The Gaelic Language and Scottish Slang...

Robin Williams once referred to the Scottish language as

 "One Long Vowel Movement."

Listening to a bit of Gaelic this morning, he wasn't far off.

Beginning in the early 16th Century it was known as Scots English. Through the centuries it has morphed into Irish, Sottish Gaelic and Manx (on the Isle of Man).

Even more entertaining is the slang.  
Enjoy!

A

• a, ah - I

• ab'dy - everybody

• a'thing - everything

• aboot - about

• air beige - pump or fart

• ament ah? - aren't I?

• ah am - I am

• am no - I am not

• a am nae - I am not

• ah wiz like - "I was like that"; i.e., I was remarked to say (So the boss sez tae me that I was lazy, and as-laat, "Naw am-ur-nay!")

• a wisna(e) - I was not

• a(w)rite - all right

• aye - Yes

• arse / erse - bum

• anno / ah ken - I know

• aff - off (off yer heed)

• auld - old ( as in auld codger)

• aw - all

• awfy / affy - awfully

B

• bairn - baby (jist a wee bairn!) or small child.

• baffies - slippers.

• bahoochie- bottom

• bampot - an idiot, unhinged person (He is a bampot)

• banger - a firework - also, penis, as in, "away you 'n' chew mah banger"

• barra - a little child - also, an affectionate term for a younger person ("A wee barra.")

• barry - fantastic (That's pure barry)

• bastart - bastard, also, rarely, a peculiar term of endearment ("Awright Ted ya wee bastart")

• Barras - a market started by Margaret McIver joined for the initial use of wheel barrows/"barras' to sell things from, at the Barrowland in the east end of Glasgow

• baws - testicles "bawsack!" ballsack in English

• bawbag - scrotum, pejorative (That guy's a bawbag)

• bawhair- A unit of measurement for the thickness of a pubic hair.

• bawheid - ballhead, bald, empty headed, stupid (oh, you ya bawheid!)

• belter - to be excellent, great, fantastic.

• ben - down or through

• bevvy - drink ("Ye havin a bevvy the nite?")

• bez- beer

• bide - stay/live

• birl - spin

• Big yin - Originated as Billy Connolly's nickname. Meaning: Big One, used as a term of endearment towards older relatives or friends

• bizzo - business (from an episode of TV series Minder)

• blootered - very drunk

• boaby - police. Can also mean penis, or cum.

• boak- dry heave/expression of disgust "(Pure givin' me the boak!)"

• bob, bobee, bawbee - a 'bob' is slang for a shilling piece worth 12 old pennies, 5 new pence, was also available as a two bob bit and a ten bob note. one half-penny in auld money

• boggin - smelly, dirty (That's boggin'!)

• bolt - go away ("wanty bolt!")

• bonnie - pretty, beautiful

• boot - slatternly or ugly woman

• bosie - cuddle

• bowfin - sick-making.

• burn - small river (Let's awa' up that burn) not actually slang as it's the correct term and used elsewhere in the world

• braw - beautiful, as in ('S'a braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht.')

• breeks - trousers

• brae, braw - brave, good as in thats good.

• brief - car

• burd - Girlfriend/ girls in general (huv ye seen the state ay they burds!)

• but - conjunction sometimes used to end sentences, commonly in Inverclyde (Am naw gaun but!)

C

• cannae - can not

• cannie - Smart - "He's a cannie lad"

• chankin - cold (It's chankin the day!)

• chib - stab, a knife

• chebs - tits

• chum -to accompany someone (chum me to the shop)

• claes - clothes

• clart - to put too much on something

• clarty / clatty - dirty as in "he picked his nose and ate it, the clarty bastard".

• close- An alleyway, a passage at the rear of houses. The passageway leading into a tenement building/Humid weather

• clarted - covered in (mud)

• clype - a grass or tell-tale, also means to hit someone or something

• coarse, coorse - bully or torment or be bad

• cauld - cold - "It's awfy cauld in here"

• coupon - face. Some coupon on him, eh?

