It's occurred to me that Davie saying he 'first heard the right English speech' from the soldiers in Glencoe implies that Alan isn't speaking English, which is a flaw in my theory. But then perhaps Highland-accented English doesn't count as 'right'!
That's a good observation! I suppose 'plaide' is just the Gaelic for 'blanket', so it's not necessarily a tartan one? Looking through the uses of the word in the book, I notice that Alan specifies what Highlanders are now forbidden to wear as 'a tartan plaid', which seems to agree with that.
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It's occurred to me that Davie saying he 'first heard the right English speech' from the soldiers in Glencoe implies that Alan isn't speaking English, which is a flaw in my theory. But then perhaps Highland-accented English doesn't count as 'right'!
That's a good observation! I suppose 'plaide' is just the Gaelic for 'blanket', so it's not necessarily a tartan one? Looking through the uses of the word in the book, I notice that Alan specifies what Highlanders are now forbidden to wear as 'a tartan plaid', which seems to agree with that.