Tune in yourself and you might hear phrases like “Fit like?” (How are you?) and “gie’s a bosie” (give me a hug). Or words such as fair forfochan (exhausted), loon (a boy), quine (a girl), contermaschious (argumentative) or vratch (a nuisance). A personal favourite is foggie bummer (bumble bee). Then, in keeping with the north-east’s damp climate, there are at least 20 words to describe rain (pick from dreich, drookit and smirr, also frequently used in Scots), sough (for the sound of the wind), plooter (for splash in mud), hummel dodies (for fingerless mittens) and curious terms like cappie (ice-cream cone), fooge (play truant) and hallyrackit (disorganised).
