Riddy appears under reid in Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is defined as having “a blushing face from embarrassment; the cause of such embarrassment”. A definition of riddy given by Michael Munro in The Patter (1985) provides a perfect example too: “A red face caused by embarrassment. Also something that is a source of embarrassment: ‘There Ah’m staunin no knowin the fly’s open - what a riddy!’”.

A later example from the Glasgow Evening Times of October 2017 records: “This guy ‘gees us aww a riddy’ by appearing in Google maps with his taps aff”. (Referring to the image that came up on a street-view search for Merkland Street.)

And here’s an all-too familiar scenario from Ely Percy’s Duck Feet (2021): “He wis aboot tae walk away again when Charlene said ‘Ha ha Kirsty’s got a pure riddy ah ha Kirsty fancies Mister Anderson’.”

An unusual take on the staging of Macbeth causes embarrassment in Thomas Clark’s The Boggin Beginnin (2021): “Violet took a riddie. ‘Whit, ye mean they were aw up there on stage in the pure scud?’ ‘Anely for a meenit,’ Klaus said smilin’. ‘The polis came and shut the hale thing doon.’”

And finally, we probably all remember lockdown episodes of this kind from the Courier of February 2021: “In the now great tradition of ‘important’ interviewees getting a richt ridder from their under-dressed spouses, embarrassing bookshelf contents, children and pets during Zoom or other video-type chats with pundits, Michael Gove was apparently thoroughly upstaged by his cat the other day…”.

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.