While live is mighty fine by the sea in sunny Girvan, Ayrshire I do sometimes miss the city of my birth; Glasgow. Following a recent conversation with a friend who has never been to the city and in trying to explain to them that when I was a ‘wean’ the dialect spoken there was often impenetrable not only to non-english native speakers but also the majority of the other residents of Britain! While I speak reasonable ‘Glasgow’ I am long out of practise (except for creating Joccian dialect in Flintloque!) so I directed myself and friend to YouTube and Stanley Baxter.
Long, long ago the great Scottish comedian Stanley Baxter did a series of sketches, quite hard to get these days it seems, where he acted out typical scenes of the city and then after delivering the lines in ‘Glasgow’ he would then switch to a proper RP English accent to give a translation in the style of a travel programme. Have a look and enjoy…even if you have to run it back a couple of times!
Oh and yes all Scottish people can speak proper English when they want, but what would be the fun in that. Differences and diversity make Britain the great nation it is today.
GBS
I was surprised at how much I understood figuring that the words and accent would throw me butI understood about a quarter to half of what was said.
Of cource I have been watching Still game for the last five months since we got back.
I really do miss it there.
Bob
Hello Bob,
I miss you too my friend. Glad you enjoyed Stanley Baxter, it is harder to follow than Still Game but it is older. Some of the words are not in use any more here too.
But the odd can of Irn-Bru and a DVD will see you ok. Taa Raa the Nooo!
GBS