Scottish Words illustrated

Athegither

“Ah’ll hae a wee whisky an wid ye mak it a double seein it’s a gey dreich day. Och mebbe ye should mak it intae a hot toddy athegither”

Translated:

athegither: altogether, all as one, in total.

“I will have a small whisky and would you make it a double as it is such a cold, wet and dreary day. In fact perhaps you should make it into a hot toddy – in summation.”

double.

The measure for whisky in Scotland is one fifth of a gill.

Which is one fortieth of a pint or .053 litres. So a double is one tenth of a litre.

I took bad on ordering my first whisky in England.

Their measure was much smaller, like you’d cried a tear into a glass.

As I was in a dodgy club in London I complained thinking I’d been cheated.

Luckily the barman was worldly wise and explained my bad luck.

Lesson learnt.

Be careful as a guest in a house. Hosts are obliged to be generous. The measures are generally gauged in finger thicknesses.

So the fatter the finger and the broader the glass the more you are going to be affected.

It is bad manners to gulp the dram down. You are expected to savour it.

Likewise it is bad manners not to finish the glass in a timely manner and then to have one for the road.

Good luck.

Recipe for a hot toddy here.