Say What, Young MacGuffin?
August 5, 2012 10:11 PM Subscribe
In the movie Brave, the character Young MacGuffin spoke the Doric dialect. Does anybody know what he was actually saying?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/brave-pixar-kevin-mckidd-macguffin-scotland-340653
actor Kevin McKidd says, "McKidd: They asked, what kind of accent should they do? They suggested nonsense Scottish words, but I said I could do that, but [I’d rather do] a dialogue from my hometown Doric, my grandfather used to speak, a lot of people still speak it, and it’s hard to understand it. They were blown away – are you making that up or making a real dialect? Pixar is so thorough so they like the idea of a real dialect."
posted by mwhybark at 10:25 PM on August 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
actor Kevin McKidd says, "McKidd: They asked, what kind of accent should they do? They suggested nonsense Scottish words, but I said I could do that, but [I’d rather do] a dialogue from my hometown Doric, my grandfather used to speak, a lot of people still speak it, and it’s hard to understand it. They were blown away – are you making that up or making a real dialect? Pixar is so thorough so they like the idea of a real dialect."
posted by mwhybark at 10:25 PM on August 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
(posting stylelessly because my ipad keeps reloading the tab and nuking the gracefully edited answer, apologies)
posted by mwhybark at 10:26 PM on August 5, 2012
posted by mwhybark at 10:26 PM on August 5, 2012
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0272689/quotes
Lord Macintosh: At least we have hair!
Lord MacGuffin: And all of our teeth!
Young MacGuffin: If he was a wee bit closer, I could lob a caber at him, ye ken.
Lord Macintosh: And we don't hide under bridges, you grumpy old troll!
Lord Dingwall: You want a laugh, eh?
Lord Dingwall: [turns to son]
Lord Dingwall: Wee Dingwall!
Young Dingwall: [Attacks Lord Macintosh]
----
All of this strongly implies that, yes, Kevin McKidd understands exactly what the character is saying and in addition the dialog has been transcribed. So, the straight answer to your question, "Does anybody know what he was actually saying?" is clearly yes.
posted by mwhybark at 10:30 PM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Lord Macintosh: At least we have hair!
Lord MacGuffin: And all of our teeth!
Young MacGuffin: If he was a wee bit closer, I could lob a caber at him, ye ken.
Lord Macintosh: And we don't hide under bridges, you grumpy old troll!
Lord Dingwall: You want a laugh, eh?
Lord Dingwall: [turns to son]
Lord Dingwall: Wee Dingwall!
Young Dingwall: [Attacks Lord Macintosh]
----
All of this strongly implies that, yes, Kevin McKidd understands exactly what the character is saying and in addition the dialog has been transcribed. So, the straight answer to your question, "Does anybody know what he was actually saying?" is clearly yes.
posted by mwhybark at 10:30 PM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Visitors to Scotland are often surprised to learn that not all Scottish regional accents and dialects are easily comprehensible even amongst Scots. Doric is widely regarded as the hardest one to make out - so it is an apt choice on the part of Pixar. Here is a brief guide.
posted by rongorongo at 1:02 AM on August 6, 2012
posted by rongorongo at 1:02 AM on August 6, 2012
That his last name is MacGuffin suggests that it won't be important what he says. A MacGuffin's content is never as important as its existence alone.
posted by Sunburnt at 1:06 AM on August 6, 2012 [6 favorites]
posted by Sunburnt at 1:06 AM on August 6, 2012 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: Maybe I should rephrase. What exactly is Young MacGuffin saying? (Thanks for the IMDB link, mwhybark, holding my breath for the rest!)
posted by micketymoc at 1:37 AM on August 6, 2012
posted by micketymoc at 1:37 AM on August 6, 2012
Brave isn't on general release in Scotland until next week, so most Doric speakers won't have seen it yet. Sounds like the character's comprehensible enough for those who have, though, so this will probably be an easier question to answer then.
posted by Catseye at 2:16 AM on August 6, 2012
posted by Catseye at 2:16 AM on August 6, 2012
I'm a native Doric speaker, and I speak the exact same variant as Kevin McKidd (we're from the same town), but I haven't seen Brave yet as it's not out here.
If you could post some lines he says (or link me to a video where he speaks), I can provide a translation.
In the line provided by mwhybark above ("If he was a wee bit closer, I could lob a caber at him, ye ken."); here's what he said, although I'm not sure you need that translated as it's mostly English:
"If he was a little bit closer, I could throw a log/tree trunk at him, you know."
posted by Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo at 9:21 AM on August 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
If you could post some lines he says (or link me to a video where he speaks), I can provide a translation.
In the line provided by mwhybark above ("If he was a wee bit closer, I could lob a caber at him, ye ken."); here's what he said, although I'm not sure you need that translated as it's mostly English:
"If he was a little bit closer, I could throw a log/tree trunk at him, you know."
posted by Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo at 9:21 AM on August 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
I just saw this recently and love that some proper north east doric is included.
After the speech that Merrida gives the gathering this is the line which MacGuffin says
"It's jist nae fair makin us ficht for the hand o the quine that disnae want any bit o it. Ken?"
Which basically translates as " It's just not fair making us fight for the hand of a girl who doesn't want anything to do with it. You know?"
Quine is one of my favourite Doric words, after Foggy Bummer which is Doric for bumblebee!
posted by gnuhavenpier at 11:20 AM on November 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
After the speech that Merrida gives the gathering this is the line which MacGuffin says
"It's jist nae fair makin us ficht for the hand o the quine that disnae want any bit o it. Ken?"
Which basically translates as " It's just not fair making us fight for the hand of a girl who doesn't want anything to do with it. You know?"
Quine is one of my favourite Doric words, after Foggy Bummer which is Doric for bumblebee!
posted by gnuhavenpier at 11:20 AM on November 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fshgrl at 10:17 PM on August 5, 2012