Glasgow Accent Example - Beautiful Scottish Voices

Och aye, och aye the noo. Brilliant, oh that sounds fantastic. 

Stop the bus need a wee wee, a wee  wee drink of just on a biscuit.

Okay well thank you Katie for being  with us today. Of course. um Katie 

I love the Scottish, any scottish accent  um do people generally have that reaction  

to you when they hear you they're like  oh i love your accent yeah def like it's  

people think it's a lot friendlier if i'm speaking  to people or i've worked at edinburgh fringe  

before where i was just um fly around for for  a comedian and so many people had like hand on  

the flyers and they'd be like oh you're actually  from here and it's like well yeah i'm scottish  

and they're like oh we'll definitely see it then  so it's like a lot more trustworthy yeah it comes  

across anyway i noticed that actually when you  phone if you have a problem and you phone customer  

services whether it's for a services like a gas  or electric problem or if it's with your phone  

usually when you call the customer service it's  going to be a scottish accent on the other end of  

the phone and that's because it it generally puts  people at ease we're quite relaxing apparently  

although i don't think that if i  hear like other accents or like  

even if my dad's speaking i'm like how is anybody  finding this stayed relaxing like apparently  

it's something like funeral services um charities  and like insurance middle-aged scottish men are  

meant to be the most reliable voices you  can hear wow and i'm like definitely not

yeah definitely um I think I work  in customer service quite a lot of  

course so especially in London like you're  working with people that are from everywhere  

um and if I'm being particularly lazy and  dropping my teas and things like that even  

just introducing myself as Katie right  and like extending the a and it's like  

so what are you saying oh yeah just trying to say  it man I'm like I'm Katie and then like k sorry  

and it's like five minutes and I've  not done anything because I'm like k

yeah, there's it kind of alters sometimes  it's a case of just mimicking back what I say  

or or like okay okay the new is another classic  and I don't think I've ever said it in my life  

have you ever heard a Scottish  person saying no like okay hi but um  

no definitely not and it's it's the first thing  it's either are you're Scottish or Irish? I'm  

Scottish and then they're like okay and I'm  like oh my goodness and what does okay the name  

actually mean okay so you don't use it so we've  got that but what does it actually mean um like

yeah the translation is like oh yeah  just now um i suppose you'd be like  

are you nearly finished you come in for  a drink you'd be like okay the knee I'm  

coming in a minute okay sort of thing but  again like I wouldn't actually use it right  

so a little tip if you ever meet anyone from  Scotland do not say to them okay they knew

there's definitely quite a big difference um  i mean part of my family's from dundee anyway  

right so that's a sort of clear difference  there but even my dad just he's a lot thicker  

accent than i am and is obviously still  there because i've i've moved now um and  

i have a swedish boyfriend and he's like i can  understand you i can get there with your dad  

i don't know what your nana is saying sorry  so it is stronger the older the generation  

definitely and i've seen that my dad is stronger  than my mum right um which is which is quite weird  

actually because the same sort of working class  same area that they're brought up in but yeah  

my daddy's just got a much more clipped scottish  accent usually an accent really depends not just  

on the area or from but also on the influences  around you and like the music you listen to  

what you watch on tv there's so many things that  will influence your accent so ev you can take  

a whole cross-section of people from glasgow and  everyone will sound slightly different definitely  

because they have different influences um is there  a difference in dialect as well do you notice that  

your parents and grandparents use words that  you never hear in your kind of age bracket  

and do you say things now that your parents  are like what what's that word mean i think  

probably probably more my parents say things that  i don't say um like my dad and it's only my dad  

again and i'm not even sure if it's particularly  glaswegian or what but my dad sometimes says shri  

instead of three and none of my other family  say it it's a really obscure thing but he's got  

a few of them that that are i don't know  if they're like lazy they are or he says  

so one two three so if if you're a glaswegian  or from wherever you are in the world if you say  

