lololol mine is 'Conquer or Die'. I think at the beginning the clan was pretty much half-Norse.

Two words for you rabbit: Bunny MacDougal

Gin and saltines time!

Hahahahaha

What MsMary and Elizabeth P said. And I'm LOLing at Suz.

As far as I know, this is my dad's family's tartan. Burgundy, yay! But "I yield to no-one my trust" -- sounds like they were a suspicious lot.

Oh my gosh you are all cracking me up!

I've always loved the Chatten confederation motto: Touch Not the Cat, but a Glove! But the two I have claim to are: Fidelity and Fortitude (by marriage) and By Patience I Break What is Hard (by birth, and I like it the better of the two!)

ETA: Ah ha ha! Rachy, I clearly lucked out, since I married fidelity and fortitude. Poor him, though, 'cause he married by patience I break what is hard!

Peanut Gallery: I don't know, Janet. Maybe. But you're certainly welcome at Pretend MacFarlane Festival and Games Day, if you want.

I don't think I've ever realised how, well, weird all these clan mottos are. These from a people with poetry in their veins.

Or I'll put it another way, man the practical side really won out here.

K. - Clearly you lucked out. Lol. Twice! <-- ETA: K, that's hysterical now that you point it out...lolol!

Okay, Murray of Atholl reporting for duty. Regular (old and new versions) and "dress" option.

The motto: "Furth, Fortune, and Fill the Fetters", meaning, roughly, "go forth against your enemies, have good fortune, and return with captives".

Aren't you all lucky I consider you friends?

Then again, perhaps you would enjoy a visit at the family castle.

ETA, Rachy, I am friends with a real MacFarlane. I promise not to "out" you.

This is where Hollywood is useful - "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" gave me the US pronunciation & just to play devil's advocate, there is some evidence to suggest that clan tartans were a 19thC invention

By the by, I was reading something somewhere recently where checks were described as composed of two colored threads where as plaids are of at least three (sometimes more.) I have no idea if that is correct or not.

The blackwatch tartan (you know the one, navy and dark green) is the only one that can rightly be worn by "anyone." That is, no clan has claim to it. It is the pattern of the kilt in my daughter's school uniform.

You can register a new tartan at the Scottish Register of Tartans.
Perfect holiday gift !

• The geometry of your design must be different, ie. the blocks of solid colour must be of different sizes and arranged in a new pattern.
• Your tartan will use different colours in different proportions and in a new order.
• If based on an existing tartan, an applicant must use his or her own skill to develop the earlier work and not simply copy it.

Not to make fun of clan mottoes, but:
http://www.mottogenerator.com/
Mine is Gaudium et lux (joy and light).

Suz, aka Dr. Suezz

And a total LOL on the taking of captives.

This thread has me laughing so hard! Hmm, my clan motto would is, "Dread God." You know what, I'm gonna join the MacFarlane clan with Rachylou.

My husband's clan motto means something like "Never admit you are wrong" (in poetic wording of course. But apt, based on all the members I have met.) "Our" tartan is the Gordon, which is like the Black Watch but with a thin yellow stripe added. The really funny thing is, when I worked in South African townships (which also understand "clan"), that tartan was super popular because of the political significance of black, green and gold...

No personal Scottish ancestry here. But based on having 3 daughters who were Highland dancers: The pattern of the fabric is called tartan. Some tartans actually can have only two colours, but the width of the stripes varies, so you would never mistake it for gingham (which is symmetrical). A plaidie (pronounced by us Canadians as "pladdy" but who knows how they say it in Scotland) is a swath of tartan fabric worn pinned over one shoulder and draped down the back (with a fold in it suitable for carrying your lunch when you go to the fields). It is part of the aboyne (SP?) which is the formal costume worn to do the "girlie" dances. (For the "guy's" dances they wear the kilt, although only chromosomal boys are allowed to wear the sporran--as my daughter told me when I admired Rabbit's outfit to her and now I see that purse everywhere...)

And for those who are getting into Outlander: the piece of tartan fabric, worn historically by the men wrapped as a kilt or used as a blanket, cloak, or whatever is desired: that is called a plaid, and that I think is pronounced "played". (The ancestor of the plaidie as well as of the kilt.)

And as for the Black Watch: when I wore it, as a plaidie with a long dress to a formal Robbie Burns Dinner, I was told off that now "anyone" is allowed to wear that tartan, you have to be a member of the military regiment to be allowed to wear the cockade on your bonnet (sprig of tartan with a feather on your cap). Since I have never been tempted to, that won't be a problem.

Sorry for all the rambling, time for bed!

You are a true friend, Suz. And I certainly hope so: Return with Captives!

Nicole, I just did Motto Generator: Glacies Et Gaudium. Ice And Joy. Just my luck. But all things considered, perhaps very Scottish.

Oh man, columbine. Dread God. Lol. I am telling ya: Clan MacFarlane or bust!

p.s. I saw on Wikipedia or somewhere on the web that the Scottish pronunciation of "plaid" is 1) "pled" and 2) "plad"

ETA: L'Abeille - Nice to hear at least one clan has a sense of humour...

My husbands father gave us a blanket made with the family tartan. Sadly my dog ripped it to shreds. I have no idea if we can replace it? There is apparently an entire county with the family name somewhere out there!

Nicole, the Motto Generator gave me Pax et Aqua ( Peace and Water). I'll take it. No captives to have to return

The Scottish Tartan registry has listed the plaids from Outlander on their What's New page.
Registration notes: Created for the television series Outlander. Ancient and weathered colours were used to simulate the natural wools and dyes available in the time period of the story.

This is very interesting, symmetrical/reflective setts, vs. asymmetrical/repeating setts, defining plaids by colors and threadcounts. Other info from their Threadcount page:
Check or tartan?
A check is a very simple form of tartan, comprising small regular blocks of colour without overchecks, bands and stripes. It will generally have fewer than 100 threads in the threadcount.

I refuse to sleep on any checks whatsoever, in that case. It must be over 100 thread count!! We Murrays have our standards, after all.

In all seriousness, this is an extremely interesting discussion! Who knew that a simple question about pronunciation could lead to such riches. There must be something in the air with that referendum happening over there....

I can't get this out of my mind: The lad in plaid always gets laid, or so he said.
Yes. I have forum Tourette's. My sincerest apologies.

Little did I know until last month is that other Celts have tartans. I did a presentation at the Cornish Cousins and while there bought a Cornish tartan scarf.

I'm going to do a post on it soon.

online dictionaries have recordings of correct pronunciations

http://www.oxforddictionaries......lish/plaid

Wow this thread totally took off! Chadya, thanks I knew I could just look it up but I thought it might be more fun this way and it SOOO was!! I hardly know what to say but I am glad my little query provoked such merriment!

Nebraskim thanks for the pointers on prouncing Sioux. I am reading DD6 "On the shores of Silver Lake" and the word comes up quite often.