Scally
From Free net encyclopedia
- Scally is one of many regional terms, including townie and Ned (Scottish) to describe a current cultural youth group in the United Kingdom. For the main article on these, see chavs.
Template:Wiktionary Scally is a slang term, originally used in the north-west of England to describe the unemployed working class, who have little or no education, and are stereotypically involved in antisocial behaviour. The stereotypical 'Scally' dresses in Burberry, wears a certain type of boot, and a Burberry baseball cap.
Stereotypes has been immortalised in comedy sketches by Harry Enfield with phrases such as "calm down, calm down!" and "eh eh eh eh".
The word's ultimate origins, however, lie in Irish language. It is short for Scallywag, which comes from an old Irish word for drudge or farmservant - Sgaileog
It is a word which appears to be in common use within towns that have historic Irish communities, for example Salford, Warrington and Liverpool. As one leaves the "Industrial Belt" of the Mersey and Irwell Vallies the word appears to have been replaced by Chav.