“If I wass buyin’ a coo it wouldna be wan you could hang your hat on in fifty places. No, no, Peter, I’m Hielan’, but I’m no’ so Hielan’ ass aal that.” Para Handy The Vital Spark by Neil Munro.
Translate:
heilan: highland, highlander; of or from the mountainous parts of Scotland, not defined, or described by any precise limits and also the habit, customs, manners, and languages of the area.
“If I was buying a cow it would not be one that you could hang your hat on in fifty places. No, no, Peter, I may be regarded as simple, but I’m not so simple as all that.”
The Scottish Word: hielan with its definition and its meaning illustrated and captioned with the word used in context in the Scots language and in English.
Wades Description.
The Highlands are the mountainous parts of Scotland, not defined, or described by any precise limits, or boundaries of counties, but are tracts of mountains, in extent of land more than one half of the Kingdom of Scotland, and are, for the most part, on the Western Ocean, extending from Dumbarton to the north end of the island of Great Britain, near two hundred miles in length, and from about forty to fourscore miles in breadth. All the islands on the west, and north-west Seas are called Highlands, as well from their mountainous situation, as from the habit, customs, manners, and language of their inhabitants.
Para Handy.
“Para Handy is a character created by the journalist and writer Neil Munro in a series of stories published in the Glasgow Evening News between 1905 and 1923 under the pen name of Hugh Foulis. He is the crafty Gaelic skipper of the Vital Spark, a Clyde puffer (steamboat) of the sort that delivered goods from Glasgow to Loch Fyne, the Hebrides, and the coast of Argyllshire and Inverness-shire in the early 20th century.” Wickipedia 21 January 2024
The BBC.
The BBC made three sets of series in 1959, 1965 and 1994 which are as watchable today as when they were first made. And viewing it as a child it set me up for all spaceships in all the Sci-Fi films I’ve seen since. The engine room, the captains chair, the cabins, the mess, the cargo hold and their relationships. Firefly was a modern Para Handy on steroids.
Here is a link to a Para Handy episode on YouTube worth watching as an introduction (or a nostalgia trip).”The Quarrel”.
(This is a Scotstober 2024 Word.)
All of the Scotstober words illustrated for week three are available to scroll through on a single page here.