Glesca Patter 10

[Moonwatcher]

First posted on SPDG 22 February 2004

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Glesca Patter 10

'Crivens. Jings. Help mah Boab!’

If ye read these words anywher (apart fae jist noo) it’s a sure bet yer readin either Oor Wullie or the Broons. Wir intae Sunday Post territory here ye understaun, nane eh yer Sunday Times wae it’s borin awl supplements an share prices an awe! Naw, wir talkin the Sunday Post ‘Fun Section’ wae Wee Eck, Fat Boab, PC Murdoch, Maw an Paw Broon, Granpaw, Maggie, Hen, Horace, Joe, the Bairn, the Twins and Daphnie. Did ah miss anybiddy importint?

Although a Dundee publication, Oor Wullie and the Broon (Brown) family were/are undoubtedly ensconsed on Glasgow. The Broons live in what must be a large tenement ‘hoose’ in Glebe St. Glebe St actually existed until the 1970s when, like many of the streets in the Towhhead/Royston (Garngad) area of the city, it disappeared under what is now the M8 motorway. So what about that crivens, help mah boab stuff? The fact is that I dont recall it ever being part of the native vocabulary when I was a kid in that area. We used to say ‘jings’ occasionally but that too seems to have died out. Perhaps when the Broons and Co. first went to press, back in the 30s, those phrases were in use but, if so, it didn’t survive except in the pages of the Sunday Post.
What HAS survived however are the characters and the buildings within the pages of the Sunday newspaper. Frozen in time (almost). Wullie is still the same wee boy that I knew in the 50s, hasn’t aged a day!
The Broons still live in their Glebe St flat, totally unaffected by any motorway. Granpaw is still going strong and must now be around 140 years old, while the bairn still toddles about in her frilly dress and getting up to (and away with) mischief.
The Broons and Oor Wullie – A Scottish Institution!

http://www.toonhound.com/broons.htm

So why hiv ah stertitt aff wae the Broons when ah’m supposed tae be continuin wae the ‘haitches’? Nae reason.

... H (continued)

heevin –
Busy. A place is said to be ‘heevin’ when there are a lot of people, crowded together.
‘Ah tried tae get intae the pub tae watch the match oan the telly, but the place wis heevin.’

heid –
Head. (pronounced ‘heed’)

Incidently, I was interested to see the phrase ‘hauder oan’ appear in a post in the Occupations forum during the week. Just goes to show how a working knowledge of Glesca Patter can be helpful when deciphering those old certificates.

heidie -
Oor Wullie would have called it ‘keepie-up’. Keeping a football in the air by bouncing it off your head. Also a Headmaster may be referred to as The Heidie. During a football game one might hear;
‘Eh heided the baw right intae the net.’

herr -
Hair. ‘Ah’m gaun fur a herrcut.’

het –
If yiv ever played ‘Tig, Chases or Hide n Seek’ ye’ll know whit this means. In ‘Tig’ for example, one person chases aw the rest wae the object of touching wan eh them. When that happens, the person touched becomes ‘het’. That means that person now has to do the chasin. Did that make any sense? Anyway, the most crucial part of the game as I recall was right at the very begining when it had to be decided who would be ‘het’ first. This was always acomplished by everyone lining up and holding out both hands made into fists. The leader of the pack/group/gang would stand in front and recite a wee rhyme whilst he/she (sometimes the girls were leaders!) tapped each fist in rotation in time with each word of the rhyme. On the last word of the rhyme, whoever’s fist was tapped – they were ‘het’. Everyone would run like the clappers and the game would begin.

‘One potato, two potato
Three potato, four,
Five potato, six potato,
Seven potato, more,
You are Het!’

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe wiz another yin.

high heid yin –
Boss. Top Man.

hing –
Thing.

hink –
Think.

You’re probably begining to realise that ‘th’ in Glaswegian is often replaced with ‘H’.

hoachin –
Infested. Crammed full.
True story coming up... As some of you may have gathered from previous ramblings, I used to work in the ambulance service in Glasgow. My mate and I once picked up an old drunk from an even older pub in Saltmarket (a haven of modest charm as we used to say.) He was non compis... compos... compus... (did we ever get tae the bottom of that word?) (Oops I said ‘bottom’, oh dear!) Anyway, we ferried our wee drunk up the High St to Glasgow Royal Infirmary Casualty (A&E) Department. There he was put into a nice wee cubicle in the middle of the department and we went for our tea. On our return pandemonium reigned! Staff and patients were being evacuated from the unit and a stern faced sister (bearing a strong resemblance to Hattie Jacques from the ‘Carry On’ films) took us aside and threatened us with enemas.
‘Ye remember that drunk ye broat in?’
‘Aye,’ we said in unison. ‘Is eh causin trouble like?’
‘Naw it’s no him that’s causin the trouble,’ shouted the sister ‘it’s aw his friends – eez hoachin!’
For the next two hours the GRI A&E and our ambulance were out of bounds while both them and us were fumigated.
Ah kin think of even better examples of hoachin but ah’d only put yeez aff yer Sunday dinner!

