Thread: Common Names
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Old 26-04-2003, 01:24 PM
P van Rijckevorsel
 
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Default Common Names

Iris Cohen writes
But if you call Pinus sylvestris Scotch pine, the

British bonsai growers have a fit. Outside the US it is Scots pine. I have
tried to explain that it is listed that way in American dictionaries, but
they
insist the dictionary is wrong (not understanding the function of a
dictionary).

Stewart Robert Hinsley schreef
"In the North of England and in Scotland, _Scotch_ is not used outside

fixed expressions such as _Scotch whisky_. The use of _Scotch_ for
_Scots_ or _Scottish_ is otherwise felt to be incorrect, esp. when
applied to persons."

I don't understand the reasoning, but there a body of opinion that

"Scotch" is not only incorrect, but also offensive.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley


+ + +
There is such a thing as a separate Scots [?] language, a form of Gaelic.
Perhaps it stems from there ...

However such things are hard to judge: IIRC the Scottish kilt in its present
form was an English invention imposed by force on the Scots. Yet it now is,
apparently universally, accepted as a badge of Scottish identity.
PvR