5 DECEMBER 1981, Page 16

Stotting on

Sir: `Stot' is a good Scots verb in regular use (Alexander Chancellor's review of The Best of 11, 21 November). English children bounce a ball but Scots bairns `stot' a ball. The rain in Pitlochry `stots off' the pavements but in London it does the same by falling heavily, bouncing and running into the gutters. Come New Year when you are as drunk as a lord you'll be seen `stotting' about! There is a noun `stoe meaning a bullock, which appears in farming newspapers. It comes from Norse origins.

Good wishes to you and may the Spectator stot on for many years.

Ian M. Macdonald

Birkside, Melrose, Roxburghshire