It's Gie Dreich!

I never knew, until today, that a person could be considered Dreich. I love the word, so expressive. However, just incase anyone should consider me to be dreich, here is a tune to brighten your day. Where ever possible it is good to seek out colour and the fields here were looking very like a slightly duller version of summer. Along with the lovely tin barn and orange roof, this shot, like myself, is far from dreich!

A fabulous Scots word dreich :-


dreich
(dre?ech) Dialect, chiefly Scot -adj.
1. (intr.) drab.
2. (tr.) dreary (referring to weather or a sermon).
3. often leads to a state of being drookit; grey.


The word dreich has its origins in Middle English and, indeed, once was a feature of English as well as Scots. It is now obsolete in general English, although, like several other Scots words, it is still to be found in Northern England. Dreich, however, is unusual in that people living in the leafy suburbs of the south have been known to use it.
The original basic meaning of dreich was protracted or long-drawn-out. From this developed the meanings tedious or wearisome. People have traditionally associated both of these meanings with sermons. In the days when most people still went to church, those ministers who liked the sound of their own voices would deliver very long and uninteresting orations from the pulpit. These sermons were frequently dubbed dreich. Of course, not only sermons can be dreich. Anything lengthy that bores you stiff can also be dreich. Obviously this includes something written or spoken, such as lectures, after-dinner speeches, reports, plays, etc, but it can also be extended to such things as journeys, tasks, football matches, etc.
People can also be dreich, and in more than one sense. Boring, dull, lack-lustre people can be described as dreich. As you might expect, depressed, gloomy people can also be so described. However, dreich people can also be slow or unpunctual. Specifically, they may be slow in paying their bills, leaving their creditors less than happy. You have to think twice before you call someone dreich.