Scottish word of the day: Crabbit

Published on 05/03/2013 16:35

“Feeling a wee bit crabbit today?” It’s a question you might ask of someone who has shown a flash of ill-temper, or someone of a generally grumpy disposition.

Curiously, the term often bears an association with the elderly (eg “you crabbit old woman!”).

This may partially be a result of a Phyllis McCormack poem written in 1966 called - funnily enough - Crabbit Old Woman.

The first few lines of the poem, told from the perspective of an old lady in a care home, reads:

What do you see, what do you see?

Are you thinking, when you look at me-

A crabbit old woman, not very wise,

Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,