Teach yourself Gaelic

Published on Saturday 29 March 2008 19:29

Tòin: bottom/butt/bum

A hard word to pronounce: say 'toon', but then add a short y-sound to the end of the n-sound. It has all the sniggering, 10-year-old connotations of the English word bum, and it's the kind of word to avoid in very polite company, but an exasperated parent might shout at a child "Suidh air do thin" (See ur do thoon), sit on your bottom. One arguably controversial use of the word crops up in geography; the south of England, especially the south-east, is often called "Tin Shassain", literally the arse-end of England. "A bheil an tin agam a' coimhead mr le seo?" (Uh vull mo hoon uh koo-wad more le shaw?) Does my bum look big in this? "Chan eil" (kha nyul), no, is always the answer.