Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 January 5

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January 5

Black Toon

In Chapter 7 of Robert Louis Stevenson's Weir of Hermiston it says:

In the meantime, Kirstie had escaped into the kitchen, and before her vassal gave vent to her feelings.

"Here, ettercap! Ye'll have to wait on yon Innes! I canna haud myself in.

'Puir Erchie!' I'd 'puir Erchie' him, if I had my way!

And Hermiston with the deil's ain temper!

God, let him take Hermiston's scones out of his mouth first.

There's no a hair on ayther o' the Weirs that hasna mair spunk and dirdum to it than what he has in his hale dwaibly body!

Settin' up his snash to me!

Let him gang to the black toon where he's mebbe wantit -- birling in a curricle -- wi' pimatum on his heid -- making a mess o' himsel' wi' nesty hizzies -- a fair disgrace!"

It was impossible to hear without admiration Kirstie's graduated disgust, as she brought forth, one after another, these somewhat baseless charges.

What does "Black Toon" mean? --Guy Macon (talk) 20:39, 5 January 2020 (UTC)

Guessing "black town". Jmar67 (talk) 20:51, 5 January 2020 (UTC)

Usually spelt toun: "Sc. forms and usages of Eng. town". Alansplodge (talk) 21:47, 5 January 2020 (UTC)

And I'll suggest that a "black" town is probably an industrial one, where a man mebbe wantit for factory work. --142.112.159.101 (talk) 07:43, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

Possibly Edinburgh, which was known as Auld Reekie because of its smokiness, though this was more from domestic fires than industry. The Archie (Erchie) Weir of the title was originally from Edinburgh. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 08:23, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

There is (or used to be) a Blackstone in Renfrewshire, which was apparently once "Black's Toun", which may have just been an estate (toun/ton/tun/toon in a place name can mean either "town" as in walled settlement or simply "manor" or "estate"). Perhaps that was where he was referring to. See [1] and [2]. See also here for a map and some background on the area; it once housed the Blackstone Pits, a mining and oil extraction interest once owned by one William Black, who's name may or may not be connected to it. --Jayron32 14:41, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

I also found "There is an old town of Stornoway, as well as a new one; it is a black town, and it is black enough". From The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, Containing Descriptions of their Scenery and Antiquities by John Macculloch (1824) p. 288. So perhaps it just means any run-down urban area. Alansplodge (talk) 17:42, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

Some of these guess are rather wide of the mark, given the context. To translate, Kirstie talks about Archie "carousing in a carriage, with pomatum in his hair"; we're talking city slicker, not factory worker here. Henry^Flower 21:37, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

She could still be referring to the city itself as "black" due to the factory smoke, but be talking about Archie going there and acting like a fancy "city slicker". --Khajidha (talk) 21:53, 8 January 2020 (UTC)