i like scotland

[Zebra]

who else does?

 

[JGalt]

I like Scotland too. Where else can you go to see people with blue faces?

 

[Polishprince]

Sure. The 3 stooges donned their kilts and went to Scotland. Shemp was concerned about whether his slip was showing.

 

[DGS49]

My brief trip to Scotland was very impressive. Beautiful scenery, priceless old castles and whatnot, good social atmosphere. Incredible how difficult it was to understand what the fuck the uneducated locals were talking about. That was English, I suppose, but...

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

My brief trip to Scotland was very impressive. Beautiful scenery, priceless old castles and whatnot, good social atmosphere. Incredible how difficult it was to understand what the fuck the uneducated locals were talking about. That was English, I suppose, but...

Galic, not English.

 

[Polishprince]

Galic, not English.

only a small number of Scots speak Gaelic nowadays. They mostly speak English with a heavy accent thats only semi-intelligible to many others. Sort of like the English spoken in Liberia and some parts of the West Indies.

 

[odanny]

Definitely want to go there.

 

[Crepitus]

who else does?

Cool place.

I basically needed a translator though. I know those folks claim to speak english but...

 

[Crepitus]

Galic, not English.

No, most of them speak English. Their own specific brand of it, but it's nominally english.

 

[Moonglow]

So that is why you folks have a hard time understanding me I am part Scott.

 

[Zebra]

i like the eay the scots speak!

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Too wet and too cool.

Absolutely beautiful.

 

[odanny]

December 31st is celebrated in Scotland as Hogmanay. The holiday may date back to the Norse celebration of the winter solstice, while it also incorporates customs from the Gaelic celebration of Samhain. Since Christmas was not observed in Presbyterian Scotland (nor in Puritan Massachusetts) for many years, Hogmanay became the traditional winter celebration.

Many national and local customs are associated with Hogmanay. The best-known national custom is “first-footing.” The first person—preferably a tall, dark man—to cross a friend’s or neighbor’s threshold after midnight brings symbolic gifts: salt, coal, shortbread, whisky, or black bun (a rich fruit cake), to bring luck to the householder. In return, food and drink are offered to the guest. First-footing may go on throughout the early hours of the morning, into the next day, and sometimes even into the middle of January! The practice is believed to set luck for the rest of the year.

A local Hogmanay custom is the fireball swinging that takes place in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, in northeast Scotland. Local people make "balls" of chicken wire filled with old newspaper, sticks, rags, and other flammable material, up to two feet in diameter, each attached to about three feet of wire or chain. As the Old Town House bell marks the New Year, the balls are set alight and the swingers set off up the High Street from the Mercat Cross to the Cannon and back, swinging the burning balls around their heads as they go. The practice recalls the swinging of incense thuribles in high-church Christian worship services.

 

[Votto]

You are all a bunch of Jacobites!!

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

who else does?

Never been there, but I would like to do a tour of the distilleries some day.