Scotch vs. Scots vs. Scottish
The word
Scotch
means “from or associated with Scotland”, but is today only used in fixed expressions like
Scotch terrier
,
Scotch whisky
,
Scotch broth
(a type of barley soup), or
The Scotch Circle
(the dance). The adjective generally used today to describe someone or something from Scotland is
Scottish
. There’s also
Scots
, but today this is mostly used to refer to the language, similar but not identical to English, spoken in those parts of Scotland where Gaelic is not the main idiom – researchers still argue whether
Scots
is a dialect of English or a language of its own, but we don’t take sides in this debate.
Like many things in Great Britain, this is quite puzzling; if you try to remember these different usages, you can always come back to the following aphorism:
If you don’t speak Scots, you may ask your Scottish host for a drink of Scotch whisky
(But of course nobody in Scotland would ever call the beverage
Scotch
or consider related but inferior liquids from other countries; the correct expression in Scotland is
whisky
.) (Without an “e”.)
From “Anselm's Notes on Dances”, by Anselm Lingnau
(Used by permission.)