17 DECEMBER 1927, Page 16

QUEER SCOTS SAYINGS

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] woman whom I was visiting on one of those dull. damp days which we had too often in November, said to me : " I dinna like this gowan-gabbit weather. A guid ringin'• frost is faur better." Jamieson says : " A gowan-gabbit day is a sunshiny day in which the gowans (Scot. daisies) open up " and " Hinging black frost--a severe frost without snow,- when the ground seems to ring when struck.", These are further examples of the fact that it takes .a whole sentence to translate a good old Scotch word !-,•I. am, Sir, &c.,