A Winding Road..

Hey

So.. I was thinking about Eva McCulloch in the Flash TV Show.. I checked out who the actress was and.. nope not Scottish. Mirror Master is *thee only* Scottish DC character.. couldn't they have got Michelle Gomez? or even another Scottish actress??..

This set me down a winding road of thoughts.. y'know you get this 'gender politics thing' especially with Doctor Who.. people saying its misogynistic not to like Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor.. but Michelle Gomez did it as the Master and everyone loved her.. the real reason is.. wait for it.. Jodie Whittaker can't act. She has no skill. With Michelle Gomez.. it didn't matter if the master/missy was male or female.. because Michelle can act.

Scots are under represented on screen.. but that's due to the rest of English speaking world not being able to understand us, but if you turn round and say.. Scots is a different language.. oh no.. you get every Englishman and his dog tell you 'it's just an accent'. To 'correct' you in front of strangers on the internet.

The original Mirror Master's name (I just found out there was one before McCulloch) is Sam Scudder .. 'Scudder' is a Scots word.. it means to be embarrassed or naked.. even though Sam was American I wonder if John Broome and Carmine Infantino knew some Scots words.. but no matter, it was syncopatic as the next incarnation would be Scottish being Evan McCulloch.. or more properly 'Evan McCulloȝh' in Scots.

I really don't care if its a male or female mirror master.. I'm beyond that.. just whoever is best for the job.. but in making a mosaic of many cultures, races and creeds.. where do I fit in.. where's the corner of the mosaic for me?

DCUO did a not bad job.. impressive.. I was over zealous when I said it was perfect.. as he would have spoken Scots throughout.. but the fact the DCUO writers were familiar with *some* Scots was endearing to me.. I want to set the record straight.. it was watered down with too many English words.. and I should not have said otherwise.. but knowing the meaning behind 'rocket'.. that was and still is special to me.

But if someone on TV is speaking.. Russian say.. they will put up subtitles. But Scots are expected to speak English.. many languages have sister languages.. Portuguese and Spanish.. Norwegian and Swedish.. Scots and English.. When Peter Capaldi was Doctor Who.. he was expected to say 'Can't' instead of 'Cannæ'.. 'to' instead of 'tæ'.. no wonder so many English people think its an accent.. they have never heard Scots spoken! All they get is Scottish Standard English.. which IS an accent. I lived in upstate NY for a short time.. only 2 people out of the 50 or so I met could understand me speaking naturally.. and all the others could only understand me if I spoke .. English. They would stop me and tell me 'I don't know what your saying.. can you speak clearer?'.. at that point I would switch to English, then they understood me. It's offensive to call Scots anything but another language if you have to ask for it to be 'clearer'.. I understand Americans.. I *get* it.. you expect English.. so does the rest of the English speaking world.. but 'clear up my accent' is an insult.. asking 'switch to English' is respectful.

The actress who will play Eva McCulloȝh is Israeli.. I don't hold out any hope of her portrayal being Scottish.. but the producers may yet prove me wrong..

However all of this lead me on a winding road of thoughts.. I've said for a long time.. I don't mind speaking English on the internet.. it's the international language, it's polite. Bit jist makin' her American wid bi a grouse o' a different fæether.



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