SHEUCH
SHEUCH has various meanings in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL), from a drainage ditch to a street gutter. One use of the term which has latterly become well-known is given but one line in DSL: “in jocular usage: the North Channel in the Irish Sea between Scotland and Ireland (Uls 1970)”.
We haven’t found anything pre-dating 1970, but in 1997 John Erskine writing in the Cultural Traditions of Northern Ireland notes: “With only 12 miles of sea separating us, it is little wonder that influences across the sheuch, as the North Channel is referred to colloquially, should be both profound and permanent”.
Later citations begin in 2000 with a March edition of the Belfast Telegraph: “A hornet’s nest has been stirred up. We’re all only too familiar with the sorry history of our Assembly. Across the sheugh, Scottish Labour had to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.” A later example, in Ulster Scots, comes from the Belfast Newsletter of April 2004: “Frae quhat differ prittas [potatoes] ir cried ye’re fit tae jalouse tha monie o’ thaim wur bred athwort the sheugh i Scotlan.”.
This body of water can also be referred to as the Auld Sheuch. “In contrast to some of the more grandiose musical extravaganzas which Celtic Connections produces, these two highly respected male-female singing (and domestic) partnerships from either side of the Auld Sheuch showed how peerless traditional singing can hold an audience spellbound.” (Scotsman, January 2005).
Finally, the Inverness Courier of September 2021 records: “James Fletcher, who made the 21-mile open sea crossing [on a paddleboard] of the North Channel, or ‘the Sheuch’, from Donaghadee to Portpatrick, had hoped to do it in about four-and-a-half hours.”
Scots Word of the Week is written by Pauline Cairns Speitel. 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