strathspey@strathspey.org:45448

GOSS9@telefonica.net

Re: Divided by a common language (was Reels and Hornpipes)

June 1, 2006, 8:20 p.m. (Message 45448, in reply to message 45444)

While I agree with your "point taken" because the usage is not common, 
I fail to understand why this should have been a problem. While the 
expression is so common in Scotland today as not to be considered 
"twee", it is from middle English, not Scots, and appears in American 
dictionaries.

I have heard it among older, non Scots in the U.S., mostly in the S.E. 
The first time I heard it in the U.S. I assumed it had something to do 
with either dating, or being more clever then someone.