SCOTCH WIT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1189, 12 September 1874, Page 3

SCOTCH WIT.

That form of jesting in Scotland which, according to Sydney Smith, is termed "wut" by the Scotch, is sometimes of such an alarming nature that it leads to litigation, An interesting case, arising out of a too brilliant joke uttered by a fish-dealer, came up in the Sheriff Court, Aberdeen, on Friday last, when William Jamieson, a carter, sued William Walker, a fish-dealer, for £20, being the price of a mare which the pursuer alleged the defender had bought from him. It appeared that the pursuer had accepted an offer of " twenty notes " for the animal from the defender, but when the pursuer went with the defender to his office to get as he supposed his £20, he was disagreeably surprised by the information that it was twenty " knots " on a piece of twine that the defender meant, not twenty banknotes. The offer was, in fact, aB the defender explained, simply a joke onhispart, the jest consisting in the play on the word " notes," which, as everyone knows, is in Scotland pronounced " knots." The pursuer, however, instead of being convulsed with laughter at the joke, took the matter seriously to heart, and with a painful earnestness applied to the Court to compel the defender to pay him £20. Several witnesses were examined, among others the funny fish dealer himself, who said he never intended to buy the mare. He had, he added, no use for it, and if left on his hands, would not know how to "put on its clothes." The Sheriff gave decree in favour of the defender, with expenses ; but William Walker really ought to be more careful in fviture, and give due notice when he intends to relax into sportiveness. " Laughter should dimple the cheek, not furrow the brow," and a jest that bears too hard on the company to whom it is addressed is like the crack of a string : it makes a stop in the music. — Pall Mall Gazette.