Edinburgh slang

[Chris Benoit]

We called chewing gum "chuggy" in high school. No idea if that's an Edinburgh thing...or even a thing.

 

And of course, the shortened version of "chug" has completely different connotations...

 

 

It was chuggy in Dunfermline too

[ArcticJambo]

The following link takes you to Leith Patter (I know but anyway) :

 

http://www.oldleither.com/Leithpatter.html

 

A lot of the words are probably generic and not specifically attributed to Leith/Edinburgh.

 

'Gies a bar'

[GlasgoJambo]

I've heard just about all of these words outwith Edinburgh fairly regularly. The only ones that you only hear in Edinburgh are shan and barry.

 

So true. Apart from shan.

[topcat]

There's a town in South Wales called Barry.

 

That's a bit arrogant isn't it.

[Tazio]

There's a town in South Wales called Barry.

 

That's a bit arrogant isn't it.

 

Maybe Barry Fry should give up on football and open a chippy in Edinburgh?

[Auld Reekin']

its used in Essex though, namely Tilbury

 

"Chore", as in steal, comes from the Hindi word chor, meaning thief. As the Romany language and people also have their roots in India, it could have come to eastern Scotland / parts of northern England from Romany travellers, or it could be one of the many words that entered the English language from the British Raj.

 

I never heard "ben" used in Edinburgh: the first time I heard it was from my then girlfriend from Penicuik.

 

I used to spend a bit of time in Newcastle in the early 80s and "mott" for an attractive young woman - very similar to the word "mort" mentioned by a previous poster - was widely employed down there. I've no idea as to its origins, though. I was surprised how much of the north-east / Geordie dialect and slang was identical to that in eastern Scotland.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Auld Reekin'

[Sergio Garcia]

I have used "bunker" and "chum" all my live and I am from Lanarkshire.

 

"Ben" and "Shan" are words I have only heard fairly recently.

[gadgey55]

Anyone ever heard of the word 'yarries' for eggs??

[Guest C00l K1d]

Is dingle a edinburgh word?

 

As in ''SHUT IT YA badword DINGUL''

[Fxxx the SPFL]

some games i played as a bairn in Gorgie, 'guttery' involving marbles in the gutter, 'levoy' a game involving two teams used to be between the wheatfield and westfield lads and 'kerbie' one person on each side of the road and you used to try and chip the ball against the kerb. dont know if they are peculiar to edinburgh.

[PsychocAndy]

Is dingle a edinburgh word?

 

As in ''SHUT IT YA badword DINGUL''

 

West Brom fans call Wolves this

[Kalamazoo Jambo]

 

Never ever heard of the word bunker being used to mean countertop until I read this thread

 

Shan, chum, chore and the like were pretty common even in the rarified atmosphere of Balerno High

 

Does everyone call the A70 the Lang Whang?

 

[winniethedog]

Gantin ?

[PsychocAndy]

Shoot the Craw meaning I'm In a hurry and I need to leave now.

[Pete Seeger]

even chum and messages? and " a blackman"

 

Yes.

[Boof]

Gantin ?

 

To gant is to yawn in Shetland, though I do appreciate what it means in the phrase "That's gantin'".

[Toxteth O'Grady]

 

Never ever heard of the word bunker being used to mean countertop until I read this thread

 

Shan, chum, chore and the like were pretty common even in the rarified atmosphere of Balerno High

 

Does everyone call the A70 the Lang Whang?

 

Aye.

 

The pubs in Balerno were/are? known as Ma Browns and the Honkey although neither are really called those names.

[Toxteth O'Grady]

 

 

 

To gant is to yawn in Shetland, though I do appreciate what it means in the phrase "That's gantin'".

 

I remember a Shetland lad that worked for me one summer thought it was amusing when I said I'd been grafting all morning. I meant working but he thought I meant knitting

[Tazio]

I just accused someone in work of being a clipe and everyone looked at me like I was talking a foreign language.

[leginten]

 

I just accused someone in work of being a clipe and everyone looked at me like I was talking a foreign language.

 

Happens to me as well. It's a great word that has been supplanted by less interesting terms such as "grass".

[Auld Reekin']

I just accused someone in work of being a clipe and everyone looked at me like I was talking a foreign language.

 

That's because it should be spelled 'clype'!

[Hansel]

 

Hornies-Police

I heard someone refer to them as that recently and had never heard of it before in my life. Thought they'd just made it up.

[Hansel]

What about bagsy? eg... When playing tig "Cannae tig yer butcher, no changes, I bagsy"

 

It made an agreement legally binding in the school play ground.

[Boof]

When playing tig "Cannae tig yer butcher, no changes, I bagsy"

 

I have no idea what that means

 

We (Shetland again) have used bags or bagsy as staking a claim i.e. "I bags the front seat" or "Bagsy orange jelly babies".

[Hansel]

 

 

I have no idea what that means

 

We (Shetland again) have used bags or bagsy as staking a claim i.e. "I bags the front seat" or "Bagsy orange jelly babies".

Aye, we'd use it in that way too.

 

Cannae tig yer butcher meant, when playing tig, you couldn't tig someone straight back after they'd just tagged you.

[Boof]

That's a bit more quaint than "No tag-backs" which I have heard here

 

Quite like that one.

[letsalllaughathobos]

Barry gadgey, ken what a mean eh,

Good man, know what I mean? yes?

 

Just a baw hair,

not far

 

 

[Kalamazoo Jambo]

 

Aye.

 

The pubs in Balerno were/are? known as Ma Browns and the Honkey although neither are really called those names.

 

In the village you have...

 

Ma Brow's - The Grey Horse

The Honky - The Malleny Arms

 

Back in the day, you also had The Marchbank (spent pretty much an entire summer there in 1990 before the place burnt down!), The Kestrel and The Johnsburn.

[ArcticJambo]

I was speaking to my mum and she knew the bunker as the deep sink in the kitchen where her mum did the washing. My dad knew the bunker, as the coal bunker ... they lived a street apart from each other between the Walk and Easter Road in Leith between the mid forties and 1968.

 

Was a 'bag off', as in generally a wee necking and groping session a common term outwith Edinburgh?

[PsychocAndy]

"Cuddle ma humf" or just "cuddle it" or is that just Panners that say that.

[Debut 4]

Sadly, a lot of these words are dying out through the generations.

 

My Mum and Dad still use "Ben".....and I used it for a while when younger but I notice I don't use it now as an adult.

 

I've stopped using bunker and say work top more often.

[Mipp]

On 09/10/2013 at 23:05, Sooperstar said:

Don't know what all this 'Ben' chat is about and I have lived in Edinburgh all of my life.

 

As far as I am aware a Ben is either a name or a big hill.

Def an Edinburgh word. Used a lot, as in;  git ben (ie your parents might stay ‘get or come through here’ - or ‘get through there’). Or ‘it’s ben the room’, (in the room). Since I was a child in the 60’s even to the present day