A Word of Ulster Scots 12
I am indebted to yin o me oul freens, a boadie originally frae jist ootside o Dunloy, a wee toonlan caed Ballymacaldrick, a man by the name o Aidan Dougan.
He e-mailed me recently (liam.logan@mail.com ) and toul me o an exchange he had in the late 1970s at a roadside checkpoint, one that neatly illustrates how the word do does not always require rendition as dae, as might be thought by the unwary, an Ulster Scots equivalent of what the English, when referring to French, have called a faux amis, false friends. The French and English language have hundreds of cognates (words which look and/or are pronounced alike in the two languages), including true (similar meanings), false (different meanings), and semi-false (some similar and some different meanings). Unsurprising given their shared romantic roots. So is it also in Ulster Scots, although oft times (but not always) different roots.
Anyway, back to the Seventies.
Brother Dougan pursued gainful employment as a spinner of discs, a DJ, providing entertainment at a wide range of functions including weddings, birthday parties and bar mitzvahs.
En route to one such event somewhere in North or Mid Antrim, he encountered, as many did in that decade, a security checkpoint manned by a local troop of the UDR, the Ulster Defence Regiment; for younger readers, a group of part-time soldiers drawn from the local area.
After an inspection of the vehicle revealed various record decks, microphones and disco lights, one of the soldiers enquired of Bro. Dougan:
Were ye daein a do? drawing the response.
Naw, Ahm gan tae dae a do but if ye dinnae let me gon, Ahll be daein nae do the night.
Ye better gon then. Such er on.
And off he went to dispense his disco wares to a waiting throng gathered at some hostelry.
Dae is of course do but do, in common with English, can mean a party, a reception, a getherin o some description and this was the case in this exchange. There is also the meaning of swindle (He wud dae ye tae the oxters, one might take advantage of your trusting nature).
Some folk will be familiar with individual who finds the decision making process problematic, who might be described as daeless. Bad as this affliction may be, worse again is the boady who promises much but ultimately delivers little or naethin, Such a person might be labelled as being al say an nae dae.
And of coorse, there is daen, indicating someone or something as being worn out with age or use (an oul daen man). Or tiredness (A cannae dae anither turn for Am clean daen). Daen can also indicate the completion of a task, as in This column is daen. And so it is.
As always, I am indebted to James Fenton the author and poet for his help and his masterwork, The Hamely Tongue (Ullans Press).