Glasgow dialect · Dialect in Glasgow
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Dialect in Glasgow
Dialect in Glasgow
As with all areas of Scotland, regional dialects are present in Glasgow. The Glaswegian dialect of Scots or "banter" as the more jovial version of it is known, has evolved over the history of the city. As each wave of migration takes place, new words and phrases are added to the dialect. There is a strong Celtic language connection due to the Lowland Scots, Highland Gaelic and Irish Gaelic influences.
Some phrases
"Wean" (pronounced "wayne") - child (Derived from wee-one, meaning small one)
"Wee" - small
"Aye" - yes
"Bam" or "bampot" or "bamstick" - an impolite term for a silly or annoying person
"Eejit" - an impolite term for a person who has done an incredibly stupid thing- an idiot
"Tumshie" - a silly person
"Pure (brilliant)" - Very
"Minging" - bad smelling or bad tasting; similarly a "minger" refers to an ugly person. Can also be used to denote drunkenness; "Ah wis well mingin' on Friday."
"Midden" - an old Scots word for a waste dump, but commonly used to described anything that is untidy or unkempt.
"Haw" - roughly equivalent to "Hey" and used to attract someone's attention
"(to give) pelters" - to humiliate someone
"Ned" - Allegedly, this stands for "Non-Educated Delinquent", which sums it up nicely. Typically teenage youths who can be spotted sporting tracksuits, drinking cheap alcohol and wearing "bling" jewellery, as well as bright white trainers (sneakers), soccer socks (kneesocks) scrunched down, and a baseball cap, usually from the brand Burberry. Many neds are aggressive.
"Buckie" - Real name is Buckfast, a "tonic wine" (this indicates its fortified alcohol content and not any medicinal value.) It is relatively cheap and purple in colour.
"Glaikit" - Means someone is dim or have a blank expression on their face. E.g When I asked him what 13 divided by 11,212.189 was they he looked pure Glaikit.
"Teuchter" - Slang word for a Highlander, or anyone from the North of Scotland - often used in a derogatory context.
"Gallus" - Means someone is cocky, cheeky or self confident
"Bolt" - go away, as in "leave me alone" (tends to be used in a slightly aggressive context)
"Besom" - a cheeky or 'bold' woman.
"Manky" - unclean, filthy
"Baltic" - Really cold as in 'The Baltic Sea'
"Mental" - Tough and crazy, as in "Watch out, he's pure mental, by the way". "Mental" can also be used to describe something which is overcrowded or busy as in "the traffic was mental on the motorway today".
"Pished" - drunk or intoxicated.
Glasgow slang is also peppered with various more or less meaningless phrases such as 'by the way', 'man' or 'dead' (very, as an adjective) that can give the answers to simple questions an almost baroque complexity. So "Did you enjoy the concert last night?" might be answered "Aye it was pure dead brilliant man" which means, essentially, "Yes, it was good".
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Glasgow Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.