Slang & the novel "Trainspotting"
Maf Vosburgh
It's set in Leith and central Edinburgh, and is written using a lot of
Scottish phoenetic spelling and slang.
As I'm not an Edinburgh Scot myself, I've had a lot of trouble working
out all the slang words, so can anyone supply definitions for these?
radge
gadge
bam
swedge
weedjie
ayesure
likesay
... and loads more I can't remember right now.
Also, why would you call someone a "draftpak"?
And who would you call a "soapdodger"?
I have theories about most of these, but I'm not sure.
thanks
Maf
Malcolm MacArthur
> Maf Vosburgh wrote:
>>
>> As I'm not an Edinburgh Scot myself, I've had a lot of trouble working
>> out all the slang words, so can anyone supply definitions for these?
>
Easy... someone who continually dodges soap (and presumably water) is
eventually going to end up very dirty indeed. Hence a sopadodger is someone
whose personal hygiene is of a low standard. ('a tinkie' in other words...)
--
Malcolm MacArthur ins...@river.tay.ac.uk
"Yield to temptation - it may not pass your way again."
Gavin Venters
Not sure who the original poster is but there's a couple of inaccuracies.
>> bam Bum. A loser, a waster, a useless person.
I don't think means the same as a bum in America. Its either more pejorative
(esp. in bam-pot) or just a neutral word indicating a person (like gadge).
>> weedjie I've heard this used to describe an ouija(?sp) board.
> We (in Edinburgh druggy days) also used it as a
> nickname for a girl called Louise. Does this help?
a weedgie is a glaswegian
>> likesay 'like I say' -- as I was just saying
phonetic rendition of 'likes of' as in "I've no time for the likes of you"
>> And who would you call a "soapdodger"?
A weedgie!
G.
Morna.Findlay
>>
>> As I'm not an Edinburgh Scot myself, I've had a lot of trouble working
>> out all the slang words, so can anyone supply definitions for these?
>
> groove or hole in metal...' and says the word is
> current only in Banffshire. Could this be the right
> word? If so, mail the Scottish National Dictionary
> Association!
Swedgin means fighting.
>> weedjie I've heard this used to describe an ouija(?sp) board.
> We (in Edinburgh druggy days) also used it as a
> nickname for a girl called Louise. Does this help?
That's what people from Edinburgh call us Glaswegians. There's no
equivalent name as we Glaswegians never talk about people from
Edinburgh.
>> And who would you call a "soapdodger"?
An unwashed person. cf coffin-dodger
cheers
M
--
Morna Findlay MAIL:mo...@dcs.ed.ac.uk
Thanksgiving For a National Victory (Robert Burns)
Ye hypocrites! are these your pranks? To murder men and give God thanks?
Desist, for shame! Proceed no further: God won't accept your thanks for murther.
Donald Pattie
Simon Brooke <si...@rheged.dircon.co.uk> wrote:
>> swedge ? don't know. The CSD gives 'a tool for making... a
> groove or hole in metal...' and says the word is
> current only in Banffshire. Could this be the right
> word? If so, mail the Scottish National Dictionary
> Association!
Fight - probably mindless and very violent as in football hooliganism
>> weedjie I've heard this used to describe an ouija(?sp) board.
> We (in Edinburgh druggy days) also used it as a
> nickname for a girl called Louise. Does this help?
A Glaswegian. Maybe Louise was from Glasgow?
>> And who would you call a "soapdodger"?
I've heard it used as an offensive term for supporters of Celtic FC. Don't
know if it generalises to an offensive term for Roman Catholics.
--
Donald Pattie, Dept of Computing & Elec Eng | http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~donald
Heriot-Watt University, EDINBURGH EH14 4AS | Tel 0131-451-3421 Fax -3431
I Johnston
: Maf Vosburgh wrote:
: > swedge ? don't know. The CSD gives 'a tool for making... a
: groove or hole in metal...' and says the word is
: current only in Banffshire. Could this be the right
: word? If so, mail the Scottish National Dictionary
: Association!
I'm pretty sure that this isn't the right one for the book. Tae gie some
cunt a swedgin is not to educating him in making holes or grooves in
metal. Violence is implied.
: > weedjie I've heard this used to describe an ouija(?sp) board.
: We (in Edinburgh druggy days) also used it as a
: nickname for a girl called Louise. Does this help?
A Glaswegian
: > likesay 'like I say' -- as I was just saying
Or in my childhood "the likes of", - "A big dug, likesay an alsatian or
something"
: > Also, why would you call someone a "draftpak"?
I presumed skin head, with haircuts like those who have been drafted.
: Don't know. I wouldn't. But it's twenty years since I mixed with the
: Edinburgh drug scene.
I suspect as well that many of the words used are very local in origina,
and may relate to slang current in a particular school at a particular
time.
Ian
I Johnston
: Swedgin means fighting.
I notice that he also refers to a fight as a pagger - a word I had
previously only seen in Biffa Bacon as "pagga".
Who says there aren't any novels written in Scots?
Ian
John Swan
Ahem...
> radge
Noun -General insult or Adjective - Crazy, reckless (can be in the "admirable" sense)
> gadge
Noun - ordinary "man in the street" - punter
> bam
Adjective - Crazy (bad sense)
> swedge
Noun - Sweet (sweetie).
> weedjie
Adjective - Glaswegian (and boy, do they hate the term ;-) )
> ayesure
Two words concatenated together: aye and sure (yes,alright)
> likesay
Two words concatenated together to mean "likes of" - hard to explain
often used as a suffix to defuse a otherwise controversial statement.
