h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My friend, who comes from Glasgow, will be celebrating her 50th birthday this weekend. As a bit of light relief from the hard celebrating we shall be doing, I would like to challenge the members of the party to a quiz.

To make it easier for the birthday girl to win, I would like 10 of the questions to be on the subject of Glasgow.

Any ideas?

The questions should not all be aimed at insiders, and should preferably be on a lighter note (NOT "how many people died in the plague" or "what is the present rate of unemployment"

Glasgow - one of my favourite cities. I lived there for nearly 25 yrs.

Questions - here are some suggestions. If I can think of any more I'll add them later.

What and where is The Hielan'man's Umbrella?
It's a railway bridge into Central Station which passes over Argyle Street - homesick teuchters used to meet each other underneath it after they'd come to live and work in the big city.

What is The Lally Palais? A local term for The Royal Concert Hall which was built at huge expense when Pat Lally was in charge at the City Chambers.

Where would you find the following:
A bird that canna sing?
A bell that canna ring?
A fish that canna swim?
A tree that canna grow?
On Glasgow's coat of arms.

What is 'a hauf an a hauf'? A half pint of beer with a large whiskey.

Who is Glasgow's founding and patron saint? St Mungo.

What is the name of Glasgow's river? The Clyde

What is the name of the busiest road bridge in Europe? The Kingston Bridge.

What is The Bridge to Nowhere? A bridge over the M8 which stops in mid air. They didn't build the link which had been in the original plans.

What would you be doing if you went 'Up Sauchie and doon Buchie'? Shopping, most likely. The two main shopping areas are concentrated along Sauchiehall St and Buchanan St. Extra points to anyone who can pronounce these correctly!

What is the best thing about Edinburgh? The road to Glasgow!

Name Glasgow's three universities. The University of Glasgow, Strathclyde University, Caledonian University.

Name Glasgow's two mainline railway stations. Central and Queen's Street.

Name Glasgow's most famous architect. Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Extra points for throwing in Alexander 'Greek' Thomson as well.

Name Glasgow's three best known football teams and their home grounds. Glasgow Rangers - Ibrox. Glasgow Celtic - Parkhead. Partick Thistle - Firhill.

What is Glasgow's Clockwork Orange? The underground railway system.

Great Teuchter - just what I needed. Thanks ever so much.

Might need some help with pronunciation there - don't want to make a fool of myself!

- just start practising those 'chhh' sounds in the back of your throat, TC.

It might be worth popping over to the Scottish Researchers home for some other ideas?

The Ch is no problem - use that all the time in German.

It's the vowels: Hielan'man's for example. Is that

Heel an man's

(bearing in mind that I come from the South East of England)

.. and "'Up Sauchie and doon Buchie'"

and

"hauf"

Would I say

Sew Chee
Saw Chee
Sew Hhhhhhe
Saw Hhhhhhe

????

Buchie

Boo hhhhheeee?
Boo short or long (as in food or as in book?)

Sauchie - Saw Hhhhhhheee
Buchie - I am not so sure, but I would imagine Bu Hhhhheee (bu as in buck)

BCNU - Crescent

You're correct with Hielan'man - slightly more emphasis on the first syllable than on the rest of the word.

"Up saw-chhhee and doon bu-key" - bu as in but.
It's acceptable to make the chh sound in Buchie slightly harder - a lot of Glaswegians would talk about Bu-cannan St - rather than Bue-chanan St.

"hauf" - as in Bier Hof - unless my German pronunciation's gone completely off, which it may have done since I haven't been over for a few years. The 'ho' part is as in 'hop'.

Hope it all goes well on the night

And it's WHISKY that goes into the hauf and hauf, not whiskey. There is a difference, you know!

Here's another one - what does the Duke of Wellington traditionally wear as a hat?

A traffic cone

Thanks - that was utterly brilliant. I think I'll start another thread and see if people are as helpful with "what happened in 1955" - but I'll check some things out myself first.

You could always have "What is the name of Scotland's National Football Stadium in Glasgow?" "Hampden". Somewhat more obscure would be "Name the only whisky actually made in Glasgow?" "Auchentoshan".
Or maybe "What were world famously 'Clyde Built'?" "Ships".
Or, "What are the Trossachs?" "A range of hills just outside Glasgow?"

Is that last question mark supposed to cast doubt on the answer? Or was it just a slip of the ?

The first question in any Glasgow pub quiz is always,

"What you lookin at?"



Alternativly you could always ask them to spell Milngavie?

Yes wid huv tae pernounce it Mull Guy and then ask whit fur the wey it wis spellit wis different tae the wey it wis spoke.

Hoo many legs did Loby Dosser's cuddy hae. (twa)

Wha wis Lobby dosser's main enemy? Rank Bajin

And his girlfriend? Fairy Nuff

More at

http://netsavvy.co.uk/lobey/cast.htm

Folk under 50 wouldn't know of Budd Neill - pair sowls

Weel, Tam. Ahm under 50 and I ken him fine.
Thanks for that link - I'd forgotten some of the characters.

Incidentally, there's a statue of Lobey Dosser and El Fideldo on Woodlands Road in Glasgow.

To my mind, one of the funniest cartoons Bud Neil did was a single frame of a wee bauchlie wifie, wearing headscarf and baffies and laden with shopping, looking up at a rather posh chap in full yachting regalia and saying:
"Ye affa yatt? Whit yatt yaffa?"

TC - I found this link and thought it might be of interest

http://www.theglasgowstory.com/quiz.php?quizid=1096628944

A) Yes, it was a slip of the ?
B) I'm well under fifty and know of Lobby Dosser. But then I do walk past the statue every day. I did find a book of Lobby once and it was pure magic, so it was.

Magic an that?

My mum would quote the yaffa yat bit then follow it with:

Paw's Yot

Yot tae see it

Sails the canal

Can all see it.

I obviously haven't been up Woodlands Road for far too long