shree instead of three then do comment  down below and let us know that's  

really really bizarre so that's that's the weird  one i've not i don't think i particularly have  

scottish slangs that they don't use i mean i've  tried to bring a few up north from down here and  

my friends are like don't say that no don't say  that you can't see that so you obviously travel  

around a lot with your work and everything do you  find that you have different situations in which  

your accent you kind of tone it down or bring it  up and it gets stronger what scenarios are those  

well i noticed actually at drama school that i  was toning it down quite a lot and because it  

it was turning into a wee bit of a joke i was the  only Scottish person on my course and i was asking  

something or trying to make a point people were  just mimicking my voice and it was it was really  

frustrating i tended to like dumb it down a wee  bit or like soften it when i was at acting school

hiya it's kate brilliant oh that sounds  fantastic now it's so good to be hearing from you  

all right bye-bye bye-bye you actually sounded  like you slowed down a bit though is that just  

trying to be clearer probably actually yeah  probably i'll probably do that because i'm so  

rarely on the phone to scottish people now so yeah  i do i didn't even realize that you know because i  

i do the high pitch thing as well if i'm taking a  phone call from a loved one generally my boyfriend  

if my boyfriend phones me i'm like hey baby i  don't know why you go high-pitched it's like you  

want all the dogs to hear you or something but  i don't do the slowing down thing that's quite  

interesting yeah no i didn't even what if you're  talking to your family does that happen as well  

when i'm talking to my family it gets really lazy  right we're quite lazy pronouncers in our family  

so it's i think it's probably quite slow again but  just nothing's pronounced at all and like i'll be  

speaking at my little sister she's also only like  14. right so she's in like the particularly lazy  

face yeah and sometimes because i've had a bit  of voice training like drama skill ali will be  

speaking and i'm like can you just like articulate  a wee bit more stop mumbling can you stop that and  

then i'll be home for a week or i'll have been  speaking to my parents and i'm like oh wow my  

articulation's really dropped here when i go back  to visit my family they automatically accuse me of  

being posh yep because my accent has completely  changed even though i generally will switch back  

into my language accent when i'm with them it's  just like the natural wanting to fit in thing  

and then when i come back from being up north all  my friends and my boyfriend down here like wow you  

sound really normal oh yeah no you can people up  here like oh it's such a thick accent you've got  

and then i go home they're like oh you sound  so english now just to clarify because some  

of you won't be aware but when we say a thick  accent what we mean is a broader version or a  

stronger version of the accent because obviously  the word thick can mean to be not very clever  

um but we're not saying that it sounds like a  stupid accent we're meaning a broad strong accent

if you were being like oh are you coming to  the pub now i'm not going to bother the night  

the night the night oh i like that instead of  tonight tonight yeah okay um and if you it was  

just like an off the cuff it would be more nah  okay for little scots people generally say we do  

we say scots people or scottish people the scots  i would refer to myself as a scot yeah yeah we um  

so say we instead of little little and we in  england would be um slang for a number one  

which is also slang you probably don't know is  to spend a penny which is also an idiom to mean  

to urinate you go for a wee and that's j that's  generally even though it's a slang term it's used  

a lot even sometimes in formal situations like  i really need a way where's the bathroom um it  

depends who you're talking to of course um but do  you use we to mean to urinate yeah so could you  

say i just need a wee wee yeah there's actually a  really good song that we would sing at skill and  

it would be like stop the bastardy do we we stop  the bastard we we stop the boss need a wee wee

fantastic good i'll have to remember that one  um what does this word being a wee ouiji ouija  

would you a glaswegian oh okay so  so you're a glaswegian or a ouija  

yeah although i think people not from  glasgow probably call them weedgies more  

i would say so okay so what are the other  scots yeah because have you never heard  

ouija i've always heard he's a glaswegian he's  from glasgow yeah other places in scotland will  

