By One's Lane

Question

I have two questions. Is the expression "by one's lane" a common idiom or is it outdated? Also, when I look up the word "lane" at dictionary.com in that context, as in the adjective, "alone," it says "Scot" beside it. Does that mean only a Scottish person would understand if the word "lane" was used in that way outside of that idiom? For example:

The poor woman was lane at the time.

Or:

Here I am, lane again.

Or:

There is nothing worse than being completely and utterly lane.

Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I've never heard that expression in my life.
I'm not a Scot.

Clive

Snarf · Answer

CliveHi,I've never heard that expression in my life.I'm not a Scot.Clive

Me neither, till today. So I take it you've never seen "lane" used as an adjective, then, either?

Khoff · Answer

If I saw it, I would probably assume it was a typo for "lame."

KJinCali79 · Answer

I looked it up, and every definition I came across was lane as a noun.  The only adjective reference I was able to find, says "Scottish dialect" with the definition "on one's own."    I would not use lane in that way if you are intending to be understood outside of Scotland because I have never heard this usage.

Snarf · Answer

KJinCali79I looked it up, and every definition I came across was lane as a noun. The only adjective reference I was able to find, says "Scottish dialect" with the definition "on one's own."

Yes, it's Scottish. These (along with dictionary.com's definition) are the places where I've found it as both a noun and an adjective (i.e., alone), the first link having the adjective as the very first definition, but it's the only one that doesn't say Scot.:

http://ardictionary.com/Lane/766
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lane
http://www.wordnik.com/words/lane
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/lane
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lane?showCookiePolicy=true

I've never heard it used as an adjective either, 'cause I've been in Canada my whole life. I wanna use it in the rhyming scheme of a poem, though, because it works really well.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Do you want people to understand?

Clive

Snarf · Answer

Yeah, I do. And if they looked it up to see why I used that, they would understand, but I can't hold their hand and make them. I figure poetry is commonly something one has to think through to really get, given all the metaphors and symbolism, anyway. It's hard for me to talk about it in this abstract fashion, though, without any contextualization.

By One's Lane

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