I attended Glasgow’s 15th State of the City Economy Conference today. There was a lot of talk about the importance of global marketing, exports, tourism, international financial services: international business, in short. There was talk too about education, training and skills, from school to college to university to apprenticeships. But not one word about the …
Tag archives: Glasgow
Glasgow’s times past
Looking for “doon the watter” links for my “Coping with Sandy” post, I discovered an amazing blog for anyone living in, from or interested in Glasgow. It’s called “Glasgow History” and describes the “Achievements and Archive Photographs of this Great Scottish City”. Glasgow’s politicians and planners have done unforgivable damage to the city and in …
The UK’s sexiest accent? Parliamo Glasgow
In a survey by the Travelodge hotel group, 5000 Brits voted the Geordie accent (Newcastle and the north-east) the nation’s sexiest. They clearly don’t appreciate the finer tones in life: “Bahookie”, by the way, is a Scottish word for your bottom, behind, backside, or “rearward contours”. One look at the Glaswegians thronging the city streets …
Continue reading “The UK’s sexiest accent? Parliamo Glasgow”
The demise of Borders UK
I visited Borders UK’s Glasgow store a few days ago, feeling like a vulture as I filled my basket with cut-price books (TimeOut travel guides, IT (Mac) user-guides and English language reference books. Plus two novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard for my daughter).To my surprise I found myself feeling sad and nostalgic at the store’s …
Translators’ time warp – again
Once again my work days are out of kilter with the rest of the country – it’s a bank holiday here in the UK but business as usual for my clients in Italy. Today, however, my kids are out of synch too – like many of their schoolmates they’ve got Scottish Qualifications Authority exams. Why …
Translators’ time-warp
I work from Glasgow, mainly for Italian clients. My computer’s set to Italian time, because that’s where the deadlines are. My watch is set 5 minutes fast, for punctuality’s sake (doesn’t always work…). I have a radio alarm set 15 minutes fast. It comes on at 6.45am. My alarm clock (again set 5 mins fast) …
Simple words but in an intelligent way
A good day to start a new blog about words and language. Carol Ann Duffy, born into a “left-wing, Catholic, working class” family in Glasgow’s Gorbals neighbourhood, has just been made Poet Laureate. Amazingly, the first woman ever to hold the position here in Britain. It’s heartening to read, courtesy of her BBC profile, that …