f4f3 | Five words, not questions

From

chickenfeet2003 :

orthodoxy

Always had a problem with it. Partially being Catholic in a Protestant country, left wing in a conservative faculty, left handed in a right handed world, fascinated by women instead of shunning them.

I check myself from time to time for signs of creeping orthodoxy - the Billy Bragg song "From Red To Blue" helps. I've never seen a sacred cow I don't want to tilt at (which can become a bit boring for the spectators).

autonomy

Hmm, yes, important. And getting more important as I get older. I was in a marriage which had a lot going for it, and all I had to surrender was my autonomy. Note the tense. I also walked out of my first job when my boss said "I don't care what you think, just do as you're told". The pattern has recurred.

calvinism

Not my cup of tea. I wrote about it, briefly, in what was probably my most successful story, "John Knox Overlooking The Necropolis", where I said that it had never really taken hold in Glasgow, the way it did in much of Scotland. Too many Irish, too much of Burns. I do see it as one of Scotland's curses, though, and have never softened to its flinty beauty.

scotch

"Is only to be used to describe whisky or terriers", one of my old teachers used to say. "What about Scotch eggs?" we'd shout. "Scotch pies?" "The Scotch Defence?" and so on and so on. I don't think it's an insult, but it's not a term I tend to use for Scots. Or for whisky, come to that. Very few people called it Scotch when I was growing up. If I do think about it now, it's to describe a blend, not a malt. All scotches are blends, to me, and I'm not a great fan of blends, even the very expensive ones...

scallops

I was an incredibly conservative eater growing up - if it wasn't processed, I didn't want to know. Scallops have been a late discovery. Mostly, I suppose, because I can get very, very good ones locally. The first time I had scallops in a restaurant I was pretty disapointed - they seemed more like a garnish than a meal. It was years later before I started buying my own, and years later before I discovered hand dived scallops in Kintyre. The very best scallops are served from a green shed next to the Cal-Mac terminal in Oban.