An A to Z of the Doric: F revisited, yet again!

Doric, the dialect spoken in the North-East of Scotland is rich in words and phrases associated with the land and the sea. In this occasional series I try to illustrate some of them with photographs.

FORFOCHEN: Thoroughly exhausted.

In the Autumn a sheep's thoughts turn to romance and it is then that the rams are released to do their duty. The shepherd is of course interested to know which of his/her ewes have been mated. The information that they need is acquired by fitting the ram with a chest harness that holds a special, greasy, coloured crayon (or raddle, sometimes spelled reddle). Ewes that have been mounted are as a result clearly marked,

This ram, and his friend with a green raddle, are totally forfochen but are having the time of their lives in a very large flock of ewes!