Comments on: Celtic Centre – the Slang of Irvine Welsh

By: Daniel K

Daniel K — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 23:03:09 +0000

I’m not interested in football and so this news only reached me in Texas two days ago. But you’re right- it’s fairly catastrophic in cultural terms. Also, speaking of Irvine Welsh, I’m pretty sure Hearts had one of the big “casual” teams in the 80s and 90s. Their rival Hibs certainly did.

By: Gaw

Gaw — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:34:04 +0000

Hi Daniel – There hasn’t been much coverage of it down here, but isn’t the demise of Rangers and the imminent demise of Hearts quite a big deal in Scottish cultural terms? The left-footers must be pishing themselves…

By: Gaw

Gaw — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:30:18 +0000

I’ve enjoyed a couple of James Kelman’s novels, despite their not being written in my dialect. I think they’re very immediate and sympathetic.

They must be a good source of slang too, Mr S?

By: Philip Wilkinson

Philip Wilkinson — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:52:03 +0000

Leith Castle and Environs: you are keeping us awake with your allusions, Mr Slang.

I think I remember from my one visit to the Colony Room Club a pink neon sign reading “Cunty” amongst the other works of art on display there. I don’t know who made it, but I recall that the word was used as term of affection by the original proprietor, Muriel Belcher – but she would do that, wouldn’t she?. There were no balls to be seen…

By: Mr Slang

Mr Slang — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Daniel: Many thanks. There are times when one does not know and the first port of call – dictionaries not being any help – is context. Since it is invariably used derogatively, I assumed that the blend made the ultimately feminine ‘cunty’ a diminution of masculine ‘balls’. Inferring effeminacy being one of the staples of slang insults. But, and I did ponder this and obviously should have pondered to better effect, it is simply ‘cunt’ as in fool, obnoxious person etc. As far as I know it has not penetrated south of the border but I am open to refutation.

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:11:21 +0000

Cludgie crossed the Atlantic (shorn of its diminutive), was mixed with the American engineer's slang kluge for a badly designed but functional device, and emerged as kludge (with the GOOSE vowel), a computer programmer's slang term for an over-complex and "dirty" solution to a problem, deployed when one does not have time or mental energy to produce a better one.

By: Daniel K

Daniel K — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:49:02 +0000

I am from just up the road (Fife) and can attest that cunty-baws does not usually imply effeminacy, but is rather an intensified form of baws, with added dismissiveness. It can also function as a freestanding expression, almost a sigh or exhalation when confronted with something that is shite.

By: Brit

Brit — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:46:59 +0000

Trainspotting was all the rage when I was at university, the original pre-movie cover with the skull masks and that quote from (I think) Rebel Inc: “deserves to sell more copies than the Bible.”

A lot of my contemporaries found it utterly unreadable but strangely I had no problems at all with the Scots – because the voice (of Renton) was so strong it just carried you along.