I am off to Germany tomorrow for a few days, where I intend to be very mindful of local traditions conducive to the happiness of the soul. I must also bear in mind that, when boarding a bus in that great land, if someone wishes me a good trip in English, I must answer him in English, then look a little Scottish and horrified, and then run off. That is one of our traditions.
15 comments:
Viel Spass!
How does one look Scottish?
Just look a bit sottish, and you're nearly there.
As I recall, Deogolwulf devoted a recent, summer weekend to his sottish heritage...
Jeffery Hodges
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German Deogolwulf? Will have to think this one out.
"Just look a bit sottish"
I know that the mention of Ireland or Irish will engender an immediate reference to alcohol, but I didn't expect that with the mention of Scottish.
Indeed, even as the son of a native Caledonian, I can't imagine a reason why one might associate a Scotch mien with alcohol.
Well, speaking as one from a Scotch-Irish cultural area, namely the Ozarks region of northern Arkansas where people drink to get skunk drunk, I might have some notion...
But if not, then I can perhaps be excused if the original Scots ain't like us.
Jeffery Hodges
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But the very fact that there is an Irish mixture permits the conventional and universal association with alcohol. If the Ozarkians were only of Scottish descent, without the Irish component, then there might not be the predisposition to get drunk as a skunk on every available occasion.
I thought that this objection might be lodged, but the 'Irish' part is not really Irish. It merely identifies the Scots who lived in Northern Ireland before heading on to North America.
The hard-drinking goes way back, as Walter McDougall notes in Freedom Just Around the Corner, but perhaps modern-day Scots are different.
Jeffery Hodges
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Never mind Deog-wait till you get back, along with Bodie and Doyle.
If you don't mind, please let me know if they still get their hair cut short around the ears.
"Whitewall" haircuts are no longer the style in fröhliches Deutschland. Joschka Fischer's white mane could compete with any U.S. Senator's.
Well I've been disporting myself on the beaches of Devon which seem to be aswarm with Scots. Happily, I enjoy intelligent company.
Devon?
Good luck!
Thanks, all.
"How does one look Scottish?"
With some difficulty if one is not born to it as Gordon Jackson was.
"[P]lease let me know if they still get their hair cut short around the ears."
Not that I saw, though I did see some very large and fine moustaches.
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