'Street Talk', by JK Annand, is one of the poems from 'The Kist' - an anthology of Scots (and Gaelic) poetry and prose that was digitised by Education Scotland and gifted to the Scots Language Centre so that teachers and learners can continue to benefit from this valuable resource. 

Street Talk by J. K. Annand

There was a rammie in the street,
A stishie and stramash.
The crabbit wifie up the stair
Pit up her winda sash.

"Nou what’s adae?" the wifie cried,
"Juist tell me what’s adae."
A day is twinty-fower hours, missis,
Nou gie us peace to play.

"Juist tell me what’s ado," she cried,
"And nane o yer gab," cried she.
D’ye no ken a doo’s a pigeon, missis?
Nou haud yer wheesht a wee.

"I want to ken what’s up," she cried,
"And nae mair o yer cheek, ye loun."
It’s only yer winda that’s up, missis.
For guidsake pit it doun.
 

Learning Resources

Reading

Read the poem and listen to the audio file.

If there are unfamiliar words, try to work out what they mean according to their context, or look them up using a Scots dictionary – you can use an online Scots dictionary at www.dsl.ac.uk.

Next, in a group of 3, read the poem out loud. One person should be the narrator, one person should be the wifie and the other person should be the child.

Listening and talking - group discussion

Tell the people in your group about a time you got a row or a complaint from a neighbour. What happened? Did you deserve the row? Did you give the neighbour any cheek?

Writing

There are lots of Scots words meaning row, fight or commotion:

how-strow           frother                  currieshang                  bree

striley                   rammy                 feuch                             squalloch

stashie                clamjamfry          stramash                      rummle

Use one of these words to create an acrostic poem.