I grew up in a house with an English Catholic Dad and a Scottish Jewish Mum. As a kid everything to me was just language. Just words. We spoke English with a sprinkling of Yiddish and Scots. I learned French and Latin at school and Ancient Hebrew at Jewish Sunday school ... /1
I think this is part of where my fascination for story came from. I still sometimes use vocabulary and don't know which language it comes from - most recently in a book where I used the word thole that I assumed was English but is really Scots. I only found out cos /2
the editor picked me up on it and I had to look the word up. At college I studied Anglo Saxon too (It was a breeze cos Yiddish) I feel incredibly lucky to have such a rich spread of vocabulary. I also love the sound of language I can't understand. I listen to Gaelic speakers /3
Wrapt. I get lost in words - one of my greatest pleasures. So when critics (let's call them critics) are snippy about Scots I just think 'monoglots'. The more words the better. Right? The more ways of saying and hearing the more we can understand. That is the nature of nuance.

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More from @sarasheridan

27 Jan
So: a short thread about the ongoing effect of the Holocaust (also called the Shoah) cos it's #HolocaustMemorialDay #LightTheDarkness #NeverAgain I grew up in a wealthy Jewish family in Edinburgh in the 70s. Nobody mentioned the Shoah. People didn't want to upset or scare kids./1
At the age when most kids learned Santa wasn't real, 1 of my Jewish pals found a video of a BBC doc about the death camps. They shared it. We were terrified. We came from families that had left places (Russia in the 1880s/1910s), Hungary, Germany None of us had realised why /2
My family regularly had summer parties. Big buffet. Music in the garden. Maybe 100 folk. We had a big house. It was at one of these parties I made the connection that some of my parents' friends (ie some of my friends' parents) had survived what had happened. /3
Read 7 tweets
27 Dec 20
THREAD: Scottish women who had impact in Europe. Born illegitimate in Oban, Victorian Rose Blaze de Bury moved to Paris, where she hosted a salon, wrote several novels, drafted an economic plan for Austria & helped set up a bank. She corresponded with Bismark. Jawdropping no? /1
Next, let's go to the EU era & Grace Campbell who went to court in Strasbourg in the 70s to have corporal punishment banned in UK schools. She won and Westminster had to legislate. What. A. Mama. vimeo.com/236910048 /2
Elizabeth Wiskemann gathered intelligence undercover in Switzerland during WWII. When the Allies refused to bomb Auschwitz she sent a coded msg she knew wd be intercepted & halted Hungarian Jewish deportations. Later she was Professor of International Relations at Edinburgh /3
Read 14 tweets
18 Dec 20
So Menopause adventures: A THREAD👇of things that have worked for me. It's a personal journey but here's what I did. 1st, when I started researching most of what I read was way too subjective so I decided I needed measureables. Tip 1: take your base temperature every day. /1
If you have an iphone the health app will let you track it. I discovered my temperature was on the low side. 37 is normal. Days I woke with a 35 were bad days. Days that started 36 were better. And yes, there are ways to bring your temperature up. Among the most effective ... /2
eating protein & carbs together every 4 hrs, eating breakfast when I got up & having dark hot choc before bed. Hot flushes: These happened separately - but keeping my basal temp at 37 ie improving my metabolism helped balance the hormones that gave me hot flushes. No question/3
Read 16 tweets
16 Dec 20
The v brilliant @madebymodren created a custom bag for carrying Dotty and Dotty loves it so much she won't get out of it. 😂🐾 when she moves I will take pics of the secret compartments for all my stuff (don't hold yr breath) It's so perfect! Thank you Sandra. Xxx Image
I love ordering things from independent makers. They take such trouble over everything.... so worth it. #shoplocal
There's even a wee custom blanket. Dotty is Queen Dachsy today. Image
Read 4 tweets
16 Dec 20
I normally have my nieces & nephews for a Naughtiest Auntie Xmas party but not in 2020 so here are my wickedest games to keep small people occupied. 1: Cocktail Competition. Put out ice, mint, lemon, orange, cordials, appletise & fruit juice. They make their own & I judge. Fierce
2 Jelly Hunt. Their presents are hidden & the clue to find it is on a folded piece of paper inside cling film in a bowl of jelly. They are not allowed to use their hands to get it out. This is the one that is most talked about by the older kids as the best game fo the party.
3 Death Scenes. Instead of charades (yawn) Each kid acts out a death scene from a book or movie and everyone has to guess who died. Lit kids do Beth in Little Women Emos: Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge Someone once did Bambi's Mum. 😂
Read 8 tweets
29 Nov 20
Time for a THREAD👇: amazing Scottish women who had disabilities. Let's start with this lass, brilliant analytical chemist Christina Miller: deaf & blind in 1 eye. In the 1st 5 women fellows @news_RSE & an inspirational teacher. This building 👇 is named after her. Trailblazer /1
'Warrior in a wheelchair' Dr Margaret Blackwood MBE set up the Disability Income Group Scotland and founded a housing association to provide homes designed for disabled people (now @blackwood_HC). Legend. /2
Nurse Angela Booth Dobbie founded @ArtlinkEdin to help disabled people access the arts. She was also a daredevil who didn't let her disability hold her back from paragliding. She said 'I like to feel the wind on my face'. Some quine. /3
Read 9 tweets

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