Gruwin up amang the heather an rashes

A cutty fae Bilfawst ax’t me if I thocht gruwin up in whut folk wae a bit o’ larnin crie’t an Ulster Scots environment wus guid or itherwise.   These twarthry things I’m gan tae tell ye micht gee ony boady whut wus interest’t a wee insicht intae the hale thing.

Noo tae stert aff I dinnae ken I wus gruwin up in onythin ony diff’rent fae ony boady else, I niver geen it ony thocht for I wus ey’ ower busy wae the gruwin up, daein mae twarthry turns aboot hame for dae’nt ye see fae we wur fit tae poo oor wecht aboot hame we wur a’ geen turns tae dae.

They wur six o’ is weans, they micht hae been seven but yin dee’t whun he wus still in the creddle I niver know’t him for I wus the youngest o’ the hale fem’ly an he wus atween oor Wullie an oor Annie Mary. Mae grannie on mae fethers side dwal’t wae is forby an a brither o’ mae fethers.    

Noo them oul folk spoke a pirfa true Ulster Scots wye, I hae loast a hale lok’ o’ the oul words an seyins, this is whut gye an affen heppins tae ye whun ye stert tae notish folk lachin at ye an tantin ye an makin oot that yer an ignorant gulpin an ye dinnae ken hoo tae tak’ richt.

This kin’o’ mental cruelty wus bad eneuch commin fae ither weans whun ye gane tae school, but whun the teachers join’t in this kin’ o’ ill fashion’t cruelty  it pits a mark on ye for the rest o’ yer deys an it’s ill tae hae onythin but a suspeeshun for ony sae criet larnit folk way there fancy Inglish tongues  whut they be tae get aff a whin stane for they niver got them roon here.
Aiblins I had joost hane the bad fortune tae meet a wheen o’ rale tovy upstarts o teachers for it daesnae dae tae judge folk bae the wye they tak or ocht lik’ that an I wud be as bad as them if I dane that.
Efter a lok o’ years I begoo’t  tae feel a peety on them, for they wur affront’t o’ their ain yins an they dinnae want their gran freens  tae know that thon wee wummin wae the Paisley pattern’t eprin  wus their granny  or thon oul boy wae his gallouses hingin roon him wus their Granda, an them aiblins the very folk wha dane wantin tae sen them aff tae be educated.
Noo dinnae get me wrang, I’m a’ for a bit o’ larnin’ for it’s aisy cerriet bae them that’s fit tae tak it in, in fect mae ain weans haes degrees an the lik’. Naw! naw! What I’m seyin is  naeboady ocht tae forget, or far war forsake their roots an niver be affronted tae be yersel an own a’ belangin tae ye for it’s an ill dane thing tae dae lik the oul fisherman wha toul Pilates men that he dinnae ken a certain boadie.

Tae tell ye in my ain opeenion whut advantages they wur tae gruwin up in this kin’ o’surroundins I wud hae tae sey the wur monny.

For yin, them oul folk had a wye o’ desribin’ things that wus that fu’ o’ colour that the very words paint’t a pictur as they sey’t them, they had a guid humour aboot them an they niver wur at the bak o’ the doar whun some cratur wus in a hannlin, they wur releegious  an whut made them sae in my ain min is that  they niver pye’t ony heed tae whut persuasion a nybor folliet  for they tane him for the kin o’ a boady  he wus  an the kin o’ a nybor he wus  rather than whur he gane com’ the Sabbath moarnin.    
They wrocht hard an they tane a simple pleasure in a tune on the fiddle or twarthry stout noo an again, they niver expected onythin for nathin an they sa’ that their nybors wus a’ richt an sent is weans tae gee them a han whun they need’t it.    I think honesty outshines a’ them oul folks ither guid points it wus the kin’ o’ honesty that forbye naw neukin onythin meant that they toul ye the wye they sa’ things they hid nathin an they expected the same fae onyboady an iveryboady, in ither wurds ye got toul the truth aboot things  an min’ ye that is a trait lang deid.

Them wheen o’ things I toul ye gyely seys a’ I hae tae sey aboot the guids an the bads o’ the life I grew up wae, I wull niver forgee the oul teachers wha lickit me for takin’ the wye o’ mae ain folk, I wull niver forget the dacent sowls wha sa’ by the wye I spoke an tane me for the weechel wha stud afore them.
An I can sey noo I niver loast mae faith in the hale human race ower the heid o’ a wheen o’ tovy snotters wha thocht a’ they need’t tae rise abain me an the lak’ o’ me wus an Inglish tongue.
 
The dacent lass wha ax’t me whut times lang by wus lik’ ax’t me anither question, sez she an whuts it lak tae be an Ulster scots speaker noo.

It’s naw yin bit as straicht forrit as I thocht it wus, bae wye o’ makin a stert I want tae sey that I only speak whut I min o’ the oul tongue for wae the worl an me haein been batter’t aboot for half a century nathin can fully stan the test o’ time an the oul tongue haes loast a lok o’ its words naw laste them words whut gane han in fist wae trades nae langer wae is, an forbye that a hale lok o’ things hae come aboot whut haes nae oul words for them,  an it wud be foolery an the work o an eejit  tae cry a computer some ither thing joost for the sake o’ it, the thing is crie’t a computer an that’s whut it be tae be crie’t , it’s a tool joost the same as a ither tools far ower wide an varied for me tae join tae describe noo the wa’s o’ the pubs an atin hooses be’s  strung wae the oul tools an it’s gran tae see them for at laste the young yins micht wunner whut they wur for an  ax aboot them an wae that they wud hae show’t an interest in oul things, oul folk an oul wyes.

The oul tongue noo haes monny freens an I’m weel tane on tae sey that some o’ the best freens it haes is hurried cliver folk, weel larn’t I cannae see why it wud hae sae mony enemies for an enemy haes tae ether hate ye or fear ye or baith an I cannae for the life left in me see why ony wise boady cud fear anither mans wye o’ leevin or takin geen its daein him nae herm.
But then mebbe that’s why I’m luk’t at as oul farrant, but dae ye know this I’m gled I’m oul farrant.

© Charlie Gillen and The Ulster-Scots Language Society