Did Sauron die at the end of The Return of the King? A lot depends on how you define die.
And let me just say that it's a pleasure hearing all these Scottish voices on YouTube. I'm beginning to think of this as the Great Scottish Rehabilitation: for us Americans, the posh English accent is the acme of dignity and erudition—or so goes the stereotype. The Irish accent is lilting and charming and musical, evoking green hills, mysterious woods, tavern songs in the night, witty jokes, and laughing sprites. But thanks largely to the work of Saturday Night Live, the Scottish accent is basically a joke—the phonemes of the rough, gruff, untutored, and generally daft. I grew up taking these stereotypes for granted, but if YouTube—with its plethora of Scottish vloggers—has taught me anything, it's that Scottish-accented English has its own craggy dignity. Yes, it can evoke silliness and humor, but it's also musical and evocative in its unique way, and there are times when I can just let myself go and float off to the sounds of that accent. So I'm happy to hear so many Scottish YouTubers who, whether they know it or not, are steadily rehabilitating the Scottish accent—in my mind, at least.
If you're the rare Scot who reads this blog, I imagine everything I said above is meaningless to you. As far as you're concerned, you're not the one who speaks with an accent: I am, and I speak with that stereotypically unpleasant, nasal Yankee pronunciation that turns vowels into blatting farts. I get that. But I can't help seeing the world from my inevitably American perspective, and I hope you'll understand that I mean all of the above in the best way possible, free of condescension, and in the hope that I might one day find myself among you on your own turf, ready to hike a trail or two. Alas, I'm a teetotaler, so I doubt I'll find myself in any tavern, ready to drenk a paint with you, but there's more to your country than John Barleycorn, and maybe I'll have the privilege of discovering that one day.
Quite a digression from Did Sauron die?, isn't it.
This post brought to mind my old pal Alistair from my days in Korea. He had that thick Scottish brogue and used unfamiliar terms (like stones instead of pounds), and I sometimes had a hard time understanding him. The hilarious part to me was that he was an English teacher. I always joked that when I met a Korean kid with a Scottish accent, I'd know he was their teacher. Good times!
ReplyDeleteGiven how much the Scottish did in the early modern era in terms of Enlightenment thinking, literature, etc., I think it's safe to say that the stereotype of the Scottish accent as undignified is undeserved, or at least does not tell the whole story.
ReplyDeleteI did a literary tour when I was in Edinburgh, and at the end one of our guides recited a poem by Robert Burns in the original Scots, followed by the translation into English. The Scots poem was mellifluous--downright musical--and the English felt harsh and lifeless in comparison. I would love to learn Scots just so I could recite Burns' poetry in the original at parties. Of course, that's quite a different thing from just the Scottish accent.
I can list at least four Scottish YouTubers off the top of my head. First is the Critical Drinker, Scotland's top representative (ha ha). Next is Rowan Coleman, who does videos about sci-fi TV shows and movies. Then, there's the Hoof GP with those gross "keratin fingers." Fourth, there's the guy cited in this post with his The Red Book (he has a Tolkien podcast that might be interesting to delve into). Oh, and a fifth one comes to me: that hilarious guy who does the voiceover commentary about his two dogs, Olive and Mabel (Andrew Cotter). I'm not sure that I've encountered any female Scottish YouTubers. Maybe they don't exist.
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