Sunday, May 04, 2008

[national stereotypes] n2 - the glaswegian

Glasgow, European City of Culture, 1990


The city itself is a mishmash, described in this article on its reign as European Capital of Culture:

The City fathers still bend over backwards to accommodate commercial interests; new buildings--commercial and residential--of abysmal quality are allowed, and the old are still allowed to decay and tumble. Glasgow has always had a strong American character, reflected in particular in its early-twentieth-century architecture, but today much of the city looks like parts of Detroit.
hingie
A traditional activity in tenement buildings, to have a hingie is to lean out of an open window in a flat and pass the time of day by watching the comings and goings in the street, occasionally conversing with passers-by or occupants of other open windows.
The stone-built tenement is a major feature of Glasgow's urban landscape, [b]uilt in large numbers from the mid-1800s to the early years of the twentieth century to accommodate the city's growing population.

The local humour's a good guide to a city's reputation:

Glaswegians consider Edinburgh to be in the east - the Far East. Edinburghers consider Glasgow to be in the west - the Wild West. How do you know when you're staying in Glasgow? When you call the hotel desk and say "I've gotta leak in my sink" and the response is "go ahead".

Glasgow teachers are known to use the following translations for the remarks they make on pupils' report cards:

"A born leader" - Runs a protection racket
"Easy-going" - Bone idle
"Helpful" - A creep
"Reliable" - Informs on his friends
"A rather solitary child" - He smells
"Popular in the playground" - Sells pornography



Rab C. Nesbitt [pictured] gives an insight into Glasgow and in particular, Govan:

Ian Pattison's scripts mercilessly poke fun at the more sanctimonious tendencies of nationalism, such as tartan wearing exiles, folk songs from the Hebrides, and the worst aspects of the 'remember Culloden' victim mentality. However the failings of the proletariat are satirised too - working-class culture and its limitations are hardly romanticised through Rab and his drinking pals, who often proudly refer to themselves as 'scum'.

Rab: "Mary, we huv knain each other tae long to let a pound ae dead meat tae come between us".

Mary: "Let's leave oor sex life oota this."





If you'd like to see the whole episode, Part 2 is here and Part 3 here. The language - a bit of background:

Northeast English, spoken throughout the traditional counties of Northumberland and County Durham , shares other features with Scots which have not been described above.As well as the main dialects, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow (see Glasgow patter) have local variations on an anglicised form of Central Scots.

Glaswegian is a bit more specific, described thus:

Glasgow patter has evolved over the centuries amongst the working classes, Irish immigrants and passing seamen in the dockyards. The dialect is anglicised west central lowland Scots or Scottish English depending on viewpoint, and features a varied mix of typical Scots expressions and vocabulary, as well as some examples of rhyming slang, local cultural references and street slang.

Some examples:

  • Buckie/BuckyBuckfast Tonic Wine - cheap, strong, fortified wine popular with many teenagers.
  • Cleek — To refer to picking up a partner of the opposite sex, cleek being the Scots word for a hook or crook referring to the linking of arms. A more colourful theory is that it originates from late night kissing couples on tenement doorsteps and knocking milk bottles to make a clinking sound.
  • Dreepie - hanging from the edge of a roof so that your feet are as close as possible to the ground.
  • Electric soup — see buckie, also a Scottish comic book. Anything more alcoholic than tasty. To 'be on the electric soup' has an implication of loss of faculty.
  • Hauners — A helping hand in a playground fight.
  • Jeg — Any carbonated soft drink.
  • Mad wi it — Drunk or intoxicated.
  • Mintit - Cool/amazing.
  • Particks — A term for breasts which came about through a number of slang words, an area of the city and a pub (The Partick Smiddy).

So that's the Glaswegian and his life and as Rab explains to his wain:
"You'll be skint, battered, exploited, lied to, cheated and despised. But at least you'll no' be bored."



7 comments:

  1. My father was from Glasgow, but left at the age of 7 so he did not have the accent but my grandparents surely did.
    Imagine upping stakes and taking your seven children on such a long journey to Australia just before the First World War. Life in Glasgow must have been very hard to have done that.

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  2. Rab C Nesbitt's old feller weighs a pound? That's quite a lot of you think about it...

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  3. My father's from Greenock. All my kin up there are WC on your map.

    Talking of dialects, I love the Scots page on the Holyrood website:

    Ye are walcome tae visit the Pairlament tae hae a keek roon or find oot aboot whit wey the Pairlament warks.

    We want tae mak siccar that awbody is able tae visit the Scottish Pairlament biggin. Wir premises is awready designit tae be as accessible as possible. Hooanever, gin ye are disablit and hae ony specific requirements, ye’re gey walcome tae contact us afore yer visit.

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  4. I lived in Glasgow for a while- made a documentary about Cromwell for BBC Scotland- I really enjoyed the city though- it was very lively and good fun- was up there during the Summer so went to some great comedy clubs and generally had a lot of fun. It was one of the best times in my life and I remember the city with a lot of affection.

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  5. JMB - must have been hard.

    White Rabbit - speaking of hard, that's a good point you raise.

    Welshcakes - and we enjoyed you.

    Ordo - classic - have to use this. So yae have Scots in ye?

    Tiberius - yes I also have fond memories although I was just catching planes.

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  6. One of my best friends was born in Glasgow ;-)

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