Though the term scotsmen simply refers to men who are from Scotland, for many people it conveys a stereotypical view which often includes the following: wearing tartan and sporrans, playing the bagpipes, eating haggis and porridge, being drunk, swearing incomprehensibly, drinking whisky, tossing the caber, fighting with the english and being miserly.

Scotsmen are also a vital component of any joke which begins "There was an englishman, an irishman and a scotsman..."

Finally, scotsmen are also a key feature of the Monty Python sketch entitled "Science Fiction sketch". In this sketch, aliens from the galaxy of Andromeda were turning people into scotsmen in order to win Wimbledon.