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Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid

Parliamo Glasgow

One of the most famous comedians to come out of Scotland in the 1960s, Stanley Baxter was responsible for a series of sketches in which he poked fun at Glasgow and the Glasgow dialect. Parliamo Glasgow, a spoof of a popular TV-based Italian language course, was a huge hit inside and outwith Scotland. It’s easy to see the sketches as attacking the Glasgow form of speech but maybe that view needs to be updated. After all you need a good grasp of a range of complex linguistic forms to understand where the humour lies. Which is funnier – the Glasgow Scots or the RP English? Listen to this example and judge for yourself.

Find out more about Stanley Baxter