Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
Correct me here if I am wrong but my impression of the Scots diaspora is that they energetically worked to disappear into the population of their new country as quickly as possible. Existing populations have a habit of discriminating against 'newcomers' and they would have seen this and recognised the vital importance of losing their 'foreign-ness' (is that a word?) as quickly as possible. The fact that they spoke English and had a similar appearance to the majority would have helped and parents would take care that their children did not pick up any of the tainted expressions from their homeland which would immediately set them apart. I have met second generation immigrants who have no knowledge whatever of many words that their parents must have used without thinking and which would have given away their roots. Even the use of a simple 'outwith' by Jock betrays his Scottish background.
In this way they quickly became successful citizens, unencumbered by the prejudices suffered by other immigrant groups such as the Irish, Italians, Chinese to name but a few. I have no doubt too that it is not so long, and may even be the case today, that many with Scottish surnames believed themselves to be Irish and, knowing no better, turned out on St Paddy's day with the best of them.
So what has caused this re-awakening of a long-lost heritage I wonder? And what changes in society have allowed what was once regarded as a stigma to become a symbol of pride and honour, to be flaunted at every opprtunity.
I won't pretend to speak for other parts of the "new" world, Phil, but that deliberate merging and setting aside of their culture by Scots immigrants you refer to certainly was not/is not the way of it in Canada. Many communities across this country were founded by Scots and given names reminiscent of their homeland: Calgary, Elgin, Fort Macleod, Fort Mcpherson, Glengarry, Mackenzie, Carberry, Arisaig, Kildonan, Invermere, Aberdeen, Dundas -- well, you get the idea. Those who arrived here second to our First Nations folk were, most often, people of Scotland (both Lowland and Highland) and of France -- and they greatly influenced even where they were not themselves the majority. If you could spend time here you would find, just beneath the surface, a culture quite familiar to you.

Three hundred years has resulted in change, I'll grant you, but not more than those that have caused Scotland to see itself as one culture with several vibrant sub-cultures after the same evolutionary period.