Scottish and Welsh Humor Guide

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Scottish and Welsh Humor
By Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen

WARNING ABOUT SCOTTISH HUMOR, TABOOS, AND CENSORSHIP
In selecting examples of Scottish humor we have tried to be edgy, but not
offensive, but consider the following:
CENSORSHIP FROM THE RIGHT: Blasphemy, Obscenity, Profanity, Swear
Words, Vulgarity, Mention of Body Parts, and Body Functions
CENSORSHIP FROM THE LEFT (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS): Age,
Disabilities, Gender, Ethnicity, Belief System, and all other marginalizations.
Ethnic humor tends to be in the vernacular. It is colloquial, and
ungrammatical and unpretentious, but it is also often “vulgar” because it is in
the language of the common people (compare “Vulgar Latin”).
We’ve tried not to use offensive examples, and we hope we have succeeded,
but remember that what is not offensive to one person might be very
offensive to another person. We apologize in advance if any of our examples
are offensive.
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Scots have short arms and
long pockets.
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Rob Brydon: A Welsh Comedian
Rob Brydon “On Giving Birth”:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=comedian+rob+brydon&view=detail&mid
9

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Robert Burns (1759-1796)
• Bobbie Burns is the author of “Auld Lang
Syne.”
• Bobbie Burns is also the poet of “eating,
drinking and wenching.”
• I hae been blythe wi’ comrades dear;
• I hae been merry drinking;
• I hae been joyfu’ gath’rin gear;
• I hae been happy thinking.

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• But a’ the pleasures e’er I saw
• Tho’ three times double’d fairly
• That happy night was worth them
a’,
• Among the rigs o’ barley.

Steve Coogan, A Welsh Comedian
Steve Coogan a.k.a. Alan Partridge:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+steve+coogan&view=detail&mi
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Tommy Cooper: A Welsh Comedian
Tommy Cooper:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+tommy+cooper+comedian&vie
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Christie Davies, A Welsh Author
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Lee Evans, A Welsh Comedian
Lee Evans:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+lee+evans&view=detail&mid=A
15

Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson on the “Stephen Colbert Show”:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+craig+ferguson&view=detail&m
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Tina Fey (Her father was half Scottish)
Tina Fey on “The David Letterman Show”:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+tina+fey&view=detail&mid=F80
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Rhod Gilbert, A Welsh Comedian
Rhod Gilbert “Luggage Problems”:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+rhod+gilbert&view=detail&mid=
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Ruth Jones, A Welsh Comedian
Ruth Jones and James Cordan:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+ruth+jones&&view=detail&mid=
20

Terry Jones, A Welsh Comedian
A Member of the Monte Python Group
Terry Jones and His Monte Python Sketches:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=youtube+comedian+terry+jones&&view=detail&mid=0D86AB7616660A8
382DA0D86AB7616660A8382DA&rvsmid=AF52FA0EB76147B28E4EAF52F
A0EB76147B28E4E&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV
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Lloyd Langford, A Welsh Comedian
Lloyd Langford on the “Ask Rhod Gilbert Show”:
q=youtube+lloyd+langford&view=detail&mid=69D46D32D504A0EBE2DC6
9D46D32D504A0EBE2DC&FORM=VIRE
22

Jay Leno (His mother was from Scotland)
Jay Leno on the “David Letterman Show”:
q=youtube+jay+leno+comedy&&view=detail&mid=86FFD2D14CE2E9AC6F
2986FFD2D14CE2E9AC6F29&rvsmid=1B1753419D01A5C3CBF11B1753419
D01A5C3CBF1&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV
23

Gladys Morgan
Gladys Morgan “The Welsh Queen of Comedy”:
q=youtube+gladys+morgan&view=detail&mid=9A19797E6D9BD23B3F1E9
A19797E6D9BD23B3F1E&FORM=VIRE
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John C. Reilly (His father was of
Scottish and Irish Descent)
John C. Reilly and Will Farrell in “Step Brothers”:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=john+c.
+reilly+youtube+humor&&view=detail&mid=0457D0D31103FDF5581C0457
D0D31103FDF5581C&rvsmid=D30B9997B4DDA86A0E28D30B9997B4DDA
86A0E28&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV
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Mickey Rooney (His father was Scottish born)
Mickey Rooney and Milton Berle “Canned Humor”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVJ-fplYJr8
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Sir Walter Scott (1771-1831)
• Sir Walter Scott Scott wrote
– Ivanhoe
– The Heart of Midlothian
– Rob Roy and
– Quentin Durward

Paul Whitehouse, A Welsh Comedian
Paul Whitehouse, “Smile”:
q=youtube+paul+whitehouse&view=detail&mid=D0045751B49AC996EF47
D0045751B49AC996EF47&FORM=VIRE
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Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-
1894)
• Robert Louis Stevenson wrote
– Treasure Island and
– Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Scottish Highlands & Lowlands