• cowk - heave or throw up

• cowp - knock over

• craic/crack - chat "(What's the craic?)"

• cummoan - let's go,~~ please talk sense ~~ (vamos,. sp)

• cundie - drain

D

• da - father

• dafty - silly, foolish person

• dancin - nightclub ("Are you gawn to the dancin tonight?")

• dead - very; usually used with "pure" in front to describe something (That's pure dead brilliant!!!)

• diddy - did he? Also means an idiot and female breasts ("Diddy go tae school?" "Wait! Ye left yur keys ya diddy!" "Check oot the diddies oan her.")

• dinnae/ dunno - Don't ("Dinnae dae that!")

• div - Idiot

• dobber - a fool/stupid person. Also means "dickhead" ("Whit ye daein ya dobber?!")

• dog/doggin - Having sexual intercourse in the back of a car (Oh my God. they were doggin'!), or skipping school (I couldn't be bothered so ended up jus doggin it)

• donner - a walk (comin' fur a wee donner doon yonder?)

• doo - a pigeon

• doon - Down. ("Turn that doon! We got a fuckin can theif! TURN THAT DOON!")

• doric - dialect spoken in the north east

• dowp - Backside, Bottom.

• drookit - Soaking wet - drenched

• dug - a dog

• dunderheed - an idiot, a fool

• dunno / dinna ken - I don't know

• diddie - an idiot.

E

• een - one also can mean eye "i got a pure black een"

• Eh - Yes/I (cumin ti the baths dode"? Eh). ( Eh wis like, that's pure tekul man)

• Embra - Edinburgh

• an empty - the residents who live in the house are not present and people take advantage by having a party in the "empty" house. ("Ma granny's got an empty, moan up fur a swallae.") Normally teenagers having a party in their own house when parents are away involves drinking which they would not be able to do with their friends if parents around.

• eejit - Idiot

F

• fae - from (far aboots you fae)

• fack - fuck, (in the name of fuck ser)

• fag - a cigarette

• fannybawz - a term of ridicule, in some cases of endearment (ho, here fannybawz, geez a chip)

• far - where

• fash - fuss (Dinnae fash y'sel)

• fizzog - face

• feart - to be scared, afeared (I'm feart of the dark)

• feel - daft

• fitba - football

• fit - what

• fit like - how are you

• fir wye - why

• flap - to become overly upset or worked up about something, beyond what others see as necessary (Dinnae flap! We'll find yer wellies!)

• fleg - fright

• flit - move house

• foos yer doos - how are you

• fud - a complete and utter dobber (Where's ma money, ya fud?) also meaning vagina (Ah booted her right in the fud man!)

• futer - to twiddle and mess about with something ( courtesy of Mrs A A Munro )

• flange - have sex with ("I flanged her last night")

G

• gan - go

• gam - Blowjob

• gawn - going ("am gawn hame")

• gantin' - begging/gagging for sex - (See her, she's pure gantin' fur it)

• gash - dismal

• geez - give - ( geez it)

  give me (also written "gi'e us") Geez a wee nip

• geggy - mouth - "(Shut yer geggy")

• geks - glasses

• gingin (pronounced "ging-in") - Disgusting ("He wis spewin his guts up (being sick), it was heavy gingin!")

• glaikit - stupid ( ya glaikit bastard ).

• Glesgae - Glasgow

• Glesga - Glasgow

• goat - got ("a goat it right!")

• gobble - blowjob

• gob - pussy, ["i grabbed her gob last night"] Mouth

• gonnae no dae that - go and not do that!

• gowpin/lowpin - sore body part/infested with lice - (My knee is gowpin)- ("Her heid was pure lowpin")

• goon - idiot ("You're a pure goon,man!")