hoachy –
Lucky. ‘Eh won fifty quid oan a lottery tickit eh fun (found) in the street – hoachy we sod that eh iz!’

honkin –
Stinking, smelly. The pub I mentioned earlier could be described as this.

hooley –
Wild weather. ‘It’s blawin a hooley oot ther!’

hoose –
House. Tenement flats were never called flats. They were always ‘Hooses’
‘A’ve a nice wee hoose, wan up in Rosemount Street.’
Even the humble ‘single en’ was always a HOUSE.

hoat pea special –
Long gone now, but a Glasgow favourite in the 40s & 50s I believe. Hot peas and vinegar.

how’s it gaun –
Standard greeting.

howk –
Pull. As in tattie howkers or ‘Ah went tae the dentist an he howked mah tooth oot.’

huckle –
Move bodily, usually off the premises.
‘Start any of yer kerry oan Jimmy an ah’ll huckle ye oot a here!’

hunner –
100.

hurr –
Her.

hurl –
Ride. A lift. ‘Any chance eh a hurl doon the road?’ Also ‘hudgie’ where ye jump oan the back eh a truck or midden motor an get an illicit (and dangerous) ride doon the street.

hut -
Hit (past tense)
‘Heh Maw! He hut meh!’
‘Well hit im back ya big jesse!’
SLAP!
BOOT!
‘Heh Maw! He kicked meh’
‘Heh you, stoap hittin mah boay!’
‘He hut meh furst!’
SLAP!
‘Eh hut meh again!’

An we’ll jist leave them fightin tae next week.
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Naw we'll separate thim amorra.

Bob.

[mesklin]

Aye Bob. Ye missed oot Soapy Soutar!

Go to the bottom of the class!

Dave

[Moonwatcher]

Nah! Ah wiz jist testin. Gled tae see ye wirr peyin attenshin.

Bob.

[nelmit]

First posted on SPDG 22 February 2004

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Glesca Patter 10

het –
If yiv ever played ‘Tig, Chases or Hide n Seek’ ye’ll know whit this means. In ‘Tig’ for example, one person chases aw the rest wae the object of touching wan eh them. When that happens, the person touched becomes ‘het’. That means that person now has to do the chasin. Did that make any sense? Anyway, the most crucial part of the game as I recall was right at the very begining when it had to be decided who would be ‘het’ first. This was always acomplished by everyone lining up and holding out both hands made into fists. The leader of the pack/group/gang would stand in front and recite a wee rhyme whilst he/she (sometimes the girls were leaders!) tapped each fist in rotation in time with each word of the rhyme. On the last word of the rhyme, whoever’s fist was tapped – they were ‘het’. Everyone would run like the clappers and the game would begin.

‘One potato, two potato
Three potato, four,
Five potato, six potato,
Seven potato, more,
You are Het!’

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe wiz another yin.

Bob.

One that I remember (and try to keep going today) is :

'Dic dic-ta-shun cor-pur-a-shun
How many buses are in the sta-shun
(after a number from 1 - 10 was given it continued)...........
You are out with a dirty washing clout
Right over you left jaw
Just .....like........ this
(a whack on the left jaw could only be avoided if ye were good at countin')

Annette M

[Guest]

Don't forget Jeemy.
HK

[mesklin]

One, two, three a leery
Four, five, six a leery
Seven, eight, nine a leery
Ten a leery
Over

Childrens counting rhyme for tig.

[nelmit]

One, two, three a leery
Four, five, six a leery
Seven, eight, nine a leery
Ten a leery
Over

Childrens counting rhyme for tig.

Dave,

Now don't ask me why but when we sang that rhyme the line after 'ten a leery' was 'Postman's knock'

[Guest]

Hello,hello,hello sir
Meet me at the grocer
No Sir,why Sir
because I've got a cold Sir
Where'd you get the cold Sir
Catching Polar Bear Sir
How many did you catch

Then we would continue counting till we were out.The catch was we stood with our back to a wall and put a sponge ball in a stocking.We then swung the ball alternetly from RT side of head to left knee then left side of head to RT knee.You had to keep the beat.
HK