You’ve heard it before. They don’t speak American in Scotland. A Scot would say that we Americans may have a few wee errors in our language.

Some fun ways with words I noticed during our August visit to Scotland: “Wee” is thrown in everywhere. “Have a seat at that wee table.” The table isn’t necessarily small. “Take a right and follow the road to the wee people ferry.” Well, actually, it was a small ferry—a motorboat that took us across to a tiny wee island where they used to mine slate. Not everything’s small, but lots of things are “wee.”

Many of the new words I learned deal with scran. That’s food, and since we’re foodie travelers, we tried lots of scran. All desserts (I think) are puddings and not all puddings are desserts. Black pudding is a sausage made of animal blood, fat and oatmeal, generally served for breakfast. Yes, we tried it, and like lots of foods, its palatability varied depending on the cook. Back to the more desirable puddings. The definition varies, and a pudding can be sweet or savory, but is generally steamed. That of course varies.

Other sweets by another name? Ask for flapjacks and you might get a tasty bar that looks like a granola bar but moister and better. In the highlands, we were offered a dumpling (in a tent in a field where a sheep herding dog trial was being held). That was a clootie dumpling, the tiniest bit like American fruitcake, but softer and tastier. Again, depending on the cook.

The Scots do like their sweets. There’s an ice cream store in even the smallest village. Often near the bookstores, which also abound there. Hurrah for both. We visited an outdoor market where bread shared a booth with all kinds of doughnuts. Nearby was the booth that sold tablet, a yummy fudge made with condensed milk and lots of sugar. I’ve pinned a recipe on my Pinterest page. The author warns that tablet is “moreish.” Not a word I’d seen before, it means you’re going to want more. It is addictive. We even tried one made with the local gin. Yum. Yes, it is moreish. We bought a wee bag.

Many of the Scottish sweets (another word for pudding, I think) contain treacle. That is either straight molasses or a blend of molasses and corn syrup known as golden syrup. We saw these doughnuts sold with lovely bread at an outdoor market in Kenmore, Aviemore.

Fortunately we walked a lot on our journey. We saw lochs (lakes), bens (mountains), corries (steep-walled mountain basins), glens (narrow valleys), and coos (Highland cows).  He thinks the grass is great.

We also made a quick stop at a haberdashery when the zipper on my bag decided to split and I needed a large safety pin. We were confused since in North America, that’s a men’s clothing shop. In the UK, it’s a fabric and sewing notions store. Who knew?

One word that retains the same meaning on both sides of the Atlantic is welcome. We were definitely made to feel welcome everywhere we went.

How about you? Have you visited another English-speaking country and discovered new words?