Authors: Murdo Morrison
I am proud to say that I was born and grew up in the city of Glasgow and spent my early years almost literally under the shipyard cranes. It is the old Glasgow of my youth, the city of tramcars, smoke and grime, and industrial smogs that often slowed traffic to a crawl that I remember with great affection.
It was a world where people sat around the fire, listened to the wireless and filled their evenings with talk and simple pastimes. I wouldn’t have missed a moment of it. It is the story of that wonderful city and its very special people that I have attempted to tell.
Glossary of Scottish terms used in
Roses of Winter
Bairn:
Child or infant.
Blether:
Conversation, chat.
Close:
The entry way from the street in a tenement building. The close would lead to the stairs. Typically there were two apartments on each floor.
Dout:
Cigarette end, butt.
Dreich:
Dull, gray. Often used to describe the weather.
Dross:
Small pieces of coal and coal dust often laid on a fire at night to ‘bank’ it in hopes of keeping it hot throughout the night so as not to have start from scratch in the morning.
Dumpling
: A popular dessert in Scotland. Each family
would typically have its own preferred variation on the
basic recipe. It typically contains dried fruit and a
combination of spices called ‘mixed spice’. The
mixture
is placed in a piece of heavy cloth, secured with string
and boiled in a large pot.
Dunt:
Bang, knock.
Fag:
Cigarette
Fair:
A holiday taken during the last two weeks of July. This was a popular time to go on vacation, particularly among the working class.
Glower:
Refers to an angry, glaring facial expression.
Gob:
Mouth.
Fankle:
A tangle in string or wool.
Fuiter:
A foolish person, nuisance or pest. Often used with some affection.
Hogmanay:
New Year's Eve.
Humph:
A bad mood, a negative reaction.
Jotter:
An exercise book used by students.
Loon:
A term used in the northeast of Scotland to describe a lad or young man.
Messages:
Groceries, things bought at the store.
Midden:
Place where rubbish is deposited.
Nyaff:
A person lacking class.
Pictures:
Movies, movie theater
Piece:
Sandwich
Porridge:
A hot cereal dish usually eaten at breakfast and most commonly made from oatmeal.
Puckle:
Small, few in number.
Rammie:
Fight, altercation
Room and Kitchen:
A typical two room apartment in a tenement building. The kitchen was connected to the second room (usually a bedroom) with a passageway or lobby. The kitchen would often have a bed in an alcove.
Scunner:
Something that annoys you, as in a difficult person, pest, nuisance.
Sine:
Rinse, as in dishes or washing.
Single end:
A one room apartment in a tenement building.
Smout:
Often used in describing a small child
Stoor:
Dust, small debris
Teuchter:
A person from the highlands and islands.
The Broons:
A long-running and very popular cartoon series in the weekly Scottish newspaper The Sunday Post. It depicts the life of a family, the Browns or 'Broons'.
Thole:
Tolerate, put up with.
Thrawn:
Stubborn, hard to handle
Wireless:
Radio.
Wally dugs:
Ornamental china dog figurines, popular mantelpiece decorations in the Glasgow of the period.
Wean:
Child.
Winching:
Courting, kissing.
About the Author
Murdo Morrison was born in Glasgow, Scotland and spent his early years in a Scotstoun tenement similar to the one inhabited by the McIntyre family in
Roses of Winter
. The author's family has many links to shipyards, shipbuilding and the Merchant Navy. The adventures of Donald McIntyre are based to some extent on the real-life wartime service of his father, Donald Morrison.
Murdo attended Allan Glen's School and the university of Glasgow and completed his college degrees in Geography at Central Connecticut State College and Clark University. He retired recently after two decades of state service in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to work full-time as a writer.
For more information about the author visit
Table of Contents
Chapter 10 Too Close for Comfort
Chapter 12 Fear of the Unknown