Nine Ten Begin Again: A Grasshopper Lawns affair (25 page)

Girning
—complaining

Greet
—cry

Haud
—hold

Haud
your
whisht
—Be quiet, pipe down. Literal meaning, hold your breath.

Hen
—the closest equivalent is probably honey, or Missus. Used to women of all ages.

Jag
—an injection

Ken
—means variously know, I know, do you know. It’s one of the most versatile Scots words!

MSP—
Member of the Scottish Parliament

Rondavel
—pronounced RonDARvill—is the South African term for a round dwelling (as bungalow is an Indian word for a single-storey house)

Scunner
—a rotter, a nasty piece of work

Skelped
—smacked, slapped

Skinner
—a gossipy blether (South African)

Sláinte
—(pron Slann-cher) a friendly toast

Stramash
—fight, scuffle

Swithering
—similar to dithering, to be unable to decide

Taken
the
huff
—offended.

Yin
, and
wan
, are different pronunciations of one.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth (E J ) Lamprey lives on the Firth of Forth, within easy distance of Edinburgh, and only a few miles from where Grasshopper Lawns would be if there was a Grasshopper Lawns retirement village.

Originally from South Africa, she’s the daughter of a Scot, looks like a Scot, dearly loves Scotland, but accepts that with a mere thirteen years residence she is still considered a tourist, albeit a tenacious one.

She has been variously a book reviewer on a city paper, a columnist in a national magazine, a copy-editor and critiquer, a commercial blogger, and a reporter on a country newspaper, as well as earning an actual living with more conventional jobs.

She’s looking forward to becoming a grandmother any time her busy daughter can find the time, but until then writing a series of cheerful whodunits about a Scottish retirement village is definitely her favourite occupation.