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Scottish Words in America
Place Names
Aberdeen
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Mc…
Nova Scotia (Canada)
bonnie
gang
haggas
laddie
lass
loch
wee
whisky (fr. Uisce beatha:
“water of life”)

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Scottish Pronunciations
No Great English
Vowel Shift:
about the house
bone, stone
how now brown cow.
light, night, right
Retention of OE /x/:
loch, night, right,
fought

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Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary
• Because England does not have a language
academy (like the “acadamie française”) we use
dictionaries to settle language issues.
• The rise of dictionaries correlates with the rise of the
Middle Class.
• Up through Webster’s II with labels like “vulgar,”
“colloquial,” “slang,” “argot,” “jargon,” “Southern”
etc.
• But now there’s Webster’s III with no labels

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Johnson’s Dictionary & The Battle of Culloden
• Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary determined
spellings, analogies, structures, meanings
and significances.
• 1746 was the year that Johnson’s dictionary
was published.
• 1746 was the year that the Jakobean Duke of
Cumberland defeated Bonnie Prince Charlie
at the Battle of Culloden.

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After the Battle of Culloden (1746)
Highland Scottish Culture was Outlawed
Outlawed:
Carrying of firearms
Hurling of Tabors
Playing of bag pipes
Speaking of Scots Gaelic
Wearing of kilts & tartans
So the teuchters fled
to:
Ireland
America
Australia
New Zealand
Africa

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Scots Migrate to Northern Ireland
• 200,000 Scots migrated to Northern
Ireland.
• In turn, some two million of their
descendants migrated to America
during the 18th
, 19th
and the early part of
the 20th
Centuries.

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The Guid Scots Tongue
• The Scottish language in Scotland, in Ulster (Ireland), in Nova
Scotia (Canada) and Boston and Philadelphia (United States)
was distinct:
• “Bone” and “stone” were pronounced “bane” and “stane.”
• “Soft” “leave,” “bath,” “top” and “sick” were pronounced
“saft,” “lea’,” “tap,” and “seek.”
• “How now brown cow” would be pronounced “Hoo noo broon
coo.”

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Many Scots-Irish Migrate to America
• By 1776 (the year of America’s
independence) almost half of Ulster
had crossed the Atlantic.
• In the United States, one out every
seven colonists was Scots-Irish.

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Scots-Irish in America
• The Scots-Irish immigrants in Boston tended
to be intolerant, violent, unruly and poverty
stricken, so they weren’t too welcome.
• They moved South to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
• In 1760, Benjamin Franklin estimated that 1/3
of Philadelphia was English, 1/3 was German,
and 1/3 was Scots-Irish.

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Scots-Irish Move West
Through the Cumberland Gap

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Scots-Irish Further Migration
• Most of the Scots-Irish kept going South towards the
Appalachian Mountains and on through the Cumberland Gap.
• They were on the American frontier and bore the brunt of
Indian hostilities.
• They settled in the Southwestern frontier.
• They tended to be fierce, clannish and unruly.
• They wore coonskin caps, carried Kentucky rifles, and were
really fond of whiskey.

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• The Scots-Irish were ferocious Indian
fighters, great boasters, and
compulsive storytellers. They had a
keen ear for a striking phrase.
• Some of them made it all of the way
west to Texas. Probably the most
famous of them was Davy Crockett at
the Alamo, who was part real, and part
legend. Crockett described himself
as…

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• “…fresh from the backwoods, half-
horse, half-alligator, a little touched
with snapping turtle, can wade the
Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride a streak
of lightning, slide down a honey locust
and not get scratched.”

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The Hillbillies
• The Scotch-Irish Hillbillies made stills and
brewed “moonshine.” They used words like
“afeared,” “damnedest,” “chaw u’ tabacker,”
“hex,” “plum right” or “plum crazy.” And
they’re great story tellers.
• They ate “bonny-clabber” (curdled sour milk)
and “flannel-cake (a thin wheat cake). They
provided English with the expression “you-
all.” And when they called the cows home at
night they used the Old-English “sūcan”
meaning “suck.”

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• The Hillbillies said “tharr,” “barr,” and Herr”
for “there,” “bear,” and “here.”
• They dropped their final –g, and used the
Old-English “on” in front of –ing words, like
“a-huntin, and a-fishin.” They also used the
Old-English form of “it,” which was “hit.”
• These features are throughout the
Southwest, but are most prominent in West
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and the
Ozarks.

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Hillbilly Culture Becomes
Mainstream
• Today about twenty million people (10 % of Americans) claim
Scots-Irish ancestry.
• The Scots-Irish ballads are currently imitated and reproduced
throughout the United States.
• Dolly Parton, Pat Boone, Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson are
four of these ballad singers.
• Blue-Collar TV (Bill Engvall and Jeff Foxworthy, etc.) also are
great “Hillbilly” story tellers
• It is possible to see reruns of a sitcom called “The Beverly
Hillbillies.” It is about some hillbillies who struck oil and
moved to Beverly Hills in California.

Don Nilsen as a Scottsman
in a Ferguson Kilt
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