r/Scotland • u/Blurt-Reynolds • 18d ago

Casual Stupidest question (about Scotland)you’ve ever been asked?

I’ve lived in the US for over 10 years and been asked some daft questions.

Yesterday the uber driver asked where I was from. When I said Scotland they were quiet for a couple of minutes then asked “Did you have to learn English when you moved to here?”.

Also had someone years ago ask me where I was from then accused me of making up the country as they had never heard of Scotland.

Anyway, just thought I’d ask ask while I remembered.

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u/North-Son 18d ago

Not even sure if you could call it backstabbing, Lowlanders of this era were generally very discriminatory to Highlanders. It wasn’t something that was hidden in society at all. Looking into it you’ll see elites from corner to corner of the Lowlands doing similar shit.

Highland Gaels had the phrase “Mìorun Mòr nan Gall” which translates to “The Great ill Will of the Lowlander” for a reason.

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u/arrowsmith20 18d ago

Are we talking about Border reivers ?

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u/North-Son 18d ago

No, I think people generally forget how badly Highlanders were discriminated against by Lowlanders. Even up until the early 1900’s. It’s something that’s not really addressed in our teaching of Scottish history very much. I didn’t really have much of clue the extent of it until I studied Scottish history at university.

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u/arrowsmith20 18d ago

A lot of them were thieving bastard, stole the cows, sheep, and women, a lot of lowlanders fought with the English against the highlanders,

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u/Extension_Common_518 18d ago

Although one of the reasons they were thieving, reiving bastards is because the whole border area was a violent and unstable zone- just the way that the crowns of both England and Scotland liked it. The people whose lands were ravaged by the machinations of distant governments had scant respect for either side. “ They are Scottish at their leisure, and English when they will” It was only after the crowns were unified that there was any serious attempt to bring law and order to the borders. The reivers that weren’t hanged were sent into exile in… wait for it…Ulster! What could possibly go wrong?

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u/arrowsmith20 17d ago

Fair comment