Hi Pete,

You got the wrong end of the stick. What I said was that to a Gael, speaking Erse is speaking Irish. I know that Erse is a basic dictionary term for all Irish derived Gaelic, but it is not specific and does not identify a specific language within that group. Scottish gaelic and Irish baelic are very similair but are different, and Scots Gaelic is certainly not a dialect of Irish Gaelic.

As I said, there are Norse words within Scots (as there are within English) but it does not make it a dialect, as with my example of English words borrowed from French.

As yet you have failed to provide a source for claiming that Scots is a dialect of English, could this be that there it isn't one, and this is, in fact, only your opinion. Obviosly, this you are perfectly entitled to hold, but surely you should base your opinion on researched fact and not the view of 'might is right' and bugger everyone else.
Dismissing a minor language as dialect, simply because it IS a minor declining language, and relegating it to the sidelines of history does no-one any good, especially those serious researchers that spent most of their lives proving the contrary.

Glad you read the rest of the thread.

Anyway, I enjoy your posts and good (sensible) debate is what these forums should be about, so if I sound confrontational this due soley to my poor communication skills and is not in anyway to be taken as aggression. >grrrrr<

;-)

FTC