Part 67

He gaes nae whitings without banes.

Or, if he confers an obligation, it is sure to have some condition attached to it.

He girns like a sheep's head in a pair o' tangs.

"Little Andrew, the wratch, has been makin' a totum wi' his faither's ae razor; an' the pair man's trying to shave himsel yonder, an' girnan like a sheep's head on the tangs."--Hugh Miller.

He got his mother's malison the day he was married.

Spoken of a man who has a bad wife.

He had gude skill o' horse flesh wha bought a goose to ride on.

He harps aye on ae string.

He has a bee in his bonnet-lug.

Applied when a person is very much occupied with a project of his own.

He has a cauld coal to blaw at.

"A' things o' religion hae settled into a method that gies the patronless preacher but little chance o' a kirk. Wi' your oye's ordinar looks, I fear, though he were to grow as learned as Matthew Henry himsel, he would hae but a cauld coal to blaw at."--Sir Andrew Wylie.

He has a crap for a' corn.

He has a gude judgment that doesna lippen to his ain.

He has a hearty hand for a hungry meltith.

He bestows charity liberally.

He has a hole beneath his nose that winna let his back be rough.

Meaning that his extravagance in the matter of food is such that it prevents his back being "rough" or well clothed.

He has a lang clue to wind.

"I might hae been in a state and condition to look at Miss Girzy; but, ye ken, I hae a lang clue to wind before I maun think o' playing the ba' wi' Fortune, in ettling so far aboun my reach."--The Entail.

He has an ill look among lambs.

He has a saw for a' sairs.

That is, a salve or "balm for every wound."

He has a slid grip that has an eel by the tail.

"Spoken to those who have to do with cunning fellows whom you can hardly bind sure enough."--Kelly.

He has been rowed in his mother's sark tail.

Synonymous with being "tied to his mother's apron-string," i.e., kept too strictly under parental authority.

He has brought his pack to a braw market.