August 28.

It is sad to see boasting about a real or, even worse, pretended,

ignorance. All languages, and Scots is no exception, have local

variations. The core of Scots, and especially the literary vocabulary,

is well understood over the whole country (August 24).

If Ian Donnelly is really as ignorant as he claims to be, then much of

our best literature is a closed book to him. This means not only

Henryson and Dunbar, but Fergusson, Burns, Scott, Galt, Hogg, Garioch,

and MacDonald. Ignorance of the literature of the country is evidence of

a grossly inadequate education.

If Ian Donnelly is really in this sad state I suggest that he buys a

good anthology of Scottish poetry and the Concise Scots Dictionary and

gets down to some very necessary and enjoyable reading.

Paul H. Scott,

33 Drumsheugh Gardens,

Edinburgh.