Edinburgh or Glasgow?

[Nod25]

Being from the west of Scotland and living in Glasgow before id say Glasgow over Edinburgh, simply as ive lived/ grew up with people from the west. I imagine if I was from the east id have the opposite opinoun.

[~~~]

Can someone explain to me how Glasgow 'feels Scottish'?

Square sausage, Salt and vinegar

[The OP]

Can someone explain to me how Glasgow 'feels Scottish'?

Please, no mentions of Edinburgh. I'm asking about Glasgow here. If anyone wants to chip in with an explanation of how its more soulful than any other medium sized city, that'd be good too.

Disclaimer: Lived in Glasgow for years and loved it.

If you stipulate no mentions of Edinburgh then you'll never get a proper answer, as it is in Scotland and is mainly filled with Scottish people so obviously is and feels Scottish. It is in comparison to Edinburgh that people make that statement. If I had to guess there'd be three reasons (although I don't necessarily agree)

1. More people living there who have always lived there - fewer tourists and less people up from England for work or studies.

2. Generally stronger accents & probably fewer public school toffs affecting Englishness

3. Less tat like tartan bunnets and Nessie hats for sale which no Scottish person would ever wear and fewer specialised shortbread shops and the like (linked to point number 1 and not as relevant if you don't hang around the Royal Mile which sometimes seems to Scotland what Disneyland is to castles)

[vikingTON]

When I first started going to Glasgow for gigs and club nights my ignorant east cost prejudices and belief in stupid stereotypes were in full effect. I would walk around paranoid as f**k thinking I'd be getting chibbed at any given moment. I was scared to walk up Sauchiehall Street for f**k sake! There's a misconception that it's like the wild west in Glasgow. It's really not.

Wait until you visit the real Wild West (Central), Gourock.

I think the east coast/west coast think is mainly perpetuated by east coasters who maybe have a wee inferiority complex about them. There's genuine rage and dislike for Glasgow in places out east (Hi, Edinburgh!). As far as I can tell no-one in Glasgow really gives a f**k about it.

Broadly explains the relationship of the Clyde Riviera with the plebs around us too.

[paul-r-cfc]

v

Could have picked a far worse picture - some fine Glaswegian architecture on display there ( not the college building may I add)

[KnightswoodBear]

Could have picked a far worse picture - some fine Glaswegian architecture on display there ( not the college building may I add)

Whilst it is fucking hideous, that college building in the centre of the shot was built with, what was at the time, a pretty unique structural design involving high tensile steel cables holding the whole building together.

There you go.

[Pink Freud]

Both great cities, two of the best in the UK.

[paul-r-cfc]

Whilst it is fucking hideous, that college building in the centre of the shot was built with, what was at the time, a pretty unique structural design involving high tensile steel cables holding the whole building together.

There you go.

Ha, learnt more from your post than I did in my year at the college!

[sparky88]

Both are really great cities and, to be honest, their differences compliment each other. Places like Birmingham and Sheffield feel soulless in comparison to both Edinburgh and Glasgow

[LinkinFighter]

But did he wear any?

Being from Dundee I'd imagine No is the answer.

[ICTJohnboy]

Both are really great cities and, to be honest, their differences compliment each other. Places like Birmingham and Sheffield feel soulless in comparison to both Edinburgh and Glasgow

Spot on..... And you could add many other names to that list of soulless cities south of the border.

[JackD1908]

Edinburgh (Leith aside) is essentially a tourist city. Its a bit more relaxed though, and I'm enjoying my student life in Edinburgh. But Glasgow is more city-like and vibrant and I can't see me spending the rest of my life in Edinburgh. Probably why I like Leith so much as it reminds me of Glasgow. Theres always going to be pros and cons to both though.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

Square sausage, Salt and vinegar

Square sausage was widely available in Edinburgh even in my 1970s youth. Back then I'd always thought that Salt 'n' Vinegar was something that chip shops did for English visitors until I moved to Glasgow. Increasing numbers of Glasgow chip shops have "Embra Sauce" available if you ask for it, which is an improvement.

