Defined by the Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) as “the buttocks, the hips, haunches, of human beings and animals”, this word has a long pedigree. An early example is found in Sir David Lyndsay’s Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis (1540): “Of hir hurdies scho had na hauld”.
Later, in Burns’ Tam o Shanter (1790), it appears again: “Thir breeks o’ mine, my only pair… I wad hae gi’en them aff my hurdies For ae blink o’ the bonie burdies!”.
In Neil Munro’s The New Road (1914), he conjures up an interesting sight: “A claymore swinging plainly at my hurdies would look ridiculous”.
And we can picture the poor woman described thus in Ellie MacDonald’s The Gangan Fuit (1991): “an there she stud - a shilpit wee craitur wi naither briests nor hurdies fit tae grace the glossies lat alane the ploo”.
Aberdeen-based author Sheena Blackhall provided us with many alternative names for the same body part in her Lament for the Raj (1995): “His dowp, behouchie, his dock or hurdies, Are twa roon meens [moons] ower grim fur wirdies”.
Finally, in a Press and Journal article (July 2022), Moreen Simpson bemoaned the experience of waiting for a bus on a hot day: “Sun beatin’ doon. No bench to sit on at the stop. I waited. No 23s going in the opposite direction – an ominous sign. … The lesser-spotted green thingie finally arrived, half an hour late. By then, I was near passin’ oot, hurdies achin’. Of course, the bus was packed”.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel