For Episode 5 of the Scot Goes Popcast, I was joined by the poet Len Pennie – who you might know better as Miss PunnyPennie, or by her Twitter handle Lenniesaurus. She’s a social media sensation who has attracted admiration from the likes of Hollywood actor Michael Sheen, and some would say that her Scots Word of the Day videos have done more for the Scots language in the last six months than elected governments have managed to do in the last hundred years. Topics we discussed include –
* How her passion for Scots started.
* Why Scots is definitely a fully legitimate language in its own right.
* Why she doesn’t think Scots should become a fully standardised language (ie. with ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ spelling) like Gaelic.
* How her videos have been used by teachers in schools during lessons.
* The possible reasons for the irrational hatred her videos attract in some quarters.
* Her response when people say “I’ve never heard anyone actually using these words”.
* Whether there’s any prospect of a TV or radio series based on Scots Word of the Day.
* Her verdict on ‘Alba-gate’, ie. the mispronunciation of the new political party’s Gaelic name.
* Her verdict on ‘Scots-Wikipedia-gate’, ie. the revelation last summer that the vast majority of the thousands of articles on the Scots Wikipedia had been written by a well-meaning American teenager who doesn’t actually speak Scots.
* Most importantly of all, I ask her the question on everyone’s lips: is Moira a real person?
And much, much more besides. If you have any problems with the embedded player below, the direct link to the podcast is HERE.
You can also catch up with past episodes of the podcast –
