Language
People like to celebrate the diversity of America’s multiple regional accents. When all is said and done, however, though the words may sound difference, they are all still English. In the U.K., however, regional differences can actually mean entirely different languages co-existing together:
“James liked how he dropped Gaelic words into his sentences; they stuck out, like half-hammered nails.”
Everybody Loves Jodie
Mungo has a brother named Hamish whom everybody hates. He also has a mother who isn’t exactly going to win a popularity contest either. On the other hand, everybody loves his sister Jodie. The jury stills seems to be deliberating on where Mungo himself fits into this spectrum:
"Sometimes he felt strangers looked at him like just another blemish on the life of this unstintingly good girl.”
That’s Some Cold
Cold water is everywhere on the planet. Thus, it goes without saying that cold water populates literature to a high degree. And yet, despite that, it is still possible for a writer to develop a metaphorical image that really hits home just how cold water can be in its natural state:
“Mungo took off his trainers and waded thigh-deep into the frigid loch. The cold made a castrato out of him; it made him want to sing.”
Scotslang
What would a story set in Glasgow be without a helping or two of Scottish slang that non-Scots need a little help understanding? For American readers, it may help to imagine the following being spoken by Groundskeeper Willie on The Simpsons. Or, depending upon preference, Sick Boy from Trainspotting. Or even a disappointed Gregory musing over the loss of his girl:
“She thinks she’s the dug’s baws because she lives in a fancy house wi’ satellite telly. But I know she’s all fur coat and nae knickers.”
Easy translation: She thinks she’s high class, but you know what, she’s not.
Setting
The setting extends from the other side of the tracks in Glasgow to the glory of the Scottish countryside. As one might expect, it is the latter which unleashes the full majesty of the power of metaphor to bring description vividly to life:
“The morning sunshine had burned the hills with brackens and lichens and coppers. Now, the fleecy clouds fell like heavy curtains, and they dampened it all to a lifeless grey and brown.”
