I had trouble finding this film here as my cinema has it listed as above (N.E.DS) - and when I typed that in it never listed this film. I think it actually should be listed as 'N.E.DS' as opposed to 'Neds' as I believe it's an acronym that stands for NON EDUCATED DELINQUENTS.
shareYes, whilst it does stand for non-educated delinquent, if you were speaking about them you would say "neds" not n.e.d.s. Which country are you in btw?
share[deleted]
I actually wondered if the term NEDS was anachronistic because I thought its use was relatively recent. Interesting to find out the term has been around much longer than I imagined.
Saw the film today and I really enjoyed it. Great use of music - like "Dancing Cheek to Cheek" during the fight on the bridge. The acting was first-rate, particularly that of the young cast. Conor McCarron's performance was marvellous and he managed to be both sympathetic and repellant. It's great to see films set in Glasgow and Peter Mullan does it so brilliantly.
I was born in 1971 (so was still wearing nappies at the time this film is set)and grew up near Glasgow. As far back as I can remember the term "neds" has been used to describe delinquents.
I was completely unaware of the history of the term before the release of this film.
I was 16 in 1971 and lived and breathed this kind of life, and i can't think of one person, who i knew back then that would have known the TRUE meaning of the term NEDS. But then lots of NEDS where not the brightest in the class.
As for the post on understanding our broad accent, it's a bit hard to make a PROPER film which is set in Glasgow and have them talking "ENGLISH". I talk English only with an accent, like most ENGLISH people.
"As for the post on understanding our broad accent, it's a bit hard to make a PROPER film which is set in Glasgow and have them talking "ENGLISH". I talk English only with an accent, like most ENGLISH people."
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I live just a few mins down the road fm Glasgow and actually thought a lot of the accent in the movie was kinda made to sound more easily understandable for people not fm central Scotland.The real thing, if you go into Glasgow and listen to people talking is a lot broader than in the film.
"I was completely unaware of the history of the term before the release of this film."
Except it doesn't come from N.E.D.S. it's a myth.
Rosie Kane made the same mistake!!!
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!
"I actually wondered if the term NEDS was anachronistic because I thought its use was relatively recent. Interesting to find out the term has been around much longer than I imagined."
The first time I heard the word "ned" was in the 1990s - someone applied it to me!!! Its use in eastern Scotland is recent (I don't think it's used much in the north or Borders etc), but over Glasgow way, I'm told it's been used for decades, even back to the times of the Teddy Boys (where the name may come from) or even the razor gangs.
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!
OK: the word "ned" is absolutely not an acronym.
The term "Non-Educated Delinquent" is what's called a "backronym" - i.e. an attempt to create a phrase that fits an existing word. Other example of backronyms are "GOLF" (Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden") and POSH (Port Out, Starboard Home) - both of which were created long after those words were first used.
The reason why people like bedlam1_uk don't remember anyone in the 70's knowing that "ned" stood for "Non-Educated Delinquent" is simply because it didn't - that backronym wasn't created until long after the word "ned" was first used to mean a hooligan.
A moment's thought should confirm that this acronym is nonsense: hardly anyone in Glasgow (or anywhere-else for that matter) would ever think of using the term "non-educated": the word is uneducated. (And remember: according to the myth, the term is supposed to have been created by the "educated" Authorities - not the uneducated neds themselves.) The only reason for that unusual phrasing is that it's a contrivance to make the backronym work.
As for the real derivation: there have been suggestions that it's a reduced form of the term "skinhead", but perhaps more likely is the suggestion that it comes from the perceived similarity of "neds" to their predecessors, the "Teddy Boys". "Ned" is a very old shortened form of "Edward", as of course is "Teddy". (Teddy Boys are so-called because of their Edwardian-style dress.)
Another possibility that is definitely plausible in a Glasgow context is that "ned" is a contraction of "ne'er-do-well".
I may have to investigate Spielburger's last sentence - that is some food for thought!!!
("ne'er-do-well" is another phrase I've been familiar with all my life, although it is used to describe people of any age, while "neds" tends only to describe teens/early twenties)
I agree with you 100 percent,I'm 5 mins down the road fm Glasgow and in my youth was called ,and heard the word Neds countless times but the first time I ever heard the phrase "non.ed.deqt", was a couple of years ago...This acronym definitely was created a long time after the word ned was 1st used.Nowadays though I think the word usually has just about the exact same meaning as the English word "chav".Here's the dictionary definition of the word though I do think there's a bit more to be added to the description...
slang , derogatory ( Scot ) a young working-class male who dresses in casual sports clothes
[C20: a shortened form of Edward ]
Trying to work out what NED did or did not mean to a yng lad in Glasgow is kind of pointless. as Glaswegians..from diffrent parts of the city can use the same word but use it for a diffrent meaning altoghter.
But if you insist then the term "NED" would have been used mostly by middle class from the outskirts of Glasgow , or law abiding people .
NED ie "waste of space" or "kidon hardman" or "Toughie"
"but the first time I ever heard the phrase "non.ed.deqt", was a couple of years ago..."
I'm pretty certain that most Scots had never heard the phrase "non-educated delinquent" until 2003, when the MSP Rosie Kane criticised another MSP for using the word "ned" in the Scottish Parliament. She seemed to think the phrase was well-known (the word certainly was), but I think that suggestion surprised most folk ...
I think "Ned" is just a typical bloke's name, the way a Glaswegian might call you "Jimmy", without meaning it to be an ancronym