Scottish Independence: Do You Know Your 'Uggit' From Your 'Gaed'?

On the eve of the Scottish referendum, a survey has revealed people south of the border are strongly in favour of Scots keeping their local language.

But certain Scottish words such as "uggit" and "gaed" were not always understood.

A poll of 929 UK adults aged between 18 and 55 living outside of Scotland revealed 96% of respondents,felt it was "very important" for a nation to retain its native language and dialect.

But more than a quarter of people did not think it should be mandatory for children in Scotland to learn Scottish Gaelic in school and 11% said it should be introduced only if the "yes" side wins the referendum.

Gary Muddyman, founder and CEO of Conversis, who led the survey, said: "Since most polls tend to focus on which way the pendulum will swing on the 18<sup>th, we thought it would be interesting to examine how people who don't live in Scotland perceive the Scottish language.

"Scots and Scottish Gaelic are important languages that have been spoken in Scotland for centuries and can be found across the nation in different areas today."

Nearly half of respondents knew the meaning of the word "bairnskip", (childhood), although 12% thought it meant "barstool".

Eighty-seven per cent knew the term "bonnie wee lass" as pretty young girl but the word "uggit" threw 45% of people who mistakely thought it meant "ugly" when the correct translation was "annoyed".

Similarly, the verb "gaed" caused some confusion, with only 34% of respondents in England accurately translating it to the past tense of the verb 'to go'.

And when it was asked who has the best Scottish accent, Sean Connery was top with nearly a quarter (23%) of the votes, while Billy Connolly and David Tennant were in second and third place at 15% and 12%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Andy and Judy Murray polled a mere 1% and 0.2% of the votes each.