refer to you as being a ouija because i  thought it was something like a wedgie  

which is something completely different a wedgie  is when your your underpants kind of go up your  

bottom a little bit it's uncomfortable yeah  yeah no okay um so when you're generally talking  

um when you say words like cannot is not was not  you don't say cannot is not was not or isn't it  

or wasn't you say we say kanye uh-huh wasn't  he yeah um doesn't he doesn't if it doesn't um  

isn't isn't he isn't he and is that standard  all the time no no it wouldn't be standard all  

the time um you kind of mix and match throw it  in when you want and if you are trying to like  

make a point with somebody you'll you'll hit the  tease you'll be like don't and or whatever doesn't  

yeah he doesn't but if you're just like relaxed  conversation yeah or wouldn't he go down well it's  

raining i wouldn't go down while it's raining when  we go um it's it's a very relaxed thing i think  

it's the thing that we're probably best as being  a wee bit lazy especially with each other and if  

you're just a homo family or with friends and  stuff in the pub it's a lot more relaxed and we  

sort of cut everything yeah that's nice i like it  i think we should introduce that across the board  

um okay um pure say pure if something's pure  fantastic or you're dead brilliant you're  

dead brilliant so i know dead because we used that  in manchester that's that's that good yeah he said  

that means it's very it's dead good it means  it's very good so but pure also means very right  

yeah yeah kinder so you're dead brilliant is  very very good yeah we're a bit fickle you can  

things don't mean something in one phrase  but then not mean it in a different  

context can change yeah but pure dead brilliance  quite a quite a well-known one okay i've never  

heard it or pure mental mental so that means  really really crazy yep or pure in a good way  

this is the thing it can be both  so pure bellar can be what an idiot  

like you're a pure belter by the way or it can  be like really funny that was pure belter like  

so yeah the same phrase can go on two  meanings here's just a bit more of our  

exaggeration exactly okay interesting um i'm  assuming that this next phrase is um a little  

bit harsh but to shut your gaggy shut your girdy  what does that mean stop talking just shut your  

mouth just talking nonsense shut your gaggy shut  your mouth does that mean that you use gagi to get  

you obviously in this context from his mouth does  that mean you use geggy just to talk about mouths  

or would you say like a burnt maggie would you  use it in any other way no potentially in the past  

like i think manana might but generally  speaking it sort of fits in with that just  

shut your gergie okay yeah and that's offensive  right you wouldn't tell your friend to shut the  

googie well see this is the thing right so you it  is offensive as an adult if i was to say something  

out i i would be quite like derogative like shut  up but it's what my parents would see me when i  

was little and instead of shut up it would be like  quite a friendly way to tell you guys like okay  

so it depends how familiar you are i guess  yeah okay all right um what does greeting mean  

like it sounds like to greet someone so glitten  is crying okay and you're greeting okay so i'd say  

um i i accidentally shut my brother's  fingers in the car door by accident honest  

and now he's pure greetings now he's pure greeting  yeah and i don't know if this is of any interest  

but because i've got a swedish boyfriend um  grietin and broth which means good in scotland  

are also really close to the swedish words for  the same things that's interesting so i think  

it's like a really clear viking link like  bra is good in swedish and good in scottish  

and interesting grotto in swedish is crying and  greeting and scottish so yeah you can definitely  

see a link so there's like weird similarities  i've only just found out but yeah greeting crying  

i love how language comes about um a  lot of the time i've noticed that um  

the glass of asian friends i've got or the  the ouija friends i've got say how instead  

of why quite a lot yeah definitely that's a  really across-the-board scottish one actually  

um how instead of i like oh i'm getting the train  to come and see you at two o'clock and not three  

o'clock i'd be like oh how and it would be how  are you coming on the train yeah and it would be  

like why or how no why not how not okay how you  know coming so how interesting instead of wise  

very across the board scottish thing my family  all over see that okay i've heard this quite a  

