Parochial smarochial...

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I jalouse like maist o ye I wis mair nor a wee bittie bemused by David Starkey's comments on the telly a couple o days syne. Offendit? Na, no ralley, jist a bit dumfounerit. Mainly I wis wunnerin whit he meant by crying Rabbie Burns a "provincial poet" as though this wis a bad thing... I thocht awbodie wis frae sum province or ithir, na? Aiblins he's meanin parochial, but e'en then I dinna see how a bodie that wrate "Is there for honest poverty" coud be thocht o as parochial. Jist anithir o Mr. Starkey's wee meisteries, I dout. I wis amused by his threip that they dinna hae bagpipes i Ingland, an aw - gin a bodie coud inform aw thae Northumbrian pipers o the fack, that'd be guid...


This breings me tae a mair general pynt about the wey sum fowks thinks o Scots - that it's parochial, or worse. I'm shair we aw ken o Billy Kay's story o a councillor frae Fife tellin him Scots'd no be guid i the local schuills acause "this isn't a very Scottish area." I heard Dr. Robert Millar the ithir day mindin a time no lang syne whan local authority heidyins i Aiberdeen (!) wis blate tae promote Scots i schuills acause fowk micht think it wis racist! Nou, is it jist me that thinks that it's mair discreimiatory tae deny weans the chance tae lean about their ain cultur? Scots is the language spoke by aiblins as monie as 1.5 million fowk, an denyin their weans the chance tae learn it is a scunner.

Furdermair, gin a bodie e'er tries tae tell ye that promotin Scots is racist, think on the news on the SLC site this week past about the bus driver i Glesca teachin it tae immigrant warkers, giein thaim a haun wi settlin in their new kintra. Think o the fowk i Aiberdeen teachin Doric tae Poles. Think on the Inglis bairns i Shetland that wis laudit no lang syne for adaptin tae "da dialeck". Think on the weys that introducin newly arrivit fowk tae wir language an cultur helps thaim tae integrate intae their new communities - efter aw, wad it no be a cauld shouder tae shut them aff frae it?



Aw the best an God Bless,
Dunc

Sang o the week: No shair about this. I'm leanin taeward "Lowrie sells his oo" - it's a gey catchy tune, tae the extent I dout I've drave ma girlfrein gyte wi it. On the ithir haun, I'm on a bit o a Hellacopters spree the nou, sae I think it's The Hellacopters - By The Grace Of God, that's jist as catchy as Lowrie singin about sellin his oo...


PS - I note the Hamecomin Blog still haes Scots as "slang" maugre bein pit richt about this....

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