WE need to talk about independence. More specifically, we need to talk about how we talk about independence.
As you will know, unless you have been in Outer Mongolia, or have shut yourself off in a cold, dark room – for which position some may well harbour a degree of sympathy – the starting pistol for a second independence referendum was officially fired by the First Minister on Tuesday of this week. October 19 next year is when she wants the race to be run, with the next General Election as a de facto backstop. So fasten your seat belts, here we go again.
Looking back to the last time, 2014 will seem like an aeon ago to some. To others, no time at all will have passed. What has changed, though, is some of the lexicon around the debate.
This change, admittedly, has taken place over more than just the last decade. No-one really talks about “freedom” any more. Remember “we’ll by free by ‘93”? I doubt “free in 2023” even crossed the SNP’s collective mind this time around.
In 2014, we talked about the Scottish independence referendum, often dropping the “Scottish” part. I don’t recall many mentions of “indyref”. Now, however, we have Indyref2. Note the Herald style, one word with a capital. It’s perfectly comprehensible, and pretty much universally accepted – a clear example of a slang word that has become legitimised. Incidentally, “indy” should only be used in headlines, and sparingly at that – normally only when the available space dictates.
There have of course been other changes to the political vocabulary. From about 2015 on, “Brexit” entered the public consciousness, and is now fully established as a recognised word, even taking its place in the Oxford English Dictionary. Recently, we have had correspondents trying to insert the word “Scexit” into our columns. This one is not for us, I’m afraid, certainly on the Letters Pages. For one thing, the word is ugly; it just doesn’t trip off the tongue the way Brexit does. For obvious reasons, no-one has suggested the much more easily-pronounced “Sexit”, so we’ll leave it there.
Other terms which some might deem barbed have cropped up: “secessionist” for one, “separatist” for another. Should we be taking a red pen to these? I’m inclined to think not. We want a respectful debate, but also a robust one.
With that in mind, it ought to go without saying that we will be staying clear of gratuitous insults. You won't be reading of "Nippy", "Jabba" and the like. Similarly, we would like to aim higher than the tiresome catcalling of "Yoon", "Nat" and "BritNat", for example.
Yes, this debate on our Letters Pages will be divisive. But need it be bitter?
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