As my granny used to say.....

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"She used to say 'woe betide you' a lot as well"

My mum still say's 'woe betide you' and 'hell skud it intae ye' as well as 'I'll take my hand off your face' (see Billy Connolly).

I've got one of those magnet sets with all old Glasgow words - but I don't know what some of them mean. I'll check when I get home tonight and you can all translate them for me...

At the moment they spell out the wondrous phrase that is "ya torn faced bowfin ginger specky bampot" (Refers to the bastard ex, I keep it as a reminder)

Stooshie, Rammie, Tumshie...anyone?

Has anyone heard Tumshie Smiley,the news reader on Virgin? It cracks me up everytime I hear her name!

Great thread Rumpie!

smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 12:50 (eighteen years ago) link

stooshie and rammie are pretty much the same thing: ie a big pagga. tumshie, according to my scots dictionary, is a turnip.

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:05 (eighteen years ago) link

I never really intended this thread to be all Scots, but what can I do?

I have The Complete Patter by Michael Munro - an essential read for anyone with an interest.

Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh I know what those ones mean - those are easy, the ones I don't know are obscure and even my mum was like - whit?!

smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Do we just have a high concentration of Scots grannies, or do Scots grannies just say better things?

Control your ponies, children! (kate), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Scots Grannies say better things!

Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:37 (eighteen years ago) link

the ones I don't know are obscure

bring them on!

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Tomorrow, I shall find them on the notice board and write them doon....it has some classics on though, like haunners and bawjaws and and my mind has gone blank...

smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:27 (eighteen years ago) link

I found this: http://www.firstfoot.com/php/glossary/phpglossar_0.8/index.php?letter=a

Some bizarre and wrong entries but some classics as well.

and then yer arse fell aff: A term used when someone is bullshitting

Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:35 (eighteen years ago) link

I think this may have been compiled by an amature...some of the entires are just plain weird, or very extreme...

smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Words are "submitted for consideration" so there's a chance people have managed to sneak through some ridiculous made up things.

Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:39 (eighteen years ago) link

Aha, I thought as much....lets see what we can get by them....

smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Haha, bawjaws. Have you Scottish people all seen

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 17:29 (eighteen years ago) link

the Dolmio pasta sauce adverts in the style of a bunch of working class schemies from Greenock yet? Not exactly safe for work, sound-wise.

Don't know what happened to that the first time I tried to post it.

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 17:31 (eighteen years ago) link

I can't believe this thread has come so far without mentioning SKELPING.

Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link

ailsa you broke the Dolmio server.
Our server is currently under heavy load please refresh the page in few minutes. Thank You!

They sound more like Springburn schemies to me, Greenock's a bit more singy-songy-westy with added nasal.

Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 20:43 (eighteen years ago) link

We called my grandfather Grandad. I wasn't until recently I realized this was more of a English thing. Something leftover from the "redcoat" days? (We're Sons and Daughters of the Revolution types)

detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link

"Skelping" reminds me that no-one mentioned "skelf" yet either (a splinter). Earlier tonight whilst thinking about this, I also remembered "tattie bogle" which is a scarecrow.

The Dolmio things are done by a bloke in Greenock, and also reference the old bloke going to Greenock during the war. So it's probably not Greenock. It's probably *gulp* Paisley!

To get off Scottish things for a second, do other people's parents still use "the sights you see when you don't have a gun" when seeing any goths/punks/people of questionable conformity?

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:18 (eighteen years ago) link

"He's about as queer as a three-sided coin! Hahaha!"

detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:30 (eighteen years ago) link

Aye, the thing's ye see when you've no got a gun - is one of my all time favourite phrases! Along with 'shower of bastards' and 'I'd never tire of jumping on his/her hied'....hmmm I see a pattern there...

xpost - Queerhawk - is that a Scots thing or is it just coz my mum is the only person I know that uses it?

smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link

"Back in Oklahoma, we didn't like them blacks."

detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Random words from my 'Glesga' magnet board that I understand.....

