A Word of Ulster Scots 9

The other night on television I watched a film and one of the characters remarks to another "Far out, man, far out" and it reminded me of the first time I heard this expression which is, of course, based on an Ulster Scots phrase. But more of that later.

"Oot" has a number of meanings and applications in Ulster Scots. At its simplest, it is a rendition of "out". If an individual is "oot for themsels", they tend to pursue a selfish agenda. This could, in turn, lead to a deterioration in personal relationships better known as an "ootfa"; this might lead to people "drinkin the bit oot" or "fechtin the bit oot". Or indeed both. Such behaviour might be described as "ooty a raison".

Anyplace outside the home, either specific locations or generally out of doors, could be described as "ootby" and a piece of land or a farm separated from the "hame place" by some distance might be referred to as an "oot-fairm" or "ootlyin fairm". If such a farm was close to a particular locale but not in it, this might be identified as "ootside o Rasharkin".

Extravagant or exorbitant prices or demands were "ooty the wie" however if you were out of practice, a bit rusty or had lost the habit of an activity, you might be "oot o the wie o".

Younger men and women poised at the front door, anxious for the society of others and dressed accordingly, were "ready for oot".

Which, in a way, brings me back to the film. I must have been "oot" at a wake or a gathering of some description, maybe a guest tea. The gathering was having a yarn about a local gentleman, one of those individuals who annoy the older generation but exert a strange fascination for the younger generation, myself included. He didn't work, at least not the way other folk did, but he seemed to pass the time agreeably enough although his dress sense was somewhat unconventional, to say the least. One might have described him as outré.

If anybody adopted an unusual dress code in our corner of North Antrim, people said he was like Hashter Gammle, a man of the roads not noted for his sartorial elegance. Oddly enough, this particular gentleman was always brave and popular with the women. Perhaps he appealed to their nurturing side.

Anyway, the conversation at the gathering came to be concerned with this chap and his personal life and habits; truth to tell it was more of a critique, what would be referred to as a "reddin' up o the pedigrees".

But there was one man in the company who was a kind of a relative of our sartorially challenged subject and somebody said "Is he no a freen o yours, John" (in other words "Are you not a relative of that fellow, John?") and John turns round and says

"Far oot, man, far oot"
I am, as always, indebted to the poet and lexicographer James Fenton for his tireless research and his fascinating book" The Hamely Tongue" (Ullans Press) which is a continual source of joy and inspiration.