As for the ideas of one or other being "More Scottish" this is partly down to the differing perceptions of what "Scottishness" means. There is a tendancy in Glaswegian Culture to define Scottishness in it's own image.

In terms of the proportion of it's inhabitants born in Scotland The last available Census Data shows that Glasgow has a significantly greater proportion of people born in Scotland than Edinburgh and slightly higher than the country as a whole.

This is the 2001 Census data

Scotland (inc UK part not specified): Edinburgh 77.6%, Glasgow 89.6%, Scotland 87.2%

England: Edinburgh 12.2%, Glasgow 4.1%, Scotland 8.1%

Wales: Edinburgh 0.5%, Glasgow 0.2%, Scotland 0.3%

Northern Ireland: Edinburgh 1.3%, Glasgow 0.7%, Scotland 0.7%

Ireland (inc. part not specified): Edinburgh 0.8%, Glasgow 0.9%, Scotland 0.4%

Rest of Europe: Edinburgh 2.7%, Glasgow 1.1%, Scotland 1.1%

Elsewhere: Edinburgh 5.1%, Glasgow 3.4%, Scotland 2.3%

So there are about half as many people Glaswegians who originate from out side Scotland and surprisingly Edinburgh turns out to be more "Irish" than Glasgow.

Whether this is a good thing of a bad thing is a matter of taste I suppose. The cosmopolitan nature of the city, and particularly the bit I live in, is one of the things I really like but maybe that makes me less "Scottish".

It's worth remembering that the most "Scottish" place in Scotland by this measure is Airdrie so you can clearly get too much of good thing.

[Guest]

Edinburgh for me, if only for the pubs on the Grassmarket alone.

Glasgow is a hell hole.

[ICTJohnboy]

Edinburgh for me, if only for the pubs on the Grassmarket alone.

Glasgow is a hell hole.

Rose Street pubs are better. See here :

http://www.barcrawl.co.uk/pubcrawl.aspx?Crawl=26

[ForeverSinging]

Lothian Buses is arguably the best bus service in the UK.

It's won the 'transport europe' award (or whatever before) so yeah. I'm hearing a lot of "Edinburgh folk are obsessed with glasgow" but from my experience it goes both ways. Not been to Glasgow often but it seems a nice place. Both decent cities. I hate when people say "Edinburgh folk are stuck up" but it's probably true to an extent. Not in a serious way though - No one genuinely thinks they're superior just cause they're from edinburgh. Also, I get the impression there's an image of Edinburgh as a place where everyone has an english accent and looks down on the rest of Scotland though and that's just bullshit.

[ForeverSinging]

Dat's the joke.

Although there are no bad photos of Glasgow, so they're bound to lose. And even if they found a grimmer looking housing estate, it only really serves to prove we're pure well harder than them n that.

This is what our book writers look like

This what your book writers look like.

We're well harder than you m8.

[Northsea80]

This is what our book writers look like

This what your book writers look like.

We're well harder than you m8.

Not pictured, the stanley blades taped to Peter May's shoes in case someone tries to start something at his book launch.

Well harder!

[Lexi Collector]

Watching Edinburgh folk being the hard man is fucking hilarious, btw. Love the way Irvine Welsh tries to big it up as some pure mental heroin paradise, full of nutters. It's probably the softest place in Scotland. The people just aren't intimidating.

[Hedgecutter]

People from Edinburgh think they're overly great because they come from one of Europe's nicest cities.

Weegies say they're better than the rest of Scotland and have invented the more-friendly-myth to make themselves feel better about living in a hole (similar thing to Liverpool). Problem is that enough Weegies have been saying this for years to the point that most genuinely believe it.

As a neutral, whenever I go to Edinburgh I go there out of choice. Whenever I go to Glasgow, it's forced, usually down to footballing or family reasons.