The definition of chippit in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language is succinct: “damaged, especially of fruit”.
We have oral examples from Edinburgh, such as this from 1992: “Until circa 1975 chippit fruit was labelled as such in Rankins’ fruit shops”. And this from 1993: “My father always brought a big bag of fruit home on Friday nights and woe betide any of us if we were caught eating chippit fruit”.
Earlier, this poem to the editor of the Leven Advertiser and Weymss Gazette (1916) by M McVey bemoaned wartime shortages: “That you should thankful be You get your livin’ wi’ your pen, An no a shop - like me. If you but kent the miles I rin, For things I haven’t got; Empty boxes, chippit fruit, An’ carrots for the pot”.
And a writer in the Aberdeen Evening Express (1983) recalled her childhood in the old tenements: “At the bottom of our backie wis auld Jimmy Lobban’s fruit shed, and, my God, we got oorsel in some grief, as we used to slide off the top looking for left over chippit fruit”.
Writing in the Diary column of the Scotsman (1998), Dennis O’Donnell was unimpressed by Radio 4’s Today programme’s list of potential personalities “of the Millennium”: “For one, it is crushingly unimaginative … Caxton, Newton and Darwin worthy but dull (smudgy books, chippit fruit and monkey puzzles), but Cromwell?”
In 2001 Dennis O’Donnell also described hiding expensive items in the trolley from his wife “... when she’s away looking for bargains in stale rolls or chippit fruit”.
Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here