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THE MEANING OF BESOM

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Useful Scots word: besom

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• Useful Scots words

Nov 24, 2011

Besoms of the bristly sort Picture: wayne's eye view

By Betty Kirkpatrick

Scots is not lacking in ways of indicating our disapproval or contempt for others. Many of the nouns that fall into this category are either unisex or used mainly of men. However, there are exceptions to this and one of these is besom. When applied to a person these days, a besom is almost invariably female.

As is the case with many Scots words, besom has had various alternative spellings through the years. Some of these, which include bisom, bissum, boosum, bizzom and bizzum, more closely reflect the pronunciation of the word, because besom is pronounced not as the modern spelling suggests, but as biz-zum with the stress on the first syllable.

Besom carries a range of meanings. It was originally sometimes used of a woman whose morals were rather questionable and sometimes of a woman who was a bit of a slattern when it came to standards of hygiene. Nowadays, besom can be applied to a woman or girl whose attitude and behaviour we find unacceptable, to one who has annoyed us greatly, or just to one whom we thoroughly dislike. However, there can be a lighter note to besom and it can also be applied humorously or fondly to a mischievous child.