HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE LOCALS
The speed of the conversation tends to be quite quick in Glasgow. If necessary, ask people to repeat (even slowly!) what they are saying, Glaswegians are generally very friendly and able to communicate in much more formal English than what is commonly used if it is required. Standing on a city centre street corner with a map in the daytime is usually a cue for passing Glaswegians to offer help in finding your way.
As with all areas of Scotland , regional dialects are present in Glasgow. The Glasgow "patter" or "banter" as it's known has evolved over the history of the city. As each wave of migration takes place , new words and phrases are added to the dialect. There is a strong Celtic language connection due to the Lowland Scots , Highland Gaelic and Irish Gaelic influences.
Some phrases
"Wean" - child.
"Wee" - small.
"Aye" - yes.
"dinae" or don't. *This is not a Glasgow word, its an east coast thing*
"Bam" or "bampot" - an impolite term for a silly or annoying person.
"Eejit" - an impolite term for a person who has done an incredibly stupid thing.
"Tumshie" - a silly person.
"Pure (brilliant)" - Very.
"Minging" - bad smelling or bad tasting; similarly a "minger" refers to an ugly person. Can also be used to denote
drunkenness; "Ah wis well mingin' on Friday."
"Haw" - roughly equivalent to "Hey" and used to attract someone's attention.
"(to give) pelters" - to humiliate someone.
"Ned" - Allegedly, this stands for "non-educated delinquent", which sums it up nicely. Neds can be spotted often sporting tracksuits, drinking cheap alcohol and wearing "bling" jewellery, as well as bright white trainers or sneakers and a baseball cap, usually from the brand Burberry. Most neds are harmless but some are aggressive, particularly after drinking some "Buckie".
"Buckie" - Real name is Buckfast, a "tonic wine" (this indicates its fortified alcohol content and not any medicinal value.) It is relatively cheap and purple in colour.
"Glaikit" - If someone is glaikit, they look (or are) oblivious, stupid and out of it.
"Gallus" - notably brave, or even cocky.
"Besom" - a cheeky or 'bold' woman.
"Manky" - unclean, filthy.
"Baltic" - Really cold weather
"Mental" - Tough and crazy, as in "Watch out, he's pure mental, by the way"
"Mary Doll" - Wife or girlfriend, not necessarily called Mary
"Pished" - drunk or intoxicated.
"Steamin" (sometimes "Steamboats")- see pished
"Wellied" - see steamin
"Mashed" - see wellied
"Trollied" - see mashed
"Blootered" - see trollied
"Blazin'" - see blootered
Glasgow slang is also peppered with various more or less meaningless phrases such as 'by the way', 'man' or 'dead' (very, as an adjective) that can give the answers to simple questions an almost baroque complexity. So "Did you enjoy the concert last night?" might be answered "Aye it was pure dead brilliant man" which means, essentially, "Yes, it was good".