Being fae Ayrshire, you find yourself casually saying words and phrases that can often leave people confused and baffled by their meaning.

Our rich tapestry of Scots language across Scotland means that we often share expressions from across the country, but we also can vary our tongue depending on the region, village, or even hoose that we grew up - and Ayrshire is no different. 

Dr. Michael Dempster, director of the Scots Language Centre, explained: "Across Scotland, we share common grammar and idioms, words and expressions that we share as a country, but each region will have its own dialect.

"Even multiple dialects, the case of Ayrshire, the word tattie (for potato) is a perfect example, some say tattie like the rest of us in Scotland, others say "Tottie" and it'll come down to where you grew up in Ayrshire, right down to the village, sometimes even the street or house.

"Ayrshire is also a place in Scotland where people stake a claim in language, that is, how people speak plays a part in their shared identity.

"This might be the influence of Robert Burns and how his use of words is spoken and remembered but it is also how people feel part of a place, again, down to each village and community."

Often, people from Ayrshire can leave other Scots baffled with their terms of expression, even though we are convinced that they are commonly held expressions that everybody kens.

So, we asked our readers across all four titles spanning East, North, and South Ayrshire, just what words and expressions are commonly associated with living and growing up on the west coast.

And boy did you deliver, with over 1,500 comments across our Facebook pages, and some heated debate over the origin of some phrases and expressions spoken in the real God's country.

And without further ado, here are the top fifteen Ayrshire words and expressions as suggested by our readers. 

15. Howking 

Howking is used in the context of tatties, something Ayrshire is famous for, as in "lifting potatoes", Tattie Howkers worked the Ayrshire fields to dig up potatoes every season.

14. Messages 

"Going for your messages" means going for your shopping, with debates if this is truly an Ayrshire expression or if it is also used in Glasgow too. Regardless, folk would know what you meant in the 'shire.

13. Donner 

Nope. not the kebab meat. It means "to go a wee walk". Not a particularly purposeful one, just a wee wander, a donner, or a donnah. 

12. No aye arny, aye ah ahm.

A polite debate amongst friends, "no I am not, yes I am." Often heard multiple times until resolution is reached. 

11. een (eye) 

"I've got something in my een" - somebody from East Ayrshire might say, it's not a universal expression, but if somebody is using the word "een" for eye, you've probably found yourself nearer Kilmarnock. 

10. Winter Dykes 

This one confuses the Glaswegians, who also have the same winter problem as us. Finding a place to dry your clothes indoors, you'd need to get yourself some winter dykes, a clothes horse, for the rest of Scotland. 

9. Chuggy/Chuddy

Both versions count, and both mean chewing gum. 

8. Mockit

Mockit means 'dirty' - both in the physical sense, "yer clathes are pure mockit", and behavioural sense "canne believe you did that, that's pure mockit."

7. Slice

As in Slice, Egg, and a Tattie Scone, a wee bit of sauce. Ayrshire folk call a Lorne sausage a slice, as in sliced sausage. Not square, like those from Glasgow say.
Bonus food confusion. A roll in ham is a roll and bacon, and a roll in gammon is a ham roll. We don't know either. 

6. Haneck 

Only heard between Maybole and Troon, this South Ayrshire expression is used to express glee at somebody else's misfortune. The German's have a word for it, schadenfreude, and it turns out so do people from Ayr.

5. Chankin'

Chanking means, simply, to be very very cold. "It's pure chanking." 

4. Ken 

Who's Ken? Ken is a man who knows everything. Actually, there is no Ken, it's just that Ayrshire folk love to drop a ken after every sentence. It is the shortened form of "Do you know what I mean?" or I know, "ah ken". 

3. The morn's morn.

Got to do something tomorrow morning? That's the morn's morn for our lot. 

2. Pokey hat 

Being by the coast, Ayrshire has some of the best ice cream shops in Scotland, hands down. And what do you get at an ice cream shop? A pokey hat, another name for a cone. 

1. Gads, Gadz (with a z, always a z)

And the top expression for Ayrshire readers is the word "Gads." It's used in the context of phrases such as "Gadz a boak" which means how it sounds, "that's disgusting, could you fetch me a bucket, I am going to be sick." 

Ayrshire people can claim this expression as their own as nobody else will! 

What do you think, do you agree with our readers, what other words might we be missing?