Parliamo Glasgow?

2/11/2015

Glasgow's Miles Better was a very successful slogan to promote the city in 1983 and reflected the friendly (mostly) rivalry between Glasgow and Scotland's capital city Edinburgh.

When I go up to Glasgow I often find that within minutes of getting off the bus in the city centre I am smiling at something.

Last time, I watched as the bus sailed past the stop to the consternation of a man who had been waiting patiently to get on it. Two women behind me Tut-tutted and one said to the other

Ye've goa'ae stonn oo' wi yer honn oo'

(Apostrophe indicating glottal stop. My spellcheck underlined all of this, unsurprisingly!)

I laughed out loud and could have hugged them.

You have to stand out with your hand out could be a metaphor for succesful living. Make demands, ask, make things happen for you, don't just stand back waiting...

I also enjoyed a virtuoso trumpeter in Buchanan St who doffed his hat with a theatrical flourish to someone who put money in his instrument case, and a line up in front of another street musician, in Argyll St. An oldish well-dressed lady was showing three young trendy girls the steps of a dance. They were having a great time and seemed oblivious of those watching - maybe that is a characteristic of Glasgow humour? That it's unselfconscious?

I do wonder if you have to be Glaswegian to appreciate the humour but if you, do you may enjoy this - really corny, terribly dated, but funny (to some!) Apologies if not to you..

Do you think humour has regional and national differences?

21 Comments

Cee Cee

2/11/2015 05:55:17 pm

"Ye've goa'ae stonn oo' wi yer honn oo'" could almost be a line from a Glaswegian version of a Monty Python film,...

And so the hand would duly be held out and then a bus would whizz by in the wrong direction taking the hand with it,.. leaving only a trail of outrageously nonsensical Python dialogue, equalled only by Glaswegian "Izzyoffis-isms".

No wonder so many of the characters in Python films either end up completely desensitized to injury and pain or suffering from severe PTSD.

Freda

3/11/2015 01:50:02 am

I can see the Monty Python resemblance!

elaine link

2/11/2015 11:20:10 pm

Do you speak with a strong Scottish accent Freda? When I hear it spoken on television I feel like I need an interpreter, but then I think all regional accents are hard to understand. I suppose when you live in an area your ear gets attuned to it.

Freda

3/11/2015 01:53:37 am

No Elaine. I grew up in Glasgow but three of my four grandparents were English so some of that filtered down, and I lived over 20 years in England. My ear is well-attuned and it feels like home when I hear it. It's very different to the rest of Scotland. Regional accents are fascinating I think.

Lucille

3/11/2015 12:35:50 am

Funny to me! I haven't ever seen the young Stanley Baxter. Essential viewing for Southerners before venturing up to Glasgow even now I expect.

Freda

3/11/2015 01:55:35 am

Most Glaswegians are bi-lingual these days - the influence of TV perhaps. Glad you enjoyed SB!

Swissrose link

3/11/2015 04:59:19 am

Oh most definitely, Freda! Certainly on a national level - the Swiss have limited humour compared to the English and it varies enormously over the regions. Plus there are town/country differences, as well. Italian humour is more like English, my mother, who taught many Italians, told me and that is the impression I also get… German humour still often escapes me, even after all these years and a German father, and is also definitely regional, while French, ooh, that's a whole category of its own! They also say, the farther north in Europe the less humour - but it sounds like the Scots definitely have it lol

Cee Cee

3/11/2015 06:11:59 am

I spent some time in Switzerland and agree the humour is relatively limited. I found myself scratching my head a lot.

I lived near the French border in Switzerland and so a lot of the telly was French. French humour is almost always slapstick-y, I find. It's not very interesting. I had French colleagues once whose idea of sophisticated humour was a very complicated practical joke with an edge to it.

