An A to Z of the Doric: an occasional series. H

Doric, the dialect spoken in the North-East of Scotland is rich in words and phrases associated with the land and the sea. Over the next few weeks I will try to illustrate some of them in an A-Z using examples of their use taken mainly from Buchan Claik, The Saut an the Glaur o't written in 1989 by Peter Buchan and David Toulmin.

HAIRST: Harvest.

"The hairst's naething nooadays wi they big combines an balers drettin aff the straw aa ower the parks like rolls o tileit paper. It's a gey change fae my young day fin aathing hid tae be cut and bun and stookit and forkit an cairtit hame to be thrashen. There's naebody could big a ruck noo onywaye, or set a stook on the stubble for that metter, or cut wi a scythe."
(The harvest is nothing these days with those big combines and balers shitting out straw all over the fields like rolls of toilet paper. It's a remarkable change from my young day when everything had to be cut and bound and stooked and forked and carted home to be threshed. These days there is no-one who could build a corn-stack anyway, or set a stook on the stubble for that matter, or cut with a scythe.)