I was so excited to take part in the Scotland activity last Friday night. I considered a few different phrases we could discuss this week, but thought I would do something a little bit different and teach you all a few Glaswegian words to try out! The dialect in Glasgow is almost completely different language. There is no sensible explanation for it but I will try my best to explain it!
Ginger
So, the word ginger has two meanings. The first one is to describe people with red hair. We aren’t redheads in Glasgow, we are Gingers. The most famous family of “gingers” is arguably the Weasleys in the Harry Potter books, but I think my family is close to giving them a run for their money as my dad, three brothers and I all carry the ginger gene (and ginger temper!)
Ginger is also the term used to describe a fizzy drink. You can perhaps see the link between irn bru and redheads, but a “bottle of ginger” can be used for any kind of juice. So, if you ever ask a Scottish person if they would like something from the shop and the reply is “a bottle of ginger” we don’t mean the spice!
Blether
Meaning to have a conversation. So, on Friday night I’m looking forward to having a good blether with you all during the activity!
“Taps Aff”
Translated into proper English Taps Aff means “tops off” but here in Glasgow it is used to describe a warm day. This week we have been treated to some great weather. The temperature has reached 18 degrees and I promise you there will be people making the most of it and men will be walking around with their “taps aff.” I’ve just checked the weather in Zaragoza can and see that the temperature is reaching 31 this week, so I understand you might think we are a bit crazy, but we must make the most of any sunshine we get here! This week could possibly be our entire summer!
Aye/ Aye right
Aye simply means yes. But just to complicate things “aye right” is a phrase when you don’t believe something you are told. You might have been thinking “aye right” when you read that we believe 18 degrees is the height of our summer!
Greet
“Greet” is common Scottish slang for crying.
At the weekend, it was my grandpa’s 80th birthday. We went to Celtic Park and did the stadium tour. He got to lead us all out the tunnel onto the pitch, which is one of his biggest dreams coming through. We were all feeling emotional about it and everyone was about to greet!
I hope you have enjoyed learning some words from Glasgow. I’ve tried my best to describe them and hope it makes a bit more sense now! If you really want to test yourself with Glasweigan conversation then I recommend trying to watch a bit of the BBC Scotland program Still Game, but maybe with the subtitles! Looking forward to our activity on Friday night and hope you can get a few of these phrases into the conversation then!
Gemma xoxo