Scots and British values
[ by Charles Cameron — Scots by clan, audibly British to American ears, and American by friendship, long residence, and weather preference ]
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Here’s a pair of tweets I picked out to comment on a while back, when writing was a lot more effort than is is now — and will hopefully be in the near future. The second is pretty obviously a serpent-bites-tail example, but I suspect “haggis” and “Scottish” are close enough conceptually (staggeringly close) to qualify the first as a serpentine loop too — why else would Rifkind have mentioned the Scottishness of the fiver?
Man in North London butcher just turned down my Scottish fiver when I was literally buying a haggis with it. This is a new low.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) December 23, 2016
I wonder if politicians should have to swear an oath to the British value of not making people swear oaths to British values.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) December 18, 2016
Serpent-bites-tail logic is pretty cut and dried — but it can express itself in some pretty elusive / allusive forms.
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Scots wha hae!
January 8th, 2017 at 1:01 am
Back in form.
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This is probably what gave my Armstrong ancestors an advantage in the environment they existed. They simply took back from the English, what they thought was theirs to begin with.
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In the case of Scotland, it was the language.
January 8th, 2017 at 3:42 pm
I’m Scot, Irish, and yes, part Sassenach. Also German. In any case, Ceud mìle fàilte!