| Scots. | English. | |
| minister | = | clergyman |
| elder | = | in deacon's orders: found only in alderman |
| Communion | = | Eucharist |
| chamberlain | = | land steward |
| grieve | = | head man on a farm |
| tradesman | = | workman |
| wright | = | joiner |
| carpenter | = | shipwright |
| lime shells | = | lime for mortar |
| chimley | = | fireside |
| merchant | = | shopkeeper |
| gear | = | worldly goods |
| deals | = | boards |
| plenishing | = | household requisites |
| providin' | = | bridal trousseau |
| friends | = | relatives |
| juice | = | gravy or sauce |
| pouch | = | |
| keep | = | fodder. |
One often hears Lowland Scots declared to be little more than English mis-pronounced or mis-spelt or both at once. Of course there is individuality in pronunciation—nowhere more so—as in every form of personal presentation. But as Scots is much more archaic, and as the tradition of book knowledge has been with it more persistent and more thorough, it will be found that supposed mistakes often represent an older and historically correct usage. Thus preen would be voted but a vulgar double of pin. But the Gaelic prine, and Mid.Eng. preon, and Norse prjoun (needle) should give us pause. In the German Pfriem, Kluge compares the change of n to m with pilgrim for Fr. pelerin, Lat. peregrinus. To take one other example, protticks might be considered but a blundered projects, but Gaelic has prattick, a trick, A.S. praett, craft, Norse pretti, a trick, A.S. praettig, tricky, and Eng. pretty.
Certain idiomatic expressions show a curiously contrasted point of view in passing from the general to the particular. The following have a general sense—meat, storm, wife, yard.
