Sunday, September 13, 2015

Havering about havering

Last year I went to the cinema to see the fabulous Scottish film Sunshine on Leith. It is a musical featuring songs by the Proclaimers and it was so good I not only saw the movie twice (or was it three times?), but bought an album by the Proclaimers. They're probably best known for the songs 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' and 'I'm On My Way', though the whole album is great. The band's thick Scottish accents shine through.

Anyway ...! There's a line in 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' that says 'And if I haver ... I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you'. What does haver mean, I wondered? Looking in my trusty Macquarie Dictionary (and yeah, I see the irony in looking to an Australian dictionary to find out about a Scottish word) it says:

haver (pronounced hayvuh)
verb, Scottish to talk nonsense; blather

How cool is that? What a great word. I'll stop havering now.

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