Bahookie - bum
Black-affronted - embarassed
Merrit - married
Swally - alcohol
Geggie - mouth
Bowfin - gross, mingin etc
Rummle - sort of stir..(now THAT reminds me of my Granny at the bingo rummle them up son, rummel them up)
Oh and its' "miraculous' according to this lot
Puggy - fruit machine
lavvy - toilet
hughie -to vomit
Boke - retch


smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link

Words I just dont GET:

Clarty - now we used to say clatty, meaning minging or gorss, but Clarty, anyone?

Dauner?

The babes?

loosie?

ovies?

keelie?

smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:41 (eighteen years ago) link

Some more I know the meaning of (but just cant resist posting)....

Boggin

Slag - as in to take the mick, not the nasty word fur a wummin

Humph

What does bauchle mean?

Stoatin

Hoachin

Corrie-fisted

skelly eyes

Hmm, what's a 'wally close'?

Right I'm going skelly eyed noo...I'm putting it away...


smee (smee), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:45 (eighteen years ago) link

Does anyone use "bogey" or "karty" for a go-kart any more (hell, does anyone even *have* a go-kart any more)? (Except Oor Wullie obviously)

I still use the Taggart-inspired dunderheid, but mostly for comedic effect (see also "there's bin a murrrrderrrr").

I'm trying to introduce some classic "Chewing the Fat" phrases into everyday usage. Best one last series = Winston's wake-up call to his lazy grandson "haw, you, oot yer wanking chariot"

Those Dolmio ads started a craze in our office a few months ago of going "fucking yaldy" whenever anyone got a text message. I'm glad someone else was sad enough to request on that bloke's blog that he should make it commercially available for use on phones :)

(xpost - a wally close is one of the Glasgow tenements with ceramic tiling in it)

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:46 (eighteen years ago) link

I mean, in the close (the landings and stairs between such for the benefit of anyone still reading this thread). Wally = ceramic, which is what wally dugs are made of and why false teeth are called wallies.

(wally dugs = http://auction.goanm.co.uk/CatalogueFiles/TSAborder/AuctionItemImages/wally/1.jpg)

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link

What does bauchle mean?

As I posted upthread, it's a (usually scuffed) shoe

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 22:50 (eighteen years ago) link

ailsa: "wanking chariot" is a viz-ism, and was a big, big favourite round the sunday h3r4ld back bench circa 2000.

"where's don C this week? holidays?"
"aye. he's spending the week at home in the chariot. with a box of kleenex and a tub of cold cream."

has anyone mentioned havering yet? i surprised myself today by accusing someone of doing it.

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 23:35 (eighteen years ago) link

The Proclaimers' "500 Miles" has brought "havering" into the international market now, hasn't it?

My dad is possibly the only living Scottish person in the world who actually uses "och aye the noo". It seems to be the verbalisation of a yawn for him, but still, he uses it.

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 23:45 (eighteen years ago) link

the proclaimers
the international market

hmmm :)

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 23:55 (eighteen years ago) link

It's all over the place, that song, isn't it? OK, I was originally thinking that was the one in Shrek, but it isn't, that's "I'm On My Way", but still, it's quite a well-known song.

ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 23:59 (eighteen years ago) link

ah! now keelie is a word my gran did use. it means a rough kid : like schemie or ned, but from the 50s.
another one i remembered : puddy up. you'd give someone a puddy up by meshing your fingers together & holding your arms down straight, making a makeshift step for them to stand on with one foot, so they could be propelled up that wall & no doubt get up to all sorts of mischief. bloody kids eh?

zappi (joni), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:01 (eighteen years ago) link

I just thought of one thats (possibly) not Scots: my mum calls the toilet the "toot". She'll write "toot paper" on the shopping list. I don't think Ive heard anyone else say that but mum uses a lot of old fashioned aussie "Kath n Kim" type sayings like "cossie" (for a swimsuit) and "port" for a little suitcase.

Also, where I come from apparently "I'm knocked up" *used* to mean "I'm fackin exhausted". Can you imagine the hilarity ensuing, etc etc.

Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:06 (eighteen years ago) link

(grimly, 500 Miles got to number 3 in the US Billboard charts on the back of the Benny & Joon soundtrack, and the Proclaimers appear to have become quite popular over there, according to their website, so I'll stand by my theory that they have brought the word havering to an international market, thank you - even if no-one outside of Scotland knows what it actually means)

Puggled or peched out means knackered round these parts. Though again, I'm not sure if "pech" (which is basically a verb meaning to puff or wheeze or generally be short of breath) is a Highland thing, a Scottish thing or a my-parents thing.

ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

'shower of bastards'

We here in Ireland use this expression also. And we say 'grand' to mean, well, just about anything really.

accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link

My mum does that too, Tracye - cossie or togs.

luna (luna.c), Thursday, 1 December 2005 01:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Nobody in my family ever said this, I just learnt it yesterday, but I like it: 'sitting there like cheese at ninepence'.

Archel (Archel), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Shower of numpties, surely?

Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Luna: is your mom american or brit/aus?

Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:42 (eighteen years ago) link

Clarty - now we used to say clatty, meaning minging or gorss, but Clarty, anyone?

Dauner?

The babes?

loosie?

ovies?

keelie?

Okay, clarty is clatty, daunner is like saunter - a stroll. The babes or the wee babes for some reason means something good. "Those stovies were the babes." Loosie I don't know and ovies means overalls.

Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Dauner?

That's a walk isn't it?

'Ah'm goin a wee dauner doon the toon'

Ailsa, I think you're getting Chewin' The Fat and Still Game mixed up, though you reminded me of the Stoory Midouri
stoory: covered in dust

Scottish words illustrated: http://stooryduster.co.uk/index.htm

Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:57 (eighteen years ago) link

My mum still say's 'woe betide you' and 'hell skud it intae ye' as well as 'I'll take my hand off your face'

Well hell mend ye for displeasing yer maw

has anyone mentioned havering yet? i surprised myself today by accusing someone of doing it.

I accused myself of doing it upthread

Oh No, It's Dadaismus (and His Endless Stupid Jokes) (Dada), Thursday, 1 December 2005 10:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Havering is a wonderful word - I use it often - it reminds me of two other phrases "yer arse in parsely' and 'uch, your bums oot the windae'.

Can't believe I missed ovies - how could I NOT know what ovies means?

smee (smee), Thursday, 1 December 2005 13:46 (eighteen years ago) link

I just though of more, apologies if we've already had:

Beamer, riddy & brass neck.

smee (smee), Thursday, 1 December 2005 14:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh, I did confuse Chewing the Fat with Still Game. Silly me. I don't even really watch Chewing the Fat that much, so I have no idea why that happened apart from guzzling wine whilst ILXing of an evening. Still Game >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Chewing the Fat. Is someone going to claim "gonnae no dae that?" as part of the wonderful Scottish verbal heritage?

OMG, stoory! Oor Wullie and his pals used to go their kartie down the Stoory Brae, didn't they? (also, stoory midori = comedy gold)

No-one has mentioned yer maw yet, have they? (Architecture in Helsinki's tour van to thread!)

ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 1 December 2005 23:06 (eighteen years ago) link

Luna: is your mom american or brit/aus?

I'm going to get in trouble for this, but New Zealand, I think.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 1 December 2005 23:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Or Australia. I forget.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 1 December 2005 23:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I just got off the phone with my mother where she referred to my ill-behaved nephews as a bunch of "honyocks", which is a term I've not heard in a good 15 years, but one that my family used often in Chicago. I then advised my mother that I must sign off as it is a quarter of 10 and that I get snarky if I don't get enough sleep...a whole host of odd sayings and arcane words all in one fell swoop.

Tanya Frerichs, Tuesday, 6 December 2005 05:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Jay: yeah thats why I asked, "cossie" is a v aussie (and NZ prolly) phrase for ones swimsuit.

I call 'em swimmers.

Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 06:00 (eighteen years ago) link

scotch pancake = drop scone

to confuse matters further, i'm gonna drop a pikelet into the mix. pikelet = drop scone, yes?

also my mum (from cumbria) has always called a swimming costume a "cossie", and never set foot in nz/aus or had any relatives living there etc...

emsk ( emsk), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 09:46 (eighteen years ago) link


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