LSS ST Oe 
238 Lift of Scotticifiass 
to their proper names ; and it is to be re- 
membered, that, there being no law inthis 
cafe made and provided, every people have 
a right to ule theirown proper names, as 
the planters ufe their flaves, that is, juft 
as they pleafe. Accordingly the Lon- 
doners have turned Rotherhithe into Re- 
drif; Boulogne-mouth (ftreet and inn) 
into Ball-and-mouth; and the Englifh, with 
one conient, have clipped Cholmondeley in- 
to Churalzy, and Saint John into Sinjen: 
Covent Garden has been degraded into 
Common Garden, and Botany Bay into Bot- 
tomy Bay. Sic tranfit gloria mundi. 
Divers eafements, annual rent, to conde- 
fcend upon, to quote a paper, conform to, fe- 
derunt held, Dame Eglantine Maxwell, 
alias Wallace (tor Lady Wallace), wrong- 
ous imprifonment, all and haill that tene- 
ment: thefe being law-terms are not fub- 
ject to the rules of commonlanguage. As 
gome of them, however, are apt to intrude 
into ordinary writing and converfation, 
Mr. Bannantine has done well to include 
theminhislifi; but he fhould have marked 
them as interlopers. The fame may be 
faid of the law-words, demit, reli, there- 
by (for thereabouts), expiry, and teveral 
others, not mentioned by Mr. Bannantine, 
but which it is eafy for every Scotchman 
of any education to avoid. 
Having hazarded thefe obfervations on 
Mr. Bannantine’s performance, which are 
perhaps not fo many as my own will juiti- 
fy, I fthall proceed to enumerate a few 
Scotticifms which have occurred to my- 
felf, in the courle of fome late vifits I have 
made to my native country, or which I 
have heard mentioned by others during my 
Jong abfence from it. 
Omitting all obfervations on fingle un- 
conneéted words, I fhall chiefly confine 
myfelf to improper phra/es, peculiar to my 
countrymen, and which alone can, with 
any propriety, be called Scottici/ms. 
Fiji, the Scotch ufe the plural number 
for the fingular, et wice verfa, in the fol- 
lowing, and no doubtin many other, in- 
fiances: I drank only two GLass (glaffes) 
of wine, or two DIsH (difbes) of tea. This 
manifeft impropriety I have obferved even 
in good company. A doxen of herring, 
(herrings) is not Jefs common; yet they 
do not fay a **dozen of egg.” The broth are 
(is) very good: this expreffion is not very 
common among people of education; but 
among the vulgar is almoft univerfal. 
The corpfe were (was) put into the coffin. 
‘This barbarifm is as common among the 
Scotch, who do not know the Latin deriva- 
tion of the word (from corpus) as theLagli/b 
pronunciation of the adopted word corps is 
[ April 1, 
among perfons of both nations, who are 
ignorant of French. The vulgar even 
fay, ‘‘ the corpfe were coffined, or chefted,” 
and not unfrequently @ corp, although no 
fuch word exift. The fingular is corp/e, 
the plural corp/es. 
Pock is fometimes ufed by my country- 
men as the fingular. of fox ; and properly 
enough, according to Benjamin Martin’s 
Di&tionary, the only one I have at hand : 
but, I think, pock is not a common word 
in England. 
In Scotland, the word /izens is often 
ufed for linen. For example, “ carry my 
linens to the wafher-wife.”” 
A thoufand pound (for pounds), is an 
impropriety almoft as common in England 
as in Scotland. 
To go up und down the ftair, means “to 
go up or down ftairs,” 4 ffair in Scot- 
land is generally ufed for a pair of ftairs. 
Riding-cloatbs is the Seotch for riding. 
habit. 
A cloth-brufo means a cleaths-brufb. 
A ts partnerscwith B, means that A is 
partner to B, or rather A is B’s partner. 
The hiccup is the Scotch for the hiccups. 
A great many company often means, 
even in Edinburgh, a great deal of com- 
pany. 
Is it not avorth a fixpence? fhould be, 
Is it not worth fixpence? | 
I have no obje&icns; this phrafe Ihave 
heard mentioned as a Scotticifm; but I 
have never been fortunate enough to dif- 
cover any good reafon,why the plural may 
not be ufed here as properly as the fin- 
gular. 
Hor fe, in North Britain, is vulgarly ufed 
for horfes. Three or four horfe is an ex- 
preffion, as common in the mouth of a far- 
mer or a ploughman, in that part of the 
kingdom, as ‘¢ three or four fquadrons of 
horfe’’ is in that of a general officer. 
To [peak or a&t in favours of a perfor, 
is the expreffion conftantly ufed in Scot- 
land for,‘‘to dpeak or act in favour of him.” 
Secondly, the following are fome of the 
inftances in which our Northern neigh- 
bours ufe noun fubftantives, in fenfes quite 
different from thofe annexed to them here 
in theSouth. . 
Dijfzretison does not mean there, as it 
does here, a happy compound of good 
fenfe and prudence ; but it means civility ; 
as The man /bewed me great difcretion. 
Have you any word to your brother ? 
An EnglNhman would fay,** Have you any 
meflage to your brother?” 
The plantations and other rural deco- 
rations about a gentleman’s feat, are cal- 
led in Scotland Ais policy ; for what reafon 
I never _ 