• gran - grandmother

• grannied - didn't score a single point ("I was grannied at pool tonight")

• granda - grandfather

• greet - to cry

• gutties - shoes

H

• hackit - ugly, Ruby

• hame - home "am away hame"

• Harry hoofter- rhyming slang for 'poofter' a derogatory term for a homosexual man.

• hauf' - a measure of whiskey

• haver - silly talk, nonsense/ talking shit " stap yer havering "

• hawn - hand "watch ma hawn"

• hawd/hud - hold, stop "wanty hawd that?"

• Hawd yer wheeshd - Stop talking

• hen - term of endearment for a woman, equivalent to 'love' or 'darling' ("How ye dain the day, hen?")

• heed/heid - head "a've got a sare heed"

• hee haw - nothing/empty

• heid-the-baw - an idiot.

• heevin - very busy place ("This pub is heevin, ye canny get movin.")

• hoch-magandy - fornication (from an episode of the TV series The Sweeney).

• hole - sex/vagina ("She's gettin' her hole the night fur definite.")

• honkin - smelly/dirty ("Your farts are honkin' by the way.")

• hoor - whore

• hoora - slang term for 'very' ("That Buckfast was hoora good.")

• hoos/hoose - house

• hoot - what ("Hoot are you talkin aboot?")

• howfin'/howlin'/hummin' - smelly

• hoachin - full

• how? - why?

• HAW - a way to get someones attention "HAW, STOP YA BAWBAG!!"
• how no'? - why not?

• huddy - idiot, stupid, lame brain

I

• Isna(e) - Is not

J

• jag/jab - injection/punch

• jaked - being in a state of drunkenness (I was jaked last night)

• jake(y) - a person who is addicted to class A substances or alcohol and has poor quality of life as consequence

• jamp - past tense of jump (used mostly in the Highlands, especially the Black Isle)

• jessie/jessy - wimp/big girl's blouse

• Jim Delahunt - sports pundit and former presenter of Scotsport, rhyming slang for 'cunt', female genitalia

• jings! - Gosh!

• jobby - poo; plural form "jobbies"

• jobby jabber - a gay man (derogatory)

• junky - a drug user, commonly heroin ("ya junky bastard")

K

• knob - slang for penis, in particular knob-end; an irritating or contemptible person ("Whit a knob man!")

• knapdarloch - a piece of faeces hanging from an animal's fur)

• kip - sleep/nap ("If yur tired, try fur a kip." "am away fir a kip man, shattered"

• kippy - left ("He's kippy-handed.")

• kirk - church ("I can't get pished? Is this some kind of kurk?")

L

• laddie - A male (as in "Aye, laddie!")

• lecky - electricity - often used in reference to bills (she didn't pay her lecky this month)

• liftit - to be arrested by the police. e.g. He wiz totally pished in the police liftit him

• lip - cheek "(Ony mair o yer lip an ah’ll skelp yer dowp)"

• loaby - hallway, lobby, passageway

• loon - boy

• loupin - very sore/infested with lice ("My heid is loupin.")

• lassie - A female

• lugs - ears

M

• ma Kelly-Ann - term for the Mrs, me and Kelly-Ann did this my Kelly-Ann said that, me and Kelly Ann had a good pumpin last night etc etc

• magic - great/excellent (That's pure magic)

• maist- most

• malkied - (from Malky Fraser - Glasgow rhyming slang for 'razor') Initially to have been hit hard, or chibbed... blootered/drunk/wrecked (Heavy malkied last night, pal)

• maw - mum (Aye yer maw)

• mawkit/ manky - very dirty (Your trousers are mawkit!! Ya manky wee bam!!)

• meltit/melted - to be off one's face, usually on drugs - (Ah was pure melted man!)

• mense- Great or other words, a shorter form of immense

• messages - shopping

• mental - "that party last night was pure mental."

• mibay/ mibbe - maybe.

• Middin- Yer Hoose when ye came back fae a bevvy (or 1950s rubbish bin )

• min/mannie - mate (awright, min?)

