Friday, April 14, 2006

What's in a name?

When thinking of a name for this blog I wanted to choose something that was tied to my time in Scotland. Dead Chuffed Life sounds morbid or angry, but in reality it means the opposite. In Scottish vernacular, dead means "very".... It's dead easy. I'm dead serious..... Chuffed means happy or pleased.... I'm chuffed about it......So translation of my blog title is Very Happy Life.

Now that you are impressed with my dead cool title, I'll confess that I stole it. A friend here has a group called the Dead Chuffed Society and I really liked the name! My best creativity is usually another man's ideas. Rob & Duplicate - skills I picked up in missionary training.

People say that America and Scotland are two different cultures with a common language. But sometimes I don't even think the language is common! I love so many of my Scottish words. Rubbish, pudding, blether, queue, porridge, nappy. I wonder how long I will continue to say them when I return to America. I think I'll refuse to give some of them up. My favorite expression I've picked up isn't a word at all.....It's the deep-throated guttural exasperation of "och".

Here is some fun for you! I'll send a prize to the first (non-Scottish) person who can translate this sentence! Good Luck.
Canty whissunday! i'mm aff tae scratcher noo! (no internet cheating allowed!)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Christine!

Love your title. I recognize a few of the Scottish words...nappy, queue, etc. but have no clue what that sentence means! I have been wondering all along what you will sound like after your time in Scotland since your familiar Michigan accent transformed to such a Southern drawl...now what?! How fun! Nice to see your home finally & to visit your blog!

Love, Becky

JNH said...

Christine, did you perchance attend Ward EPC in High School?