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[crashryan]

Rabbit Hole time!

So Paw's link led me to the fantastic Dictionaries of the Scots Language: https://dsl.ac.uk/

And this made me think of Sir Harry Lauder's old music hall songs, which of course sent me to a wondrous trove of Music Hall Lyrics: https://monologues.co.uk/musichall/

But of course, intrigued by the label "monologues.co.uk" I had to follow the hierarchy upward, whereupon I discovered the amazing British Music Hall Monologues portal (https://monologues.co.uk/), which invites us to peruse not only famous monologues but also a tour of West Wirral, a collection of dirty British seaside postcards, and a gallery of pencil portraits of celebrities with guidance on how to make your own. I went for the monologues...

From there I settled upon the section Popular Parodies, where the circle began to return toward CB+ (for all roads eventually lead to CB+) as I beheld a link to The End Of The Raven - by Edgar Allen Poe's Cat! And so in honor of our own Prof H I append hereunder this little-known literary treasure.

The End of the Raven

On a night quite unenchanting, when the rain was downward slanting,
I awakened to the ranting of the man I catch mice for.
Tipsy and a bit unshaven, in a tone I found quite craven,
Poe was talking to a Raven perched above the chamber door.
"Raven's very tasty," thought I, as I tiptoed o'er the floor,
"There is nothing I like more"

Soft upon the rug I treaded, calm and careful as I headed
Towards his roost atop that dreaded bust of Pallas I deplore.
While the bard and birdie chattered, I made sure that nothing clattered,
Creaked, or snapped, or fell, or shattered, as I crossed the corridor;
For his house is crammed with trinkets, curios and weird decor
Bric-a-brac and junk galore.

Still the Raven never fluttered, standing stock-still as he uttered,
In a voice that shrieked and sputtered, his two cents' worth - "Nevermore."
While this dirge the birdbrain kept up, oh, so silently I crept up,
Then I crouched and quickly leapt up, pouncing on the feathered bore.
Soon he was a heap of plumage, and a little blood and gore -
Only this and not much more.

"Oooo!" my pickled poet cried out, "Pussycat, it's time I dried out!
Never sat I in my hideout talking to a bird before;
How I've wallowed in self-pity, while my gallant, valiant kitty
Put an end to that damned ditty" - then I heard him start to snore.
Back atop the door I clambered, eyed that statue I abhor,
Jumped - and smashed it on the floor.

--From Henry Beard's Poetry For Cats

[Robb_K]

If it's of interest, this article sheds some light on all this.
https://flemish.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2014/05/09/the-flemish-influence-on-scottish-language/

Bear in mind that French was the language of the court and upper echelons of society, albeit a long time ago. Our trade was with the low countries and France, and England was a separate country.

Yes, the Flemish borrowed nouns are interesting.  But most of the so-called Flemish borrowing already had an Old English root that came into the language from NoordFries (north Frisian (Angelsc)), from the Anglo-Frisian immigrants from the 500s-600s, and were close enough to the eventual Flemish word to have developed into it, anyway.  It is only the specialised newly-developed medieval terms related to the woolen industry, and trade and warfare terms from the 13th and 14th Centuries, that are undoubtedly derived directly from Flemish influence.  In any case, my ability to understand Scots came mainly from basic words that are today still MUCH closer to the Anglo-Frisian Old English words than present day English words that have taken their place after influence of Norman French.  Those words and letter sounds remain the same today in modern Dutch and modern Frisian as they are in Scots, whilst they have been often replaced by French words in standard UK, US and Canadian English, and the gutteral sounds of Old English, Old Frisian and Old Dutch remain in all those modern languages except Standard English.