Useful Scots word: jag

It’s that time of year again when the relatively stricken in years or those with potential respiratory problems are advised to get a vaccination against the dreaded flu. Most of us do not use the word vaccination or even injection. We opt for something more informal, perhaps to make the experience sound less medical and so less scary

In English this informal equivalent is the word jab, the same word that is used to describe a short sharp punching movement of the kind used in boxing. As is often the case, the Scots word for vaccination or injection is nearer the mark, so to speak.

The word is jag and it somehow describes the sharp and sometimes painful experience of vaccination more aptly. A jab may sound painful but it does not capture the piercing effect of the needle sinking into flesh.

Jag in Scots has been around a lot longer than the process of vaccination. It came into being in the very early 16th century meaning to pierce, later coming to mean also to feel pain resulting from being pierced with something sharp. In origin, it is probably descriptive of the action involved in piercing.

The noun equivalent was originally used to refer to a thorn or prickle, as of our emblematic thistle, or anything else which pierces or stings. It is also used to describe the action of piercing or stabbing with a sharp instrument like the needle on a hypodermic syringe.

Incidentally, as many of you will know, jag’s connection with thistles has led to football teams containing the word Thistle being nicknamed the Jags. Best-known of these is Partick Thistle.

From jag comes the adjective jaggy or jaggie, meaning prickly, piercing or sharp-pointed. It is used of obviously prickly things such as thistles and barbed wire is known as jaggy wire. However, nettles are also frequently referred to as jaggy because of the painful stings that they impart to bare limbs.

Jag is one of those Scots words that do not obviously reveal their origins. It does not sound Scots and many people may use it without realising that it is Scots. In fact, the word jag does exist in English but with different meanings. It can refer to a sharp projection like a piece of rock and from this comes jagged, meaning with rough, pointed, often sharp edges.

English jag can also refer to a short period of time spent over-indulging in a particular activity such as shopping or weeping. This sense often relates to a period of time spent downing excessive quantities of alcohol, as when binge-drinking.

In this alcoholic respect, English jag has a connection with Scots jag which, apart from the meanings already given, can mean a shot of alcohol. Some people with a needle phobia may feel the need of such a jag before going for their flu jag. If so, it might be wise to suck a strong mint sweet before breathing over the doctor or nurse wielding the needle.