> Also, why would you call someone a "draftpak"?
Not sure about this - never heard it. Draftpak is one of those sealable
plastic jugs that a pub will fill up with draught beer?
> And who would you call a "soapdodger"?
A Glaswegian (see weedjie ;-) )
> I have theories about most of these, but I'm not sure.
Share them! Might be more entertaining than the real thing...
Cheers,
John
--
John Swan (no relation to Mother Superior)
Edinburgh, SCOTLAND.
Linda Orton
>Maf Vosburgh wrote:
>>
>> As I'm not an Edinburgh Scot myself, I've had a lot of trouble working
>> out all the slang words, so can anyone supply definitions for these?
>> weedjie I've heard this used to describe an ouija(?sp) board.
> We (in Edinburgh druggy days) also used it as a
> nickname for a girl called Louise. Does this help?
I thought it referred to someone from Glasgow - a Glaswegian
Linda
Charles McCartan
Soapdodger is a weedjie/glaswegian, particularly used to describe
"fans" of the tims or the huns (celtic/rangers). No religious abuse
intended. I should know - I'm a tim in the religious sense but not in
the football sense. It's just having a pop at the great unwashed over
on the west coast <vbg>
Before anyone asks about another Irvine Welsh story, the song in full
is:
Hibees here
Hibees there
Hibees fuckin everywhere
...and deserves a place in anyone's top ten
The CSD has hibee as a Perth term for the last staple in a stapler and
the associated sinking feeling of knowing that it will have to be
disassembled and refilled. This occurs particularly between the months
of November and February :-(
But what do they fucken know, likesay ;-)
All the best
Charlie
David Thom
:>Maf Vosburgh wrote:
:>>
:>> As I'm not an Edinburgh Scot myself, I've had a lot of trouble working
:>> out all the slang words, so can anyone supply definitions for these?
:>> swedge ? don't know. The CSD gives 'a tool for making... a
:> current only in Banffshire. Could this be the right
:> word? If so, mail the Scottish National Dictionary
:> Association!
swedger, was/is slang for sweets here on the West coast!!
snip-------
:>> ayesure I assume, 'aye, sure' -- a confirmatory interjection
I use aye-right!, as a sarcastic yeh, sure! (that'll be right!)
:>> likesay 'like I say' -- as I was just saying
:>>
again over here it means ' for example' "think yer a popstar like-say Take That?"
:>
:>> And who would you call a "soapdodger"?
:>
:>Again, don't know.
somebody whos manky, was also used by the lower middle classes to
describe blacks and asians.
--
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Maf Vosburgh
John Swan's list in particular is a very good fit with the book, except
"swedge" which it always uses to mean "fight" not "sweet".
A draftpak is literally a takeaway container for draught beer, but the
book also uses the word to describe a certain sort of person.
The best theory posted is that this means skinhead or squaddie.
In the book Draftpaks arrive in groups, are male, and are always up for a
good swedge, so either fits very well.
While "soapdodger" is literally a term used for someone who doesn't wash
enough, in the book it seems to be used as a slang term for catholic, as
the word is contrasted with "orange".
Maf
I Johnston
: swedger, was/is slang for sweets here on the West coast!!
So the next time someone offers to gie ye a guid swedgin, just shut your
eyes and hold out your hands ... I take it you haven't read the book?
Ian
Simon Brooke
>
> Simon Brooke (si...@rheged.dircon.co.uk) wrote:
>
> : > likesay 'like I say' -- as I was just saying
>
> Or in my childhood "the likes of", - "A big dug, likesay an alsatian or
> something"
Aye, aiblins; Ah speir at Ah'd hae spellt thon 'liksa'. Gin thon's hou it's
spellt i the buik, fair eneuch.
--
------- si...@galloway.co.uk (Simon Brooke) http://www.galloway.co.uk/~simon
'there are no solutions, only precipitates'
Gavin Venters
>Thanks everyone for the definitions.
>
>John Swan's list in particular is a very good fit with the book, except
>"swedge" which it always uses to mean "fight" not "sweet".
>
>
>A draftpak is literally a takeaway container for draught beer, but the
>book also uses the word to describe a certain sort of person.
>The best theory posted is that this means skinhead or squaddie.
>In the book Draftpaks arrive in groups, are male, and are always up for a
>good swedge, so either fits very well.
I think that I might have posted something on this already but it doesn't seem
to have appeared so here it is again - if you've seen it already ignore this.
I think that draftpak is supposed to refer to the fact that such things
often have a large empty space at the top. My Auntie tells me that French
Canadians were often called 'Pepsis' by their compatriots in reference to the
fact that bottles of Pepsi were usually empty from the neck up.
G.
Iain Baird
: In article <4ggqpq$h...@news.bt.net>, Maf Vosburgh <m...@mmcorp.com> wrote:
: >Thanks everyone for the definitions.
: >A draftpak is literally a takeaway container for draught beer, but the
: >book also uses the word to describe a certain sort of person.
: >The best theory posted is that this means skinhead or squaddie.
: >In the book Draftpaks arrive in groups, are male, and are always up for a
: >good swedge, so either fits very well.
Draftpaks have to be carried out of the pub?
iain
Graham R Pearson
<si...@rheged.dircon.co.uk> writes:
> Maf Vosburgh wrote:
> We (in Edinburgh druggy days) also used it as a
> nickname for a girl called Louise. Does this help?
"Weegie" (haven't a scooby about the spelling) is short for "glaswegian",
surely?
--
Graham R Pearson