> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nigel Gatherer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: 19 October 2001 08:53
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [scots-l] Wha Saw the Forty Second etc
>
>
> Ted Hastings wrote:
>
> [Nigel wrote:]
> > > Wha saw the tattie howkers,
>
> > > I believe it may originate as "hawkers", based on Irish potato
> > > sellers.
>
> > I think the correct word here is actually "howkers", from the Scots
> > verb "howk", meaning "to dig".
>
> I've always known it as howkers (and I know very well the meaning), but
> I have come across a version of the rhyme from c.1914 which mentions
> "tattie HAWKers", referring to Irishmen who would travel to Glasgow to
> sell potatoes.
>
> > They probably called it "Potato Excavating" or some such Anglicism in
> > Edinburgh.
>
> Huzzah! Here come the tuber extractors
> Who could have seen them ging awa?
> Has anybody seen those potattie lifters
> Marching within a stone's throw of Royal Terrace?
>
> Have you got something against Edinburgh, Ted?
>
Not really, but since I originated near Glasgow, I can never resist the
opportunity to push button B, despite having lived in Stirling for the last
twenty-odd years.
Regards,
Ted
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