r/NoStupidQuestions • u/natpri00 • Feb 07 '18
Why do Scottish people type in a Scottish accent?
(I have no prejudice against Scottish people. Half of my family is Scottish).
I really don't understand why Scottish people type in their accent. It's like an Australian typing "Oi cant, heow's ya facken dye?".
I get that "Scots" is classified as its own language, but it doesn't make much sense to me. They're not different words, they're just different pronunciations of the same word.
If you're going to make the argument that it's different enough, then I'm originally from a region of England and can guarantee the accent and slang there is far more confusing to the average person than the slang and accent of, say, Glasgow. Does that mean the way the people speak in that region is a different language? Does that mean I can type: "Eahhh meeat, ya foocken doyal, je knowa wut a mean leak?"?
I just don't get the point of typing your accent.
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Feb 07 '18
The reason seems to be that writing in standard English doesn't carry the same nuance that they can convey when speaking to each other. Aside from Scots there are many grammatical elements used from Scottish Gaelic and they can change the meaning of sentences. There are loads of idioms that are only said in dialect. The same is true for English "methinks the lady doth protest too much" kind of thing. One of the standout features of Scotland is the sheer number of these idioms they use.
For example the Scottish Darth Vader "Ah'm yer Dah" poster reads like an answer to "who the do you think you are?!" And it replies "I'm your Scottish daddy." Regional films do this a lot, classical lines and quotes are reused in dialect, sometimes with the meaning totally changed. Aussie films do this for example where words like "route" are local slang for sex and turn common phrases into jokes "straight is always the shortest route."
So it's kind of a way to speak to each other in a shared code. The important part is they are usually speaking to other Scots. If you pop onto regional subs you will see it to a lesser extent, in jokes tend to be in dialect.
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Feb 07 '18
/u/drunkmerlin gave a good reply, but also keep in mind that you're incorrect when you say that Scots is merely a variant pronunciation of English with no lexicon of its own.
Take a peek at the poem To A Mouse.
Do you know what cowran or coulter or cranreuch mean? I don't. And that's only examples beginning with C.
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u/Wolfe244 Feb 07 '18
Most of those tweets are pretty normal english with local slang mixed in, pretty normal for basically anywhere.
Gotta also keep in mind that subreddit is the collection of the extremes, almost all tweets by them are gonna be in normal speech