourists but also our fellow Scots.
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We put him through his paces to see if we could get him up to speed with the language of Edinburgh and the results were extremely surprising.
Angus admits that he comes from the “deepest depths of the Shire (Ayrshire)” and it certainly shows as he tries to guess some of the capital’s most used slang phrases.
We started off nice and easy with our Edinburgh based reporter Sian asking him whether he knew what the word ‘Reeking’ meant.
Giving it the old college try, and with an admirable effort, Angus took a stab at it meaning “stinking” - you can forgive the attempt but alas he failed at the first hurdle. He was surprised when Sian informed him that it meant someone is pretty drunk.
The next challenge was to decipher what the word ‘Chum’ meant. The reporter from the West thought that it could mean “your pal” which was again understandable but then got colder when on his second attempt he guessed it meant “to throw you.”
The ever knowledgeable Sian however broke it to him that it meant to accompany someone - to which Angus responded with frustration “well why would you not just say that?”
Feeling rather downhearted, our beloved reporter was in need of a lift, and on his third attempt he was able to guess that ‘Scooby’ meant idea - the first point on the board, hurrah!
But we were back on regular terrain with Angus stumbling to find the meaning of a ‘Stooshie’ which he seemed to have believed he had once saw on Top of the Pops by guessing it was ‘ a band.’
On a second failed attempt he confused ‘Stooshie’ with a ‘Stookie’ plaster cast which can be forgiven due to the similar sounding word.
But not one for giving up, our West Coster smashed it out the park by guessing a fight. Sian elaborated by saying that it meant a “minor scrap that can often take place in a bar.”
Next up was having a go at the renowned word ‘Gadgie’ which in fairness can be used for a variety of reasons but not for the word “Gadget” which Angus had guessed.
The knowledgeable Sian says that it can be used as a general insult in the capital for someone who has been an idiot or acted annoying.
Running out of luck, it was not about to get easier, with ‘Spraffing’ next on the list. Unconvincingly Angus guessed it may mean “brand spraffing new” or “sprinting” but Sian once again set him right by informing our hapless reporter that it meant “spreading nonsense.”
However, it was not to be all failure for our trying newshound, as he was able to land on the word ‘Shan’ meaning not good, despite never hearing it before in his life.
There certainly is room for improvement if the Shire lad is to acclimatise to his surroundings in the capital but I’m sure we can all agree it was a valiant effort nonetheless.
Let us know if you fared better in the comments section.
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