Diana Gabaldon's Outlander T-Shirts

Nothing says that you knew about Outlander first like getting a t-shirt dated a year BEFORE the show was even aired!

As soon as Sam Heughan was cast as Jamie Fraser the fandom wags had a new name for themselves. The Heughligans were out in force!  And here is that fandom clan emblazoned over Fraser tartan.  What else could it have been?

However, there is more to this than merely the bragging rights of being ahead of the crowd on the next big thing.  These officially sanctioned Heughligan t-shirts raise money for charity too.

Designed by Outlandish Artistry's Kelly Mager, 100% of the profits go to Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.  Some of the shirts actually include this information on the back.

Translated from the French, it means 'I am Ready'.  It's the motto of Clan Fraser and, more importantly from the point of view of an Outlander fan, it's the code by which Jamie Fraser lives.

Diana Gabaldon's avid readers learned precisely what that entails, when a tense moment occurred in Castle Leoch. The MacKenzies were pressing Jamie to swear allegiance to their clan chief Callum. If he refused, it would result in certain death. If he did it, then no doubt the assassin's dirk would come in the night.

"I am ready," Jamie blithely informed the anxious Claire. We all know what happened next.

So when Outlander airs in spring 2014, will you be watching with your t-shirt already telling the world what your position is?  Je suis prest.

These lot will be!  Or at least those buying the t-shirts anyway.

While Jamie Fraser's motto might officially be 'Je Suis Prest', we all know that it isn't. He has something else which he says much more often!

'Dinna fash, Sassenach', and all its variations, is Jamie's way of calming Claire down. Usually in situations when she really should be worrying; and generally when Jamie's doing more fretting than his ultra-practical wife.

'Dinna fash' is Scots English for 'do stop worrying'. 

'Sassenach' is Gaelic for 'English person'.  The latter is Jamie's pet name for Claire, given that she's English and all.

When it's usually being spoken, in Scottish Gaelic, it's in a disparaging way.  That's hardly surprising, given what the English did in the Highlands!  But it is also the general word for the English too.

Only, when Jamie says it, it's with fondness. At least when it's directed at Claire. I know that I get a little shiver, whenever I read him saying it!

I just wish, like Claire, I could travel back through time and do my utmost to stop Culloden and the Clearances occurring.

'Fuirich agus chi thu' is a bit of an in-joke for fans of Diana Gabaldon. It's Scottish Gaelic for 'wait and see', and Claire does indeed say it in An Echo in the Bone.

However, that was the author tipping the wink to her most loyal readers.

The Compuserve Books and Writers' Forum has been Diana Gabaldon's community of choice since she first came online. As her Outlander stories bloomed in popularity, this was the place where readers would track her down to ask their questions.

Diana answered, "Wait and see", so often that it practically became her catchphrase. 

Then, in 2008, a forum member named Cathy MacGregor translated it into Gaelic. It seemed more fitting in the context!  Diana immediately added the phrase into the book that she was writing at the time; and an in-joke was well and truly born.