Part 189

Wrang count is nae payment.

Wrang has nae warrant.

Wyte your teeth if your tail be sma'.

Ye breed o' auld maids, ye look high.

Ye breed o' gude maut, ye're lang o' comin'.

Ye breed o' Lady Mary, when you're gude ye're ower gude.

"A drunken man begg'd Lady Mary to help him on his horse, and having made many attempts to no purpose, he always reiterated the same petition; at length he jumped quite over. 'O, Lady Mary,' said he, 'when thou art good, thou art ower good.'"--Kelly.

Ye breed o' our laird; ye'll no do right, and ye'll tak nae wrang.

Ye breed o' Saughton swine, ye're neb's never oot o' an ill turn.

Ye breed o' the baxters, ye loe your neighbour's browst better than your ain batch.

Ye breed o' the chapman, ye're aye to handsel.

"Spoken to those who ask us hansel (that is, the first bit in the morning, the first money for their parcels of wares, or the like). Taken from pedlars who, coming into a house, will say, 'Give us hansel.'"--Kelly.

Ye breed o' the chapman, ye're never oot o' your gate.

Spoken to those who do business wherever they go.

Ye breed o' the craw's tail, ye grow backwards.

Ye breed o' the gowk, ye hae ne'er a rhyme but ane.

Or you are always talking on one subject.

Ye breed o' the gudeman's mither, ye're aye in the gate.

Ye breed o' the herd's wife, ye busk at e'en.

Ye breed o' the miller's dochter, that speir'd what tree groats grew on.

"Spoken when saucy fellows, bred of mean parentage, pretend ignorance of what they were bred with."--Kelly.

Ye breed o' the tod's bairns, if ane be gude, they're a' gude.

Ye breed o' the tod, ye grow grey before ye grow gude.

Ye breed o' the witches, ye can do nae gude to yoursel.

Ye breed o' water-kail and cock-lairds, ye need muckle service.

Used by servants whose employers are troublesome.

Ye ca' hardest at the nail that drives fastest.

Meaning that a person pretends to work much harder than is really required.