Gregor Steele – When Scotty said “Scunner”

Gregor Steele's 'When Scotty said "Scunner"' was commissioned by Dictionaries of the Scots Language in celebration of Scots and its extensive history. Read the poem here 👉 https://dsl.ac.uk/aitken100/gregor-steele/

Gregor Steele was born in Motherwell and grew up in Carluke. He is a highly acclaimed Scottish poet and prominent advocate for the celebration and better understanding of Scots language in Scotland’s schools. As a physicist and former teacher, Gregor also supports STEM education across Scotland.

Gregor’s poems can be found in Itchy-Coo’s collections, King o the Midden and Blethertoun Braes, and in the Scottish Poetry Library’s children’s anthology The Thing That Mattered Most.

His poems, including the much-loved ‘Mrs Nae Offence’ and ‘The pizzenous pet shop’, are hugely popular in classrooms across Scotland for their everyday language and immense humour.

As a lasting tribute to DOST and all those involved in its making, we have commissioned five poems in celebration of Scots and its extensive history. The poems, written in a variety of local vernaculars, were published on St Andrew’s Day 2021.