Tanks and a tip o' the tam to Adullamite for pointing me towards a basic Scotslang primer.The very first one was enough to throw ME fer a loop laddie...
I'm not sure I agree this is really slang as much as it is just a phonetic writing of the accent. Anyway...
"ABC Minors"
Give up?
I did.
Apparently there is a movie chain called ABC Cinemas in Scotland. Apparently they show movies on Saturdays where mostly children and preteens attend.
So far so, good. Same as in the States.
Anyway, let's see if we can get this interpreted. I won't be able to do it by myself, although I think I know what most of it means. Again, the question is "What is/are ABC Minors".
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Saturday mornin' movies for weans at ABC cinemas. Show consisted of a shite children's film, usually wi Haley Mills in it. some cartoons, an a crap serial like "Attack o' the unconvincing robots." Ye went tae fling sooked jooblies at the screen and generally run aboot tae see if the man wid pit ye oot. If ye goat pit oot yer pals wid let ye back in through the fire exit.
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Ok, I'm going to take an American stab at this.
Weems is 'tweens, right?
You want to fling soaked (?) JuJu Beans at the screen... to see if the usher will put you out (throw you out.) If you got put out, your pals would let you back in through the exit door (later, after the man stopped waching.)
How'd I do?
I really didn't get the "minors" part. I guess a kiddie matinee.
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Now. Here are some Scottish sayings that I found on my own. I'll just give ye a few fer right now. See if you can tell what they mean. I mean in regular English. Heh.
1. Gonnae no' dae that!
2. Pure dead brilliant!
3. Yer bum's oot the windae!
4. Am pure done in.
5. Ma heid's mince.
6. Yer oot yer face!
7. Yer aff yer heid.
(Tell what they mean, not just translate word for word.)
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Some actual words. Can you tell what these words mean?
Auld
Aye
Bahooky
Bairn
Ben
Blether
Bonnie
Bowfing
Braw
"weans" = wee uns = little ones - so not necessarily tweens, could be younger.
ReplyDeleteSooo... where's the slang? :)
ReplyDeleteYou're a bit off track on the sooked jooblies. Jubblies gave rise to the other, but largely English, phrase "lovely jubbly".
Hilarious. I shall Tweet this. Anyway, I'm from the North of England which is sometimes similar:
ReplyDeleteJooblies, for me, were large tringular containers of frozen juice.
1 and 2 are obvious, 3 = you're getting thrown out; 4 = you're knackered, ie. very tired. 5 = (I know what it means but it's hard to find the words) - "My brain's fried." 6 = very drunk. 7 = crazy; out of your mind.
How'd I do?
The 'Cinema' piece is a West Coast thing, Glasgow and region. 'Weans,' is the guttural Glasgow way of saying 'Bairns,' the correct expression as used by the higher class of person in the East of Scotland.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of this excellent article is quite clear surely?
Mmm, Jubblies. Tetrahedral packs, before the days of cans and plastic bottles, waxed card, I think? Filled with sweet orange juice, drunk through a straw. Sold all over britain. No particular scottishness that I know of. I remember buying milk in Scotland (Ardnamurchan) in plastic bags. They arrived at the village co-op in cardboad boxes. inevitably one or more would be leaking.
ReplyDeleteBairns is similar to old norse, 'barn' a child.
The passage regarding ABC minors is clear as a bell.
The handy tourist phrases are clear too.
Let us point out that this is mostly glasgie and surrounding regions, industrial, working class, city scottish. Not universal.
1. Gonnae no' dae that!
I'm, or we're probably going to do that, because it's forbidden, unwise, or madly dangerous. This can ALSO men, depending on tone of voice "Okay, I won't do that then". be prepared to grab the speaker, because that denial means he's about to do it.
2. Pure dead brilliant!
Wonderful. Better than just good.
3. Yer bum's oot the windae!
A multipurpose phrase; It could mean, "In just a moment I'm going to pick you up, and hurl you with all my contempt, through the window of this place and out into the street where crows will peck out your worthless eyes", or it mich mean "You are showing your ignorance".
4. Am pure done in.
"I am so drunk/drug-damaged, that I'm ready to fall down and sleep".
5. Ma heid's mince.
"My head is mince" Mince is what, in America, you'd call ground beef. Mince in this case means disarranged, disordered, chaos.
6. Yer oot yer face!
To be out of one's face, is to be nonsensically drunk.
7. Yer aff yer heid.
"You are off your head" Drunk. Very.
A lot of Glaswegian slang relates to the after effects of drinking.
A visit to the city explains why. A significant proportion of the city's inhabitants are descended from a long line of hard-drinking fighting idiots. (Eejits)
I'd recommend a book or two by Christopher Brookmyre for further exercise.
Or Irving Walsh.
Well, I learned a lot. I think I'm gonnae no' dae that agin. Soon. Yo. Arrh! Scottish talk is sorta like pirate talk, aye?
ReplyDeleteYou all got them all 100% right. One would think you were all natives fer crissake! Unfair.
@Adullamite - "cinema" is a California thing? Really?
ReplyDelete@Almost American - I think I shall have to get to know you better. :)
ReplyDelete@A. - I'm more confused than ever. You always leave me more confused. And you do it on purpose. So Jublies is a drink. PeeYuck.
ReplyDelete@Expat Mum - Where north? I know a pretty cool person from Northeast.
ReplyDelete(No, not Yorkshire. More north. Actually some pretty cool people more South as well.) :)
@Adullamite - NOTHING is quite clear surely to me. You should know that by now. Heh.
ReplyDelete@Soubriquet - are you talking about the same thing I wrote about. we need no geometry. Especially metric geometry. But don't think I don't know that means 7-sided. So you've been to Scotland? Could they understand you?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the book recommendations. I'll be sure to.
Well, I might, actually. I have this scary fascination to learn how BritishSpeak.
Ok, 9-sided?
ReplyDeleteOk, this is my last guess:
ReplyDeleteA three-dimensional geometric arrangement having three axes at right angles, two of them equal.
How'd I do?