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Scotland: Difference between revisions
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Scotland is the country on the north of the British Isles. Historically an independent state, it was formally merged with England into the United Kingdom by a treaty in 1707.
Compare [[Canada, Eh?]] (more "English" Canadians claim Scottish ancestry than any other. Make of that what you will.)
== The Kilt ==
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* '''Irn Bru''': Pronounced "Iron Brew". Scotland's ''other'' national drink. Radioactive orange in color; alleged to have energy-giving properties, and to be made from girders. Believed to be a good cure for hangovers, which may explain its popularity.
** Scotland's ''other'' other national drink is '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Kola Red Kola]'''<ref> There are two varieties, Curries's or Barr's. We strongly advise you not get involved in a debate over which is better</ref> which is pretty much the same as Irn Bru only instead of radioactive orange it is radioactive red. Pretty much anything you hear about Bru can be applied to Red Kola, with all the same caveats. Red Kola is most popular in Ayrshire and the surrounding, for the obvious reason that that is where Curries used to make the stuff before being bought out. Also available in a boiled sweet form which is called Red Kola Kubes.
*** For anyone confused and wondering, Scotland's ''first'' national drink is of course '''Whisky''' of which there are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distilleries_in_Scotland huge amounts of types, brands, varieties, labels, and distilleries]<ref>this is due to something of a renaissance in micro-brewing in the last decade or so. Some of these small operations will only brew one label on a very limited run before closing again, or change varieties and brewing methods with each casking</ref>. Tasting them all and debating which is best is the work of a lifetime, so is debating exactly how many there are and which type is which for that matter. One which definitely isn't, is [[Spell My Name With an "S"|whiskey with an "e"]], which is Irish.<ref>And American, while "whisky" (no "e") is also Canadian. The distinction makes sense: the American frontier distillers who developed American whiskey were historically Ulster Scots--like most distillers in 19th-century Ireland--while Canadian ones were Scots from Scotland. While the American and Canadian styles of whisk(e)y were adapted for new grains in the New World--maize and rye (particularly rye in Canada)--the similarities between Irish and American whiskey and Scottish and Canadian whisky, respectively, remain clear to the attentive drinker. Not to say that any one of these is better than Scotch...</ref> Getting that wrong can also be a debate that will last a lifetime, ([[Violent Glaswegian|but also less than half an hour]]) if uttered in the wrong place.
* '''Deep-fried Mars Bars''': Are actually real. They originated as a novelty item somewhere in some corner of darkest Scotland - although its true origins are shrouded in the mists of time<ref>and alcohol</ref> - and have since spread to become a novelty item everywhere else: a kind of national joke and conspiracy, but if a tourist asks for one, he's getting one. (Note that [[Separated By a Common Language|what is marketed as a Mars bar]] in the UK more closely resembles the American Milky Way bar than the American Mars bar.) Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee all claim to have invented it.
* '''Scotch Pies''': a Scottish institution even more than the 'White Pudding Supper'. If they went away, what would the football fans eat instead? It doesn't bear thinking about.
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Finally, Scotland also has differing traditions for the holiday season. Christmas is traditionally less important (people working on Christmas Day is still quite common, and almost everyone is back at work by the 27th), with an increased emphasis on New Year's Eve (known as Hogmanay). Hogmanay is, more or less, a gigantic booze-up. Ceilidh music and the singing of Auld Lang Syne are also very common. Street parties are held - most famously in Edinburgh - and [[The BBC|BBC Scotland]] has an evening of programmes dedicated to it. Both New Year's Day and January 2nd are [[Bank Holidays]] in Scotland, basically to deal with the almighty hangovers from Hogmanay. Hogmany programming traditionally revolved around the late, great Rikki Fulton's ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDaNIdmV-Y Last Call]'' monologue prior to the bells. Over time this has been replaced with ''Chewin' the Fat'' and ''[[Still Game]]'' specials and football-themed sketch show ''Only an Excuse''. The [[BBC]] coverage is often mocked as consistently being downright awful for [[The Eighties|some unfathomable reason]].
See also [[Scotireland]], [[Violent Glaswegian]], [[
{{examples
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Tintin - ''[[Tintin (Comic Book)|The Black Island]]''
* Destro, weapons supplier of the evil Cobra organisation in [[G.I. Joe]], is the scottish James Mc Cullen XXIV, and some battles have even happened in his family castle.
* Wolfsbane from ''[[X Men]]''. Also Moira McTaggert and her son, [[Reality Warping|reality warper]] Proteus, a classic villain. Muir Island, where McTaggert lives, is a notable location and the setting for many important stories.
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