It was recently reported in the press (Daily Record, 2 January), that the popularity of the Scots language was given a boost by the results of a survey of Scottish culture. Conducted by ScotPoll, the survey asked 579 Scots to name their favourite sayings and words and 95% agreed that they liked using the Scots language, while 54% said they loved the Scottish accent. 

The top three sayings (or more properly, statements) to come out of the poll were (1) Gaunae no-dae that (Please don't do that), (2) Haud yer wheesht (be quiet) and (3) It's a dreich day (it's a cold and miserable day). The poll also confirmed what has been known for some time, that many phrases and words are still in common use despite being downplayed or ignored by certain sections of society.

The top ten words as indicated by the survey are (1) aye (yes), (2) crabbit (bad tempered), (3) blether (gossip or idle talk), (4) peely-wally (pale, sickly or unwell-looking), (5) tattie (potato), (6) auld (old), (7) glaikit (foolish, thoughtless, or stupid), (8) scunnert (disgusted or fed up), (9) bonnie (beautiful), (10) aboot (about). A spokesperson for www.scotpoll.com (see also www.facebook.com/Scotpoll ) commented that it was great to see people remaining loyal to the language of the country.