Gadgie

Gadgie (derived from Romany for non-Roma) is a word meaning "man" or "person" in the town of Berwick upon Tweed, England and can also be found in Geordie English and other dialects of Northern English. In Dundee it has more recently been adopted as a derogatory term applied to certain people with the stereotypical view of a "Gadgie" as someone, of any race or background who is poorly educated and engages in hooliganism, petty criminality or loutish behaviour, although the phrase is used to cover people who may be law abiding and good natured, who nonetheless are appear scruffy in appearance and lack good communication skills. They are often assumed to be unemployed or working in low paid and short term jobs. Although the term is most commonly used to describe youths or people roughly under the age of 30 it is also sometimes said of people of other ages that fit the stereotype. Indeed, the people who were the target for the phrase when the term first came into common use as a derogatory term in the late 1970s and early 1980s are likely to be well into middle age as of 2006. The term has somewhat replaced the older “Keelie” or “Keeley”, which was used in the 1940s until the 1970s in Dundee as a word to refer to the stereotypical underclass. Although Keelie perhaps focused less on the criminality and character of the person and had more connotations relating to their supposed Irish, Highland or rural cultural background.