• mince - rubbish/nonsense - (Dae talk mince)

• minger - originally a Scottish word for dirty/smelly/horrible person or ugly person

• mink - an unhygienic person, "You wee mink."

• minted - rich/wealthy ("Look at his motor, he must be minted.)

• mingin - horrible/dirty ("Your bathroom is mingin")

• the morn - tomorrow

• the morn's morn - tomorrow morning

• munter - ugly person ("That lassy you were winchin' last night was a proper munter.")

N

• nae danger - no chance / no way / no bother

• nana - grandmother

• napper - head

• Nat King - another word for intercourse getting your hole (from nat king cole)
• Nat King Cole - intercourse, commonly nat king cole, hole (rhyming slang)

• naw- no

• ned- acronym for 'non-educated delinquent', useless waster, troublemaker

• neebur- Neighbour

• nip- kiss (gonae give us a nip) or a single measure of an alcoholic spirit, often whisky (geez a nip wi that pint will ye darlin')

• neeps- Turnips, as in tatties and neeps or neeps an tatties, whichever you prefer.

• nippin - stinging.

• numpty - an endearing term/lovable idiot. Shows friendly banter ("Och, Jonathan! You're a right numpty")

• nut - head, or another term used for the word no

O

• oaf - off

• oakster - armpit

• oan yer bike - go away

• oan yer trolley - go away

• Onybody - Anybody

• oot - out

• outwith Outside ( he lives outwith the catchment area for the school. That is outwith the remit of the report.)

• oot yer nut -really drunk ( "mate, get hame yer oot yer nut.")/ off your head.

P

• pan - break or disfigure ("pan the windows in")

• patter - Banter (yer patter's sweet pal)

• panbread - dead

• pap - a breast

• paps - 2 or more breasts

• papa - grandfather

• park - field

• Pedro - Amazing (Aww sur, that is Pedro)

• peebrusht - rectum (- from an episode of Minder)

• peedy - small (" yer nae haf peedy ya ken ")

• pimps - easy ("That exam was pure pimps")

• pish - piss

• pished - drunk

• plastered - drunk

• polis - the police

• pooched - broken, fucked, useless. ("I pooched my bird up the closie last night") used in anger or expression, mainly used by people from Angus or Fife

• puckle - a few of something (not necessarily 2)

• pucklie - a small amount

• pure - very, totally ("she's pure no right".) used to emphasise something.

Q

• quality - great/excellent ("That film was quality.")

• quine - young women, girl, daughter

R

• radge - Crazy ("he went totally radge")

• ratarsed - drunk ("Lets get ratarsed!")

• Rebrov - man of stature (that guy is pure Rebrov man)

• reekbeek - horrible, disgusting (That lassie is pure reekbeek)

• roamin - Taking a walk ("gone on the piss, no told the missis an got lost")

• roaster - someone who is making a complete cunt of themselves ("Here, did ye see that roaster oan x-factor the other night?")

• raging - Very angry!!! (o your pure raging mate)

S

• sassenach - an English person, or an outlander

• scheme - residential area usually council estate

• scooby - clue, (no clue)

• scramble - Scottish tradition at weddings where the groom throws small change out of the wedding car for local weans to pick up. Also to go away

• scran - food or snack.

• scunnurt, scunnered - disgusted, fed up (Ah'm pure scunnurt)

• scunner - one who pisses ye aff, also used when hurt yourself (oh ye scunner that hurt)

• session / sesh - a night out drinking ("me and the boys had a hoora session the other night")

• shan - a shame ("that's shan as fuck")

• Shereen Nanjiani - a former newsreader and also rhyming slang for fanny, female genitalia (Ah booted her right in the Shereen Nanjiani).

• shin - shoes.

• shite - poop

• shneeb - smoke.

