First, let me say that I am in no way trying to be rude and I hope some of the words I've heard aren't indecent.

That said, I have to say that I love several shows on BBC. Gordon Ramsey's F Word is one of them and Life on Mars is another. I think we're going to be watching Eleventh Hour quite a bit as well.

Words I've heard.

kip - does it mean nap?

kneelers for the kirk - what on earth are those?

guvner (sp) - boss?

Why do some of you say, "What time is it?" and others say, "What time of the morning (or part of day) is it?"

Now, unrelated to shows other than cooking, what is gas mark 1 or 4? (And any number in between).

What ever happened to Penelope Keith?

Thank you and I hope you were all safe during that storm that went through there.

I'm reading the last book in the Outlander series and there are a ton of Scottish words in there that I'd love to have put into any type of English.

kip - does it mean nap?
Little sleep. It's a 70s word, but I'e noticed it coming back. You didn't hear it at all for 20 years.

kneelers for the kirk - what on earth are those?

kneelers are the cushions I think, they kneel on in cold, stone floored churches. Kirk is the Scots word for church. You get it in place names too in the North of England where I'm from, but not in everyday speech.

guvner (sp) - boss?
Cockney(London) word for boss. Can also have a bit of an edge to it - slightly sarcastic, depending on who is saying it to whom.

Why do some of you say, "What time is it?" and others say, "What time of the morning (or part of day) is it?" Not sure. It's nothing regional, or class based - and I think it would be more likely to be 'What time of morning is it?' rather than 'what time of the...'

But when I lived in the US I couldn't get the 'It's 10 after11' where in the UK we say 'It's 10 past 11...' I think the 'after' is a more archaic usage as you find it in 19thC novels, but it's fallen out of use in the UK now.

Now, unrelated to shows other than cooking, what is gas mark 1 or 4? (And any number in between).

Gas mark 1 would be a very cool gas oven. (Equivalent to a very low temp electric stove, say 90 deg?) 4 would be a fairly average heat. Real cooks tend to cook with gas not electric, here, so you tend to hear what we call 'gas marks' and even people like me without gas ovens have a vague grasp of what they are equivalent to.

What ever happened to Penelope Keith? She does voice overs.

Any of Gordon Ramsay's words you want translating?

... and people like me who changed to an electric oven 18 months ago still read the Gas Mark on things and I totally forget I am electric now!

Thank you very much.

I think I will get my book out of the car this weekend and pull some of the words from it.

I'm not sure how much you will know because many of the words are old Gaelic. (sp)

One of the words is Sassanach. Jamie calls Claire that. However, when he speaks of the British, it sounds so venomous. When he calls Claire that, it seems like a term of endearment. Maybe I should say "reads" instead of "sounds".

Ah Sassenach that's what us Scottish call the English A term of endearment

Aye but I hae me doots! Cute thread - I learned a lot.

You ladies are a scream! I should play in here more often.

So, Clydegirl, I'm now . Would you call an English person that? Is it as bad as calling a black person the "n" word? I'm truly on this one. I did get your tongue-in-cheek message. However, just how bad is this word?

Kneelers for the kirk can also refer to the kneeling cushions that you find on the back of the pews in the church. Guvnor is short for 'governor'.

Irish person here at your service!

Sassenach? It's not bad. heritage.scotsman.com

I certainly wouldn't take any offence if I was called a Sassenach - its a bit like Australians calling us 'Poms' or Americans calling us 'Limeys' - or even us Brits using the word 'Yankee' to describe anyone from the US. No doubt there's a lot of history behind them and maybe once upon a time they were derogitory in nature but no harm is meant nowadays - certainly nothing like the N word.

Not heard Sassenach before... Learn something new every day!

I've heard it but not understood where it comes from or ever taken it as an insult.

Ah, Mare. You and I are reading (well, I'm actually listening - love Davina Porter's voice) to the same series. I've read them all and am now going back and listening. There is a book called the Outlandish Companion which she wrote after I think the 3rd book which will help you with a lot of this stuff. Of course, "talking" with these UK girls is more fun.

No it's not a derogatory term, usually used in fun. Some of my dearest friends are sassenachs.

'Sassenach' means 'Saxon', I think. Although the archaeologists and DNA testing now tells us that many English settlements remained British (Celtic) long after the Saxon invasion, so it's not entirely accurate. Although our Celtic language vanished without a trace, within a couple of generations, we spoke Anglo Saxon (a variant of what is now German), whereas the Scots, Welsh and Cornish held onto their Celtic languages. It's thought that although the English aren't entirely genetically 'Saxon', we adopted the culture and language, for unknown reasons. So it was a reasonable thing for the Scots to think of us as 'Saxons'.

I come from a part of Northern England that held on to its Celtic heritage though, (we still had kings with Welsh names til about the 8thC) and fought the Romans off. Many Northern English people also have a lot of Norse (viking) blood, just like the Scots. But as Anglo Saxon and Norse both come from a lost language called Old High German, to outsiders the English would 'sound' Saxon.

It's a kind of insult, I guess, although I don't know anyone who finds it racist or objectionable - just funny! Most people (including Scots) don't know what it means.