[SonOfDarkSkies]

Scots...not Scotch.;-)

[ReneeLynn]

Whattya got against Scotch? ;)

[BnBlFlag]

Scots...not Scotch.;-)

Although I have an English surname, I am predominatly “Scots-Irish”. I belong to the “Scotch-Irish” Society of the U.S. out of Pa. They insist on being called “Scotch” rather than “Scots”. I believe Scots is the correct term, however.

[Textide]

My understanding was that the English call us Scots-Irish, and in the US we call ourselves Scotch-Irish.

[crz]

Exactly. I wonder what kind of Scotch they drink?

[jay1949]

The term Scotch-Irish is the traditional descriptor; Scots-Irish is the more recent and evidently (forgive me!) politically-correct term. The original Ruffner text used Scotch Irish -- no hyphen -- and this seems to have been the usage in the early 19th century. As far as I am concerned, these all have the same meaning, describing the ethnic Scots who had settled in Ulster Plantation before migrating to America. I use Scotch-Irish (or Scotch Irish) because I fancy myself a traditionalist. Apparently this usage constitutes "fighting words" in some precincts -- but could we expect anything less of Scotsmen from Ireland?

Oh, and if the English use "Scots-Irish," I consider that another reason to use "Scotch-Irish."

[John-Irish]

Ya beat me to it! “Scot’’ is a native of Scotland. “Scotch’’ is liquor.

[calex59]

You beat me to it. Scot-Irish are not Irish who drank a lot of scotch! They are Scots who lived for a while in Ireland(escaping the English)and then came to America. As a person of Scot-Irish ancestry I resent the term Scotch Irish. One can’t expect journalist to actually know anything about the subjects they write about I suppose.