And Canada - well. Humour isn't really the strong point here. People like to believe that's not true, but Canadians are too earnest and oversensitive to be really, really funny. Jim Carrey is Canadian (although he switched citizenship a few years ago to the US) and his goofball humour is pretty close to what passes for funny in most of Canada (except Newfoundland -- which is more like the UK).

When it comes down to it, the best humour I have come across is English -- especially from areas outside the home counties. Yorkshire can be devastating (if you can make out the accent) and I've known some very witty people from Manchester who could keep people laughing all day.

Freda

3/11/2015 06:15:36 am

It's fascinating isn't it? I'm not sure about the Scots on the whole (a quieter, droll humour perhaps), but the Glaswegians have a brand all of their own. Think Billy Connolly (not always with as many swear words!)

Cee Cee

3/11/2015 09:29:25 am

My very droll paternal grandmother from a wee village in Fife used to drop little bombs constantly. What she had in spades was comic timing and a pretty quick wit. She usually did it without being mean (unless you got into her bad books)!

cath

3/11/2015 06:33:22 am

Purtroppo non parlo Italiano, Gaelico, o Glasgow.

I do like the Scottish accent and the humour. The accent is softer, more musical/singing, like the Dutch I speak in general, while not being a dialect, is, compared to that spoken in the west and north of the country. That might be true for the (sense of) humour too, come to think of it.

Thinking back of my days in Scotland there's always a lot of laughter involved.

Freda

3/11/2015 09:41:36 am

What a nice association to have with Scotland!

Sarah link

3/11/2015 11:41:02 am

The video and words did make me smile. My first job was helping run flights for service men and their families to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle and Manchester and Luton. The majority of people who phoned up had strong accents, but it didn't take long to get used to them! Sarah x

Freda

3/11/2015 12:46:31 pm

What a range of accents - it must have been quite challenging at first Sarah.

Lotta

3/11/2015 11:43:20 am

Hopefully you'll get to experience some Venetian humour in February - I wonder what that is like?! Am just watching Rick Stein in Venice on BBC2 - do have a look on iPlayer if you haven't seen it and want to wet your appetite!

Freda

3/11/2015 12:48:24 pm

I doubt my Italian will be good enough, but smiles and gestures can be humourous too! I enjoyed the Rick Stein and it certainly did whet my appetite!

Grace

3/11/2015 12:11:16 pm

I have been living in France for over 30 years but will always belong to my home town of Glasgow. I loved watching Stanley Baxter on TV as a child. This really made me laugh all these years later. Thanks Freda!

Freda

3/11/2015 12:50:52 pm

Glad you enjoyed it! Do you come back sometimes?

Grace

4/11/2015 06:31:08 am

I try to come back once or twice a year. I met my husband in Glasgow. He arrived from France with his degree in English and for the first week was convinced that people were speaking Gaelic in Glasgow! It took him a while to get tuned in ...

julia

4/11/2015 03:35:03 am

gosh! i suppose aprt of it is who you know, no matter where you live...i am canadian, living most of my adult lilfe in the usa..and certainly, i have found that my american friends didn't always understand that i was joking! that got me into a lot of pickles, over the years....the canadian sense of humor is pretty dry, so it can seem earnest to those who don't know that, for sure!...my father, son and grandson have been known to have everyone rolling on the floor laughing. other canadans who, in my canadian mind, who are/were hilarious, would be john candy (rest in peace, dear man), dan ackroyd, martin short...anyone who ever watched SCTV knows what i mean. and Freda! i am glad you have a somewhat moderated accent...i didn't understand a single word in the video!!...hope i can figure things out when i comme to Scotland. another area where i find humor does not translate is in email, or blogs! without the voice tone, and facial expressions a lot can get lost or misinterpreted, eh?..sorry...:-)

Freda

4/11/2015 01:48:21 pm

You won't have any problem Julia - really! I do agree that humour is tricky in email and blogs. I suspect that is why I overuse exclamation marks - they seem to suggest a lighter tone, and those emoticons :-)

Parliamo Glasgow?

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