Origin of the term - "Soothmoother"

[frunco1]

Sorry to get into this discussion a bit late. I'll just start by mentioning that while I was in Shetland, I spoke with an awful lot of incomers and even more natives. A considerable majority of the immigrants seem to consider 'soothmoother' offensive, whereas most natives seem to be of the opinion that it's harmless and, moreover, anti-outsider (more specifically, anti-Scottish) sentiment hardly exists. I won't argue which side is correct, but in a situation like this, isn't it just better to ere on the side of sensitivity? If the soothmoothers themselves don't like the term, it shouldn't be skin off anyone's back to avoid saying it.

 

My real reason for this post though is to quote from Michael Lange's excellent anthropological monograph on Orkney, Norwegian Scots (p. 101):

 

The mildly derogatory term “sooth moother†(a local pronunciation of “south moutherâ€) is used to describe an incomer, referring to someone who moves in to Orkney and speaks too much. Explicit in the term is not only the idea that someone speaks too much (is a “mootherâ€), and is therefore a self-promoter, but also that that someone is from Scotland or England (which lie to the “soothâ€). The strong connection between outsiders from south and people who are socially poorly adjusted to life in Orkney is made clear in this term, emphasizing that speaking out and self-promoting are seen as invasive, non-Orcadian traits.

 

Take note of the geography of Orkney: It doesn't matter whether you're sailing into Stromness or Kirkwall from Scotland, you won't be coming in through the sooth mooth of a harbour. Lange's etymology still seems a bit unlikely to me. For all I know, sooth moother was imported from Shetland.

 

I'd be interested in hearing whether anyone here, like Lange, associates the Shetland term specifically with the idea of an incomer who is overbearing and interferes too much in local community life. Certainly, Lange's descriptions of Orcadian resentment against incomers who take charge of committees and try to make Orkney more like the mainland has its parallels in Shetland attitudes. In rural Shetland, I was struck by the double-bind for immigrants of being criticised either for trying to live lives of solitude outside the community or for trying to become too much a part of the community. (I'm reminded of Malachy's perceptive Shetland Life editorial a while back on incomers being made fun of for trying to speak in dialect.)

[Njugle]

I won't argue which side is correct, but in a situation like this, isn't it just better to ere on the side of sensitivity? If the soothmoothers themselves don't like the term, it shouldn't be skin off anyone's back to avoid saying it.

And then it becomes a term used only amongst Shetlanders and as such takes more of a negative connotation than if widely used.

 

It's usage would probably be more light-some if more people took the 'banter' element of its usage in retorts such as "I'm not a sooth-moother, I'm a Yorkshireman" or similar, but those who resent the term tend to answer along the lines of "How dare you call me a soothmoother, that's offensive" where it need not be.

 

Any descriptive word can be both offensive and non-offensive depending on context and tone, of course.

 

[Guest Anonymous]

in the 70s a group of local lads n our cousin from lieth got into a fight in brae, in the morning there were black eyes n broken teeth and apon asking, "quat happinned you eens?" my mother got a reply from our cousin "aye, it was they bloody sooth moothers", Sooth moothers like aa idder folk come in aa kinds and the good folks get the term used in a friendly context , and the others get it delivered with a mooth foo , am i far wrong??

[bresail]

Oh no I'm now going to have to come out of the closet.

Not only am I, "a soothmoother," but a Yorkshireman too.

In fact I'm a tyke.

That's certainly blown my cover hasn't it?

I've lived in many countries and each one had a pet name for me as a foreigner. I've never taken offence at any of these names. In Spain I was a Girri, in Iceland an utllendiger and so on.

I've usually thought of it as an icebreaker and my stock answer has been that I wasn't an Englishman but a Yorkshireman.

Do I know you Njugle?

I use soothmoother a lot when joking about fellow foreigners.

I don't like the word foreigner though.

Regards.

[Njugle]

Blimey! What are the chances.

 

Nope, don't know you, but good on ya.