RHONA: My favourite Scots word is "guddle."
DRAMATIC MUSIC
NARRATOR: Rhona Martin is an Olympic champion. Hence the dramatic music.
RHONA: Guddle. It means "messy," and when I was growing up, my mum used the word a lot when I was trying to cook or bake in the kitchen. All I heard was, "This place is a guddle." And guddle is a word that's actually used a lot in curling. So this is a typical guddle. In this situation, red would put up guard in the centre so that they could get in behind the cover, and yellow can't get to them. So red want to steal only one shot. They don't mind if they lose an eight.
NARRATOR: Well, that clears that up. Thank you, Rhona.
RHONA: Why is it called a guddle? Because it's messy.
NARRATOR: These days, Rhona is a curling coach, but back in 2002, she embarked on a roller-coaster ride to Olympic glory.
RHONA: We knew we could reach the semi-finals, we'd beaten all the teams before, so we knew we played well. We had a good chance of a medal. We'd two games left, and we only had to win one of them to reach the semi-final. Quite easy, really. But no, not for us. We lost them both. There are two Scots words that would sum up how I was feeling that night - "crabbit" and "scunnered". We had just blown our chance of an Olympic medal. But we did have a lifeline - if Switzerland were to win their last game, we were in a play-off.
NARRATOR: And, as luck would have it, Switzerland did win. Mon the Swiss!
RHONA: We weren't going to blow it this time. So with some Scottish true grit and determination, we came through the two play-offs, came through the semi-final, and won the final, and we were Olympic champions.
Olympic Curling champion and former curling coach, Rhona Martin explains how stones on the rink can often create a messy picture and resemble a 'guddle'.
Rhona talks us through the games leading up to the Gold medal performance and the dramas on the way to victory. She comments on being 'scunnered' and 'crabbit' on occasion, suggesting that the sport has its ups and downs.
These clips are from the BBC Series, Blethering Scots, first broadcast in 2011.
Teacher Notes
You could ask students to recall a personal or sporting triumph using as many Scots words as they can.
Students could commentate on some curling footage using Scots words such as 'crabbit' and 'scunnered'.
Curriculum Notes
This video clip will be relevant for teaching English at KS3 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and at third level in Scotland.
More videos on the Scots language:
Scots words for weather. video
Presenter and singer Michelle McManus describes the weather in Scots.
Retaining Scots words in our everyday lives. video
Poet Mark Thomson comments on the words and sounds of Scots language.
The news in Scots. video
Broadcaster Catriona Shearer compares modern official use of English with the 16th Century uses.
The power of Scots words. video
Journalist and TV presenter Kaye Adams describes her experiences of using Scots in her professional life.
Scots words to describe expressive arts. video
The artist Jolomo explains how Scots words often sums up his thoughts about a landscape.
Scots language traditions. video
How poet Rab Wilson writes, speaks and makes his living from the Scots language.
