Word Confusion: Scotch vs scot/Scots vs Scottish

Posted June 1, 2017 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions

Revised as of
11 July 2023

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Guilty. Wa-a-a-y back in the day . . . mine, that is . . . we had a Scottish secretary who was quite the champion of not being called Scotch. She painstakingly ensured that we all understood the difference.

So, What is the Difference?

Scotch is not a people. It’s a drink, a description applied to various food types, a verb, a tool, or a type of cut. Using Scotch to describe someone from Scotland is incredibly rude and offensive to a Scot.

Scots are people and may also be used for identifiably human matters and institutions. Variations on Scots or Scot (uppercase) include Scotsman, Scotsmen, Scotswoman, and Scotswomen. Yep, there is a scot in both noun and verb form as well, in lowercase. Scots may also be used in a combined forms: Scots-Irish or Scots-Irish Americans.

Scottish is the safe go-to for most purposes, including people, animals, and things in general.

Culture-wise, one would rarely use the term Scots culture, but more commonly Scottish culture.

So it’s handy, as a writer, to know what is preferred and what is rude when writing, as it is part of showing your reader what the character is like.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Scotch	scot/Scots	Scottish
Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky is P. Brundel’s own work under the GNU Free Documentation license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A ten-year-old bottle of Scotch.	Scots Pine Utö is by Arild Vågen (Flickr: Utö, January 2013 IV) under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A Scots pine in the east part of Utö on the Stockholm archipelago.	Piper Busking in Edinburgh is David Monniaux’s own work under the GNU Free Documentation license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Piping is part of the Scottish culture.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective ¹; Noun ¹, ², ³, ⁴; Verb, transitive ², ³, ⁴ Plural for the noun: scotches, Scotches Third person present verb: scotches Past tense or past participle: scotched Gerund or present participle: scotching	Adjective ¹; Noun ¹, ² Singular noun: Scot Collective noun: the Scots A.k.a., Scottish	Adjective; Noun Collective noun: the Scottish A.k.a., Scots
Adjective: [Offensive; old-fashioned] Scottish or Scots ¹ Decreasingly used to describe foods produced in Scotland [Usually lowercase; informal] Frugal, provident, thrifty Noun: [Upper- or lowercase] Short for Scotch whisky ¹ [As a plural noun, the Scotch; dated; offensive] The people of Scotland [Dated] The form of English spoken in Scotland [Archaic] A cut or score in skin or another surface ² [Archaic] A wedge or chock placed under a wheel or other rolling object to prevent its moving or slipping ³ [Masonry] A small picklike tool with two cutting edges for trimming brick ⁴ Verb, transitive: [Archaic] To cut, gash, or score the skin or surface ² Decisively put an end to ³ Crush Stamp out Foil [Archaic] Render (something regarded as dangerous) temporarily harmless Wedge (someone or something) somewhere [Archaic] Prevent a wheel, barrel, or other rolling object from moving or slipping by placing a wedge underneath [Masonry] To dress brick or stone ⁴	Adjective: Another term for Scottish ¹ Noun: [Uppercase] The form of the English language used in Scotland ¹ [Historical; lowercase] A payment or charge ² One’s share of a payment or charge An assessment or tax [Uppercase] A native or inhabitant of Scotland One of an ancient Gaelic people who came from northern Ireland about A.D. 6th century and settled in the northwestern part of Great Britain, and after whom Scotland was named.	Adjective: Of, relating to, or characteristic of Scotland, its people, their Gaelic language, or their English dialect Used in a narrower sense to refer specifically to the form of English used in Scotland Noun: The people of Scotland
Examples:
Adjective: Scotch salmon is so amazingly tasty. The Scotch bonnet pepper, Capsicum chinense “Scotch Bonnet”, has been compared to habañeros. Under the rules of scotch doubles, teams consist of two players who alternate shots throughout the game. To be true Scotch whisky, it must be made in Scotland nor is it ever “Scottish whisky”. Noun: Gimme a scotch, barkeep. It’s naught but a scotch. Pick up a bottle of Scotch, if you would. Verb, transitive: “We have scotched the snake, not killed it.” – Shakespeare, Macbeth, you know, the Scottish play A spokesman has scotched the rumors. Damn those leaks! We’ll have to scotch that plan. Feudal power in France was scotched, though far from killed. He soon scotched himself against a wall. Scotch that millstone!	Adjective: He has the loveliest Scots accent. The Scots pine is named after Scotland, though not limited to it. Noun: Scots is the English language version as opposed to Scottish Gaelic. MacDuff is free from paying a scot. Did I mention that MacDuff is a Scot? The Highland Scots can be fierce warriors. The Scotswomen more than kept up with their men. Scots Law is the legal system of Scotland, a hybrid system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Scots speak the Scots language, never “the Scottish language”. Gordon Ramsay, Sean Connery, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and William Wallace are some famous Scots.	Adjective: The Scottish Highlands are so beautiful. We were invited to a night of Scottish dancing and music. Noun: The Scottish are a generous and sociable people. The Scottish are natives of Scotland. She’s English, not Scottish.
Derivatives:
		Adjective: half-Scottish Adverb: Scottishly Noun: Scottishness
History of the Word:
Late 16th century as a contraction of Scottish. Late Middle English of unknown origin. Early 17th century (as a noun) is of unknown origin. From the obsolete French escoucher, which is from the Vulgar Latin excuticāre (unattested) meaning to beat out, which is itself from the Latin ex- + quatere meaning to shake.	1325-75 as a syncopated form of Scottis, Middle English, variant (north) of Scottish. 1200-50, Middle English from the Old Norse skattr meaning tax, treasure. Cognate with the Old English gescot meaning payment.	Before 900 as Old English Scyttisc from the Late Latin Scott(us) from Scot + -ish.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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