The Cutural Capital



Edinburgh

The final blog post is on the Capital - Edinburgh, Scotland’s most traditional and iconic city. Now bombarded with tourists, Edinburgh is a pleasant and patriotic city. If you wander the main streets of Edinburgh today, you are doing so along with people and languages from all over the world - this is  huge asset to the country and is credit to the city’s beauty.  What’s false is the perception ‘people from Edinburgh don’t have an accent’. I think this is because Edinbronians argue to be more refined? An Edinburgh accent is less rough and hoarse but it still has its strange quirks -one of these being the exaggerated flowing movement of sentences. You can be speaking to someone as if they don’t actually want to end the sentence with their mouth hanging open. Ask someone where they're from and they say ‘Edinbruuggggh’ - a useless element of speech that is generally used whilst asking a question.

Venture a little further North and this becomes intensified in the recognisable, yet arguably painful Stirling accent:
‘I’m from Stirlin’ ayyy’

Nonetheless, although it doesn’t have the same hardworking nature as Glasgow, people from the South East do tend to enjoy themselves, yet in a somewhat more sophisticated and gentle way than the weegies. For example, it is common knowledge that you can go out for a single drink in Edinburgh and enjoy the surroundings- somewhat unfamiliar throughout the rest of Scotland!
Here are some of the words or phrases most typically used in the South East:

‘ey’ or ‘ay’ or ‘eh’
People in the South East end sentences with ‘ey’ or however they pronounce it. As you go North, however, this tends to turn into a more rigid ‘eh’.
This, in my opinion, is a useless frequency of speech that doesn’t actually mean anything apart from trying to convince another party of what you’re saying is true or credible.
lovely day ‘ey’ for example as if you’re forcing someone to agree that it is nice weather.

shan
Another peculiar word that means schnide or ‘unsound’

ken
Edinburgh also use the word 'ken' for 'know'

'the' instead of to
Saying 'the day' which means today. Can also be used to say 'the morra' which means tomorrow. Watch the video in this TAB article to see what I mean.

What is true about people from Edinburgh is that they are Scottish. Although the city is populated with tourists and people from the South, it still latches onto its Scottish roots like William Wallace and his sword. It is important, however, to point out that Edinburgh isn't just a tourist attraction and it does have its own unique, more sophisticated form of patter- the problem being that you have to be from Edinburgh to understand.