Editing Teuchter

{{Short description|Pejorative term for anybody outside Glasgow and surrounding areas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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'''''Teuchter''''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|tj|uː|x|t|ər}} {{respell|TEWKH|tər}}, {{IPA|sco|ˈtjuxtər, ˈtʃuxtər|lang}})<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989</ref><ref name=CSD>{{cite book|editor1-last=Robinson|editor1-first=Mairi|title=The Concise Scots dictionary|year=1985|publisher=Aberdeen University Press|isbn=978-0-08-028491-0}}</ref> is a [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]] word sometimes used to offensively describe a [[Gàidhealtachd|Scottish Highlander]], in particular a [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]]-speaking Teuchter.<ref name=DSL>{{cite web|url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/teuchter |title=Dictionary of the Scots Language |publisher=Edinburgh University |access-date=2010-10-14}}</ref> The term is also in use with more broader meanings attached, commonly applied to any Scot perceived to be from a rural area, and within Glasgow those who are from outwith the Greater Glasgow area. It is offensive, equivalent to other cultural epithets used by more powerful groups to describe people they have oppressed, but is often seen as amusing by the speaker. The term is contemptuous, essentially describing someone seen to be uncouth and rural.<ref name=CSD/><ref name=DSL/>

==Derivation==
The word also shows up as ''cheuchter, tschooktir, chuchter, teuchtar, chookter'' but has no universally accepted orthography. From relative obscurity, it gained currency around 1910.<ref name=DSL/>

There are three main theories on the etymology of the word:
* a purely Gaelic derivation from ''tuath'' {{IPA|gd|t̪ʰuə|}} "peasantry, tenantry" or ''deoch'' {{IPA|gd|tʲɔx|}} "drink" (borrowed into Scots as ''teuch'') plus an [[Agentive ending|agent-forming]] [[suffix]] ''-air'' or ''-adair''<ref name=DSL/>
* a derivation from the Scots [[adjective]] ''teuch'' "physically or mentally strong, tough" plus a suffix<ref name=DSL/>
* a derivation from the Scots [[noun]] ''teuchit/teuchat'' "[[northern lapwing|lapwing]]"<ref name=DSL/>

One [[folk etymology]]/[[urban myth]] is that during the [[World War I|First World War]], many members of the Highland regiments were pipers. A book of sheet music for the pipes is called a "tutor", and when pronounced with the [[preaspiration|pre-aspiration]] of [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] accents when speaking English, this sounds like "teuchter".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/gd/fullrecord/12005/1/LuckyDip |title=Am facal 'teuchter' (Prògram Choinnich (BBC Gaelic radio broadcast)) |publisher=Tobar an Dualchais |date=1997-12-09 |access-date=2010-10-14}}</ref>

==Humour==
Like other rural stereotypes, teuchters commonly feature in jokes ([[Billy Connolly]] has performed and recorded a sketch where a teuchter visiting the city marvels at a bus as "a hoose wi wheels") though such stories often end with the apparently naive teuchter triumphing through hidden wiliness.

The archetypal cartoon teuchter is the cartoon character [[Angus Og (comic strip)|Angus Og]], created by [[Ewen Bain]].

A teuchter is the hero of Scottish musician [[Bill Hill (musician)|Bill Hill]]'s ''The Portree Kid'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.azirishmusic.com/songs/144.htm |title=Arizona Irish Music Society |publisher=Azirishmusic.com |date=1999-10-30 |access-date=2010-03-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219114834/http://www.azirishmusic.com/songs/144.htm |archive-date=2010-02-19 }}</ref> which parodies the song ''Ghost Riders in the Sky'' as "The teuchter that cam frae [[Skye]]".

== See also ==

* [[Culchie]]
* [[Gaels]]
* [[Russian jokes#Chukchi|Russian stereotyping of rural people via Chukchi jokes]]
* [[Taig]]
* [[Yokel]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Ethnic slurs}}

[[Category:Pejorative terms for European people]]
[[Category:Culture of Scotland]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of rural people]]


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