Jock Tamson's bairns

The Dictionary of the Scots Language gives the following definitions: The phrase is used in common speech in Scotland and it also occurs in general culture.

Some examples are: the play of that name by Liz Lochhead;[3] a folk music group of that name;[4] the title of a book describing the official records of the Scottish nation;[5] parliamentary speeches by Winnie Ewing[6] and Patrick Harvie[7] and Morag Alexander, the Scottish Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) with the latter noting that Scots are less tolerant of immigrants than they appear to think that they are.

This is interpreted in a metaphorical sense[9] as a statement of egalitarian sentiments[1] equivalent to "we're all the same under the skin" or "we are all God's children".

The earliest reference quoted in the Dictionary of the Scots Language is from 1847 where it describes the phrase as "an expression of mutual good fellowship very frequently heard in Scotland.

[citation needed] Another is that the Reverend John Thomson, minister of Duddingston Kirk, Edinburgh, from 1805 to 1840, called the members of his congregation (and his many children) "ma bairns".