Monday, April 13, 2009

Propaganda 1700s style?

Hatred of all things Ulster-Scots is nothing new...

Rev Charles Woodmason, a Church of England minister in South Carolina, wrote in his journal on 25 January 1767 that he was due to preach in an area ‘occupied by a set of the most lowest vilest crew breathing - Scotch Irish Presbyterians from the North of Ireland — they have built a Meeting House and have a Pastor, a Scots Man, among them.’. The following year, on 17 July 1768, he wrote that ‘Although [the Chief Justice of South Carolina] was a gentleman of Ireland, yet he abominated these Northern Scotch-Irish and they are certainly the worst vermin on earth.’

Woodmason is also said to have translated one of his sermons into the "Quohee Language". That's not some native American Indian dialect, but the language spoken by the Scotch-Irish! In the footnote on p 150 of his diary, it says 'Quohee or Cohee is of Scotch origin "Quo'he" and is also referred to as an Scotch-irish phrase'. It's a term that also crops up in this recent book too, in which the rural Scotch-Irish are mockingly called "the Cohees". The term is analyzed a bit more here, and a very thorough article on Wikipedia too.

To coin a phrase from a well-know football chant "no-one likes us, we don't care!"

Woodmason's diary is available here

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