Quizzes & Puzzles3 mins ago
But an Ben
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by CatzHarrigan. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I suppose the two-way aspect of the name 'but and ben' might have given rise to its taking on the meaning of a sandwich in some part of Scotland, but I've certainly never heard it being so used.
Catz, I think you maybe confused the phrase "but and ben" with "butty/buttie" which usually refers to a sandwich made with a roll rather than ordinary bread. As Quizmonster and others rightly say a"but and ben" is a very small, usually very basic type cottage/croft with two rooms. The main door often goes straight into the "but" part and the "ben" is through the room, so to speak. Some "but and bens" have a wee lobby (hallway) area but I think that is less common.
I was brought up with the words "but and ben" (individually and as a phrase) as my grandpa (a ploughman) spoke braid (as opposed to Lallans) Scots the whole time. I believe that "but" and "ben" were originally prepositions for "in" (ben) and "out" (but). The but was the outer room where cooking, living went on and the ben was the bedroom. People often had to walk through the but to get to the ben. More often nowadays "ben" is used as the preposition "through" and so the meaning has changed over the years. Many people do say "come ben the hoose" and then show you into their living room/lounge.
My grandpa often used to say "Yer grandmither is ben the hoose" (meaning that she was in the bedroom�) or "Yer grandmither is but the hoose" (meaning she was in the living room / scullery area). His bothy pals (they all used to live in a bothy when they were ploughing) all had the same expressions and a wonderful sense of humour. Sadly, my grandpa and most of his pals are no longer with us.