CAULD BLASTS AND CLISHMACLAVERS

Both an ancient tongue which saw its literary zenith in the work of the Makars, and a living, pithy vernacular, the Scots language is the perhaps the key expression of the nation. Yet some of its words are beginning to fade from common use under the advance of standard English. This collection of 1,000 Scots words encompasses old and modern, classical and colloquial, rural and urban, and reveals their origins and essential character with verve, wit and delight.