There may well be 50 epithets for snow in Eskimo but how many more words for cold in Scotland?
Chillydonia as it is known at this time (who are we kidding, any time of year) is though a New Year choice for many.
And some will be winding down their trips to the Highands and Islands, our big cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.
And castles, lodges, crooks and crannies, culture, distilleries, golf, whisky and ski centres.
So a helping hand to our visitors as to the words we use at this time of year courtesy of our friends at Visit Scotland.
All under the banner of ‘Coorie words for winter in Scotland’ with sayings in Shetland, Scots and Gaelic.
And confession time here, in more than half a lifetime spent in the frozen north maist of them are new to me.
Ya dancer
Now many of us have been spending the last couple of months neath the Mirrie Dancers.
It’s Shetland tongue for Heavenly Dancers, or Northern Lights.
Of course, we all know that Shetlanders aren’t really Scots at all, mair Norwegian.
But there’s aye a nip in the air in January, from Shetland as far north to Selkirk in the south.
And so if you feel a snell and sense the flukra or flaggie are comin’.
Then you and your pals will doubtless want to brak da bruid before getting inside tae get seasgair or coorie.
All of which we’ll set as oor wee New Year test tae ye tae work oot fir yersels.
Get yir skis on
Of course, the one sector of the travel industry you’d think would be warming their hands with the snowfall is the ski set.
But the kicker, the Catch-22, is that at times there can be too much snaw which can make them impassable.
And many’s the time we’ve had to turn back on our road up from Aberdeen to The Lecht when the snows were too high to pass.
The other four natural ski resorts in Scotland are:
Cairngorm Mountain, which takes in our old stomping ground of Aviemore, dramatic Glencoe, Nevis Range and Glenshee ‘The Glen of the Fairies’.
Where you’ll probably have your own vocabulary to describe the weather.
Only if you want to go native and spik like a native then we hope ours and Visit Scotland’s lexicon has been a help.
As we run you through how many more words for cold in Scotland.
