Dae Ye Ken? Review

Dae ye ken yer oxter fae yer bahookie? Yon's the question spiert oan the back o a wee buik Dae Ye Ken? jist oot fae Luath Press. It's fu o picters drawn bi a lass cried Vicki Guasden wha's no Scots hersel bit has been bidin in Embra fir a few year since she traivelt up to larn illustration at Embra College o Art.

The buik is sindert intae eight pairts wi names like 'Oot and Aboot' and 'Gaun the Messages'. Ilka page has a Scots word or phrase so's Sassenachs and the like can tell what us Haggistanis are spraffin aboot. Fir ilka word, Vicki has drawn a hamelt bit cheery pen an ink picter. Then she uses wan o they fancy computer whirlies tae fill in the lines. Ye micht hae seen Vicki's wark afore, since she's in demand tae draw fir adverts and buik covers. The cover o this ain has a braw drawin o a heilan coo wi its een beeried in its flachts.

The buik's been pit thegither wi bairns in mind, but grown fowks wid lap it up an a. Seein as ma ither hauf is a Sassenach, ah've left it lyin aboot, an any day noo, I reckon, she micht scaul me in ma ain tung fir getting steamin and fa'in intae bed at keek-o-day. Ah wis chuffed tae find a few words ah'd nivver heard afore: brulzie meanin a commotion, clip-cloot meanin sumdy who haivers and clavers, thunner-plump meanin a doonpour; in fact, the lith cried 'words for the wather' is fu o interestin words. How's that, d'ye think?

Onyweys, back tae thae words in the question... ah'd aye thocht bahookie wis a word we'd lent fae Arabic! It soons that wey. In fact, its a mell o the word behind and the word hoch (back o the thigh). As fir oxter, though it's aft said tae be a guid example o an auld Scots word, tae tell ye the truth, we stole off the English hunners o years back. Dinna tell naebody ah tellt ye that!