[LMB] Useful words

[Phil Boswell]

On 31/10/06, Margaret Dean <margdean at erols.com> wrote:
> Eric Oppen wrote:
> > Along with "absquatulate," (which I always understood to be mid-19th-century
> > American frontier slang for "get out of here NOW,") I always liked the Scots
> > word "houghmagandy."  (It can also be spelled "houghmagandie.")
> > Basically, it means foolin' around---from a smooch on the cheek on out.  As
> > far as it gets.
> > I like it because it's unambiguous and AFAIK non-offensive---I could use it
> > in front of elderly ladies and provoke nary a blush.
> That does appear to be a massively useful word!  :)  How is it
> pronounced?  I'm not sufficiently up on my Scots to be confident
> of getting it right from the spelling.

At a guess (working off how I reckon my Granny might say it, although
her dialect can sometimes spring surprises even on her direct
offspring ;-) it would probably be something like "HOFF-ma-GAN-dee".
At first sight I thought it was an odd spelling of "hogmanay"...I
wonder if it's related?

Bear in mind that, given the example of "Kirkcudbright"
(ker-KOO-bree), it could be radically different ;-)

HTH HAND
-- 
Phil