XPost: soc.culture.scottish, alt.politics.british, uk.local.london   
   From: ccaine@worldnet.att.net   
      
   "Robert Peffers."  wrote in message   
   news:5vWdnVocGYIqAvnbnZ2dnUVZ8tyqnZ2d@bt.com...   
      
      
   > You think English is strange?   
   > Have a try at some Lallans Scots -   
   > It is a traditional child's verse.   
   >   
   > A canty wee lassie cried Menzies   
   > Speirt, "Dae ye ken whit this thenzies?"   
   > Her Maw, wi a gasp,   
   > Reponed, "It's a wasp!"   
   > An ye'r haudin the end whaur the stenzies   
   >   
   > And here is what is reputed to be the original of, "Johnnie Cope",   
   >   
   > Sir John Cope rade the nor' richt faur,   
   > Yit ne'er a rebel he cam naur,   
   > Till he laundit at Dunbaur,   
   > Richt early in the mornin   
   >   
   > Owerwird:   
   >   
   > Hey Johnnie Cope, are ye wauken yit,   
   > Or are ye sleepin A wad wit;   
   > haste ye yit up for the drums dae beat,   
   > fey Cope raise in the mornin.   
   >   
   > He wrat a challenge frae Dunbaur,   
   > Come an fecht me Chairlie gin ye daur;   
   > Gin it binna be the chance o war   
   > A'll gie ye a merry mornin.   
   >   
   > Whan Chairlie leukit the letter upo'   
   > He drew his swuird the scabbart frae -   
   > Sae hieven restore tae me ma ain,   
   > A'll meet ye, Cope, in the mornin.   
   >   
   > Cope swuir wi mony a bluidy wird   
   > That he wad fecht thaim gun an swuird,   
   > But he fled frae his nest lik a frichtent bird,   
   > An Johnnie he teuk the weeng in the mornin.   
   >   
   > But whan he seen the hieland lads   
   > Wi tartan trews an white cockauds,   
   > Wi swuirds an guns an rungs an gauds,   
   > Johnnie, he teuk weeng in the mornin.   
   >   
   > Sir Johnnie intae Berwick rade,   
   > Juist as the deil haed been his guide;   
   > Giein him the warld he wadna steyed   
   > Tae fochten the boys in the mornin.   
   >   
   > Says Laird Mark Car, ye arna blate,   
   > Tae bring us news o yer ain defeat;   
   > A think ye deser the back o the gate,   
   > Git oot ma sicht this mornin.   
      
   Take a guid Scots ballad, run it through the Applachain Mountains for two   
   hundred years and you have an even stranger dialect.   
   The word "Gin" appears often in the older ballads.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)