Hello,

This week’s word, bampot, is thanks to the Coliins “Scots Dictionary” which I’m enjoying reading at the moment. I wouldn’t say that I speak Scots but a surprising amount of the words and expressions are familiar and comprehensible to me thanks to my mother’s Ulster Scots heritage, my in-laws, and the general overlap with Hiberno-English and Irish Gaelic.

It has been fun to trace the roots of why I understand Scots words and to find new obscure words I hope to include in my January month of Mystery Words. I did that earlier this year (2025) – one strange word and its definition every day – and while it took some work it was fun to share with other wordy folk online. I’ve been asked why I didn’t continue it after January 31st and honestly, it was too much work and was interfering with my writing, but I hope to do another month in January 2026 (follow Wordfoolery on bluesky, twitter, and facebook if you’d like to see them).

Bampot means a foolish, stupid, or crazy person and is a colloquial term in Scots. It’s a pretty good insult actually, handy if the person you’re insulting doesn’t know the meaning as it makes them look even more foolish if they have to query it. Of course here on Wordfoolery we love fools so we’d take it as a compliment.

The Scots Dictionary notes that the source of bampot is barm, the froth which forms on the top of a fermenting liquid and which is the source of barmy (meaning crazy) in British English. I’ve already taken a look at barmy and it’s a timely reminder as it links to barmbrack – a cake which is served at Halloween, later this month.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email, which might hide in your spam folder. There’s an issue out this Friday (17 October 2025), so sign up now to avoid missing out on more wordy fun.