This morning I was once again at my exercise class.  As we were having our all important cuppa afterwards, one of the women commented that something was a 'Campsie cut' - an expression which evidently means something like a "pig's ear" or a "dog's breakfast" or a "bodge job."  After this she seemed to feel the need to say to me "do you know what 'xyz' means" to almost every sentence.

The Census Scotland form asks if you understand, read or write English, Scots and Gaelic.  The middle of these is proving controversial, some people saying it's a language, others saying it's a dialect and still others saying it's just slang.

It did get me wondering just where dialect/idiom stops and language begins.  There are some very localised English dialects such as those in parts of Yorkshire or Cumbria, and idiom varies dramatically... it is quite telling that my own mother says that on the phone she distinguishes between my sister and myself on the basis of idiom rather than accent.

Just to note that only one person in the class, apart from the user, knew the expression Campsie cut, and all of them were Glaswegians.  As to why she asusumed I wouldn't know what 'gallivant' meant, I am at a loss, but I promise not to get mardy (Midlands) or nowty (NW England) about it!!

You can check here if you need to translate my idiom