lot general fizzy pop drinks you referred to as  ginger yep so or is it a specific drink is it the  

iron brew is quite so some people call iron  blue ginger some people just call fizzy drinks  

ginger my particular family call a fizzy drinks  fizzy juice okay so i call coke and sprite and  

things fizzy juice but my friends that call it  ginger wow okay because in my experience we call  

um juices anything that's squeezed directly from  the fruit so orange juice pineapple juice it's  

it's fresh juice from the fruit um pop i grew  up in manchester so pop for me would be anything  

that's fizzy like you know any kind of soda  or um like coca-cola sprite that kind of thing  

and and ginger would specifically be like ginger  ale or something that has ginger in it okay  

um what does this mean i think this is probably  another um offensive one away and by liahid  

one pile your heat is another one and it's just  like you're talking rubbish or you're doing my  

head in driving me mad away and by all your heat  like away and boil your head essentially wow  

it's the direct translation for that one wow  yeah so it's just you're you're an idiot you're  

talking rubbish away that sounds really harsh  yeah there's i was thinking that i'm looking at  

a bit of scottish slang before coming in i was  like we're quite we're brutes really but we see  

it like no messing no messing with us exactly  okay now what grabbed my attention particularly  

about the protests in scotland were the very  interesting signs that the protesters had up  

um and a lot of what was written on the  signs we can't discuss because it's not  

family friendly at all but there was one word  that kept coming up and it's i thought this  

was possibly just about on the cusp of okay  and it's the word ball bag what is a ball bag

um well a ball bag um and it's just well it's  a really good insult for one to be a ball bag  

um but i mean the direct translation  it's part of a man's genitalia yeah  

testicles yeah yeah it's the is this the scrotum  is that what you call it um yeah it's it's a ball  

bag is what we would say but you replace the  double l with the with the w ball back which makes  

it sound I don't know maybe it doesn't I think  it makes it sound a bit more friendly yeah yeah  

I agree i agree I think Scottish people can get  away with swearing much more than English people  

yeah yeah I think we can you make it sound  when you do swear you make it sound more  

fun and bouncy and just well-rounded  we're really good at Sweden

okay so just a couple more here what does um  buttoned up the back what's that uh so being  

banned up the back again is calling you stupid  so lots of different ways to call people stupid  

we love it i just love it being banned up the back  you could always like it's like a straight jacket  

maybe or you've got your shirt on the wrong way  around see i always took it as like almost like  

a teddy bear like you're literally buttoned up  the back there's nothing in you but could also  

be that i would use it as you know like a hit  i don't know what the other phrases are for it  

but when you're a bit thick i would always use  it as buttoned up the back you just stupid okay  

and taps off taps off as soon as perhaps ah  taps off right it's as soon as there's any  

sort of sun anywhere in scotland tap safe wow  honestly and it's hilarious if you're walking  

down a high street anybody that remotely works in  construction anybody that like does daniel labour  

taps off is that girls and boys this tends to be  boys yeah tends to be the men um but yeah you'll  

see it at like 10 o'clock in the morning like  the greg's cafe taps out sometime taps off um  

and that should bring me on to pure baltic i  have heard this before it's about the weather  

the temperature it is so pure baltic is absolutely  freezing okay so if it's pure baltic you wouldn't  

be tops off we would not be taps off if it was  pure baltic but a bit thicker skinned in scotland  

i think what i would consider to be cold might  be a tops off kind of situation yeah see taps off  

isn't even necessarily about the heat it's like  if you can see the sun somewhere in the sky sir  

okay fantastic fantastic i'm gonna  leave it that we could go on forever  

about scottish dialect because there is  so much and it's really really interesting  

guys if you are from scotland and you have any  additional dialect that you think is essential  

that we know keep it family-friendly please  do put it down in the comment section below  

a big thank you once again for joining us  and how would you say goodbye in scotland um

just like celia see you later celia  okay well guys see you later bye