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  1. #1
    Join Date
    24th July 07
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    Scottish vs. Scots

    In a recent email from the High Commissioner of Clan MacCallum-Malcolm Society of Australia and New Zealand to the President of our North American Branch, comments on the words Scottish and Scot.

    "The Scots are a race, who are spread around the globe. It is the blood that flows in our veins.

    To be 'Scottish' you have to be born in Scotland, and it doesn't
    matter [where] your blood has come from.

    If you are a Scot you are of the Race. If you are Scottish you are
    from the place. And yes, you can be one without the other - or of
    course you can be both."

    I found it rather interesting, because I as an American born and bred would only refer to myself as one with Scottish ancestry. Wearing the kilt people will ask, are you Scottish? ( I cannot recall anyone, asking if I was a Scot.)And my reply is “Scottish ancestry, yes.” My great Uncle James Robertson a Captain with the Liverpool Kings, served in India (the Northwest Territories) for twenty years until Dunkirk. All his children were born in India. His son Brian once shared with me when he returned to Liverpool that his mates would joke with him calling him an ‘Indian’ as his British passport said he was born in India. But Brian is as British as you can get. He got in to many a fight over the comment and claimed it was what made him one tough son of a gun.

  2. #2
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    Looks like the letter is on the verge of nit-picking, but I can see his point. I too always refer to my Scottish ancestors, and don't refer to myself as Scottish, but only of Scottish heritage.
    His Exalted Highness Duke Standard the Pertinacious of Chalmondley by St Peasoup
    Member Order of the Dandelion
    Per Electum - Non consanguinitam

  3. #3
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    Now, this could be an interesting thread! Full of nits to pick.

  4. #4
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    Albeit confined to the intellectual limitations of a "Nit"!!!


    Jim aka kiltiemon (Steve, Steve, Steve... I beg your forgiveness for being so blunt!!!)

  5. #5
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    I was taught that I am Scots, not Scotch (whiskey), or Scottish (national).

  6. #6
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    I am Scottish... as far as background goes I'm around 1/2 Scots and 1/2 Irish. Like most people I'm unsure of my background more than 3 or 4 generations back - and even then there's missing pieces. So could anyone really call themself indigenous Scots unless they can trace more than half their lineage back to the formation of "The Scots" from the Picts, the Gaels and the Brythons. Even then - there has been a lot of migration to Scotland in the last 1000years - especially the lowlands.
    I consider myself both Scottish and a Scot... in most contexts I'm sure a lot of people of first or second generation immigrants would too, but why correct them on this issue if they are proud of being integrated into Scottish society? I certainly wouldnt.
    It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul. View Post
    I am Scottish... as far as background goes I'm around 1/2 Scots and 1/2 Irish. Like most people I'm unsure of my background more than 3 or 4 generations back - and even then there's missing pieces. So could anyone really call themself indigenous Scots unless they can trace more than half their lineage back to the formation of "The Scots" from the Picts, the Gaels and the Brythons. Even then - there has been a lot of migration to Scotland in the last 1000years - especially the lowlands.
    I consider myself both Scottish and a Scot... in most contexts I'm sure a lot of people of first or second generation immigrants would too, but why correct them on this issue if they are proud of being integrated into Scottish society? I certainly wouldnt.
    Suppose for the moment you and your wife upped sticks and moved to Ethiopia. Your children are born there. Are you/they Ethiopians? Or are they citizens of Ethiopia, which is very much something else, all together.

  8. #8
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    24th February 09
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    -ish

    suff.

    Of, relating to, or being: Scottish.

    Characteristic of: girlish.
    Having the usually undesirable qualities of: childish.
    Approximately; somewhat: greenish.
    Tending toward; preoccupied with: selfish.

    ETYMOLOGY:
    Middle English, from Old English -isc

  9. #9
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    15th June 09
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    Quote Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown View Post
    Suppose for the moment you and your wife upped sticks and moved to Ethiopia. Your children are born there. Are you/they Ethiopians? Or are they citizens of Ethiopia, which is very much something else, all together.

    Well if I did move to any country and my kids were born there they could consider thenselves Ethiopians with a Scottish & Scots background.

    It's funny that you said Ethiopia - as I studied it for a short period of time and learned that the background of most of the people is far from indigenous, which is similar to the Scottish position - although Scotland's groups have become less ethnically divided culturally. As far as I'm aware the Amhara are said to have been the most indigenous in Ethiopia and they comprise of around 25% of the population; and even then this would include those with mixed ancestry and "some" Amhara blood. A similar thing could be said for the Picts - who have lived in specific areas and have integrated with other Scots with mixed lineages through time. How many people in Scotland would have more than 50% Pictish ancestry? I'd bet it would be 25% or even much, much less.
    It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Interesting point... and I await to see how it's perceived by both the Scottish members of the forum and the disporia..
    “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”
    – Robert Louis Stevenson

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