Never mind Edinburgh, you'll now find 'Chippy Sauce' in the Oxford English Dictionary... as well as 'rowie' and 'crow road'

By STUART MACDONALD FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL Published: 17:26, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 17:28, 9 July 2026 One is a tradition peculiar to patrons of Edinburgh fish and chip shops while the other is favourite across Aberdeenshire. But it has now emerged ‘chippy sauce’ and ‘rowie’ have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. They join a host of other Scottish terms including gowping, stowed, toorie, crow road and scrunted in the latest edition of the prestigious tome to reflect their popularity among Scots. ‘Chippy sauce’ refers to the staple condiment of Edinburgh chippies which consists of brown sauce diluted with vinegar or water. The dictionary’s compilers said the earliest recorded use of the term was in author Laura Hird’s 1999 novel Born Free about a family living in Scotland’s capital. Synonymous with Aberdeenshire, a ‘rowie’ is a savoury, flaky bread roll traditionally made with lard and butter. The name of the bread was first recorded in an 1898 issue of the Aberdeen Journal and Daily Advertiser, but the word rowie itself dates much further back to 1656, in the obsolete and rare sense of a small roll of tobacco. The late Scottish author Iain Banks has helped get the term ‘crow road’ into the dictionary thanks to his 1992 novel The Crow Road. ‘To take the crow road’ means to die or to be near death and Banks’ book has been credited with popularising the colloquial phrase. ‘Toorie’ is the name of a round woollen or cloth cap of Scottish origin with a bobble in the centre. It may also more specifically refer to the bobble itself, or more generally to any woollen or cloth hat. It was first recorded in 1874. Chippy sauce is staple condiment of Edinburgh chippies Rowies are a favourite in Aberdeen and up the north east coast of Scotland Joseph McFadden, Simone Bendix and Dougray Scott all starred in the TV adaptation of The Crow Road Should regional slang like "chippy sauce" be protected as cultural heritage or is adding it to the dictionary diluting our language? What's your view?‘Gowping’ refers to the heart or blood ‘beating or pulsing rapidly or strongly, especially as a result of intense activity or emotion’. The official entry for the word includes a quote from a Scottish TV viewer who posted on X: ‘On The Psych Ward has got ma heart absolutely gowping.’ It also references a line from Scottish novelist Gorden Ferris’ book The Hanging Shed, published in 2011, which states: ‘Ma heid’s gowpin’, so it is.’ ‘Scaffie’ means shabby or scruffy while ‘scrunted’ means stunted or shrivelled when applied to a plant or tree, and short in stature when describing a person. Stowed or stowed out means crowded, packed, or full to capacity. The latest update to the OED includes more than 900 new words, phrases, and senses. Fiona McPherson, Executive Editor at the OED who is herself a Scot, said: ‘It’s always special when I get to work on Scottish words, and those included in this update of the OED are evocative and familiar. ‘There are a few standouts for me; one is the cause of much debate in chip shops across the country - chippy sauce. ‘Others, while new to the OED, have long established histories. Loup and gowp are found as early as the 16th and 18th centuries respectively, meaning ‘of the heart, blood: to beat or pulse rapidly or strongly’. The later sense of ‘to throb or ache with a pulsating pain’ has also been included. ‘Also worth a mention is crow road. It was popularised by beloved Scottish author Iain Banks but was also used earlier in parts of southern Scotland and northern England to mean ‘the shortest distance between two places’. ‘Even with familiar words, there’s something new to discover.’