This List Is Unpleasant for Scots
Who would have thought such things about the symbols of Scotland...
What comes to mind when you think of Scotland? Loch Ness monster, bagpipes, kilts, whiskey, haggis. However, there is a children’s writer, Philip Ardagh, and one of his books is “Philip Ardagh’s Book of Absolutely Useless Lists for Absolutely Every Day of the Year” [1]. In it, this son of England slyly examines the culture of his northern neighbors. In the list, he describes several famous Scottish things that were borrowed from elsewhere.
It would have been enough just to examine cultural symbols, but no. Philip even put the country’s name to the test by making the following note:
Even the name Scotland isn’t strictly from Scotland. The country is named after the Scoti, who were an Irish tribe (which is why Scots Gaelic is a dialect of Irish).
One might think that Duncan MacLeod would have long since beheaded the offender, but no, this has not happened. So, let’s look at the offensive list:
Kilts: It’s now generally accepted that kilts were invented by the Irish, though the word itself comes from kilte op, the Danish for ‘tuck up’.
Bagpipes: These are a very old musical instrument indeed. They turn up in the Old Testament in the Bible and in ancient Greek poetry. They’re thought to have originated in Central Asia.
Porridge: This basic oaty meal has been discovered in the stomach of bodies of Neolithic people (preserved) in the peat bogs of Europe for over 5,000 years.
Haggis: Similar such ‘sausages’ were certainly around in ancient Greece.
Whisky: Neither a Scottish nor Irish invention — though only Scottish whisky is Scotch — it was first made by the Chinese, and was made in Ireland (whiskey with an ‘e’) before reaching Scotland.
But if we look at it from another perspective, is the place of invention so important? Let’s recall the familiar plant, the thistle. A prickly plant that grows in fields and along roads. It belongs to a group of thorny weeds [2].
In Scotland, however, the thistle is a national symbol [3].
So, there’s no need to worry. It’s unlikely that after this short list, you will associate whiskey with China or kilts with Denmark. Scotland won’t lose itself because of it. 🙂
List of links:
[1] Philip Ardagh, Philip Ardagh’s Book of Absolutely Useless Lists for Absolutely Every Day of the Year, ISBN 978-0-330-43417-1
[2] “Thistle” from Wikipedia
[3] Image from the page “The thistle – Scotland’s national flower” of the “National trust for Scotland” website
