Address to a Haggis

[rescuer]

Can anyone, a Scott or not, tell me what 'painch' and 'thairm' in Robert Burn's poem "Address to a Haggis" mean in English?

[rescuer]

Woops! It should, of course, be Scot (not Scott)
Apologies to all in Scotland.

[dundurn]

painch = paunch = stomach/ tripe
thairm = guts/ intestines = sausages

[rescuer]

Thanks Dundurn for a very quick explanation. These must be some of the ingredients of the haggis.

[dundurn]

The recipe varies from butcher to butcher but broadly is sheep offal, onions, oatmeal and spices stuffed into a (washed) sheep's stomach and steamed until cooked. Burns is actually comparing the haggis favourably to all other forms of sausage.

[rescuer]

Once again, thanks dundurn for a good explanation. I have never fancied haggis but my wife and son will sometimes eat it.
I assume that your a Scot?

[dundurn]

Sorry not to reply before now - I sit in front of a computer all week and sometimes like to get away from it at weekends - not that my wife would believe me!

Yes, I'm a Scot, born, bred but no longer by domicile. My folks came originally from Inverness-shire and were shepherds so you might say they were in the haggis production trade. My great-grandfather went over to Mayo with the sheep but my grandmother came back again without them. Since then our family have been strictly on the consumption side.

The other side of my family were weavers in Ayrshire. I don't think that has anything to do with my love of Burns, but I do find him a really funny (Tam O'Shanter), political (Holy Willie's Prayer), observant (To a Louse) writer.

Two suggestions if you want to try this "recipe too far from Bonnie Scotland" - don't get tinned haggis, get a good "fresh" variety, and try updating the mashed potato and swede/ turnip that usually accompanies it - a little bit of cream and chives in the potato works wonders, and a bit of butternut squash or sweet potato "lifts" the swede

[heathfield]

Dundurn, if you think 'Tam O'Shanter' is funny, you should read Kate O'Shanter's Tale by Matthew Fitt!