• simmer - Calm down (That kant needs to simmer before he gets leathered)

• skelp - to smack or hit someone/thing (He telt me tae get ma tits oot so I skelped him) (I skelped ma heed oaf the heedboard)

• skiddies - gentleman's undergarments with traces of last night's dinner

• skint (slang term for the word 'skinned') - no money/poor/no wages left.

• skuddy - naked ("Did ye see Jimmy? He was in the skuddy!")

• slitter - To dribble whilst eating ("You better no slitter soup aw doon yer new jumper.")

• solid - hard, tough (I wouldnae say nowt tae him man, he's solid)

• sook - big softie (ya wee sook)

• snashters - sweets or goodies to eat.

• sneck/snecky, also shneck/shnecky (from the Gaelic Sneagaidh) - Inverness.

• speccy - used to describe someone who wears glasses.

• spondoolyitis - a medical condition for talking shit

• spondoolies - money (as in, "Ye gaun tae the gemme the night?" "Naw." "Naw? How no'?" "Nae spondoolies")

• squint not straight

• square go - a fair fight, one to one fight

• steamin - drunk

• stoor dust. Look at aw that stoor on the telly.

• sup - small amount of liquid

• swallae - to swallow, also means alcohol ("Dae ye fancy gon fur a wee swallae doon the pub?")

• swatch - Look (Gae us a swatch o yur fanny)

• swick - cheat

T

• tad - tiny bit ("it's a tad small")

• tae - to (or toe in some instances, "Ah hurt ma tae.")

• talking oot yer fanny flaps - lying

• tan - smash windows (I'm gonny tan yer windaes), or also a drink ("Gonnae gies a tan ae yur juice?")

• tanned - to drink/drunk (I tant ten pints last night!)' to vandalise ("That hoose is gettin tanned")

• tap - to borrow money from someone ("Can ah tap a tenner aff ye?")

• taps aff - (tops off) it's a hot day <--- na just means the suns oot so we take wur taps aff.

• tassie - cup (especially one for whisky)

• tatties - potatoes

• tekul - good

• teuchter - someone that lives in the country (a bumpkin)

• that's a sin - what a shame

• toaty - small/tiny

• toonser - someone from the city

• tube - an idiot/fool

• Turkish - a faeces (Gies the paper, ah'm away fur a turkish) from rhyming slang: 'Turkish Delight' - Shite

• twa - two

• twally - A person of lesser intellect

W

• wallap (pronounced "wa-lup") - to hit someone/something ("Am gonnae wallap ye wan!") Can also mean to bang a body part ("Ah pure wallaped ma heid aff that table!")

• wallaper (pronounced wa-la-pur - an insult, meaning idiot/moron/dick ("He's a pure wallaper.") // Large ("tha's ah wallaper ye goat there!")

• wan / ane - one (number or referring to an object person) "Wan table please." "Wit wan de ye want?" "Geez ane."

• wan - won "I wan the race."

• wanker - insult - "youre a pure wanker"

• warmer - (pronounced "wahrmehr") another name for a fool, idiot.

• wean - (pronounced "Wayne") - child

• wee small

• weebarrah wheelbarrow

• weegie someone from Glasgow; from "Glaswegian"

• well - very "This band's well good." "Bed's well comfy."

• wha(e) who

• wheesht/wissht be quiet (haud yer wheesht)

• Whit What

• whit like? / Fit like?' How are you?

• "Whitey" - Throw up/be sick (Am gonnae whitey)

• wifie - woman

• winch - to French kiss someone 'geez a winch'

• Windae - Window.

• wit what

• wur - our as in We took wur taps aff (took our tops off)

Y

• yaks- eyes

• geein it laldie- giving 110%

• ye make a better dare thin a windae - I can't see past you

• yin - one (not the number but referring to a person or object) "The big yin is oan his way." "Ye want the big yin aff the shelf?")

• yocker / dockey - a large, but still throwable, stone.

• yonks - ages, a long time.

• yuptae - What are you up to? "yuptae th night ya bawbag?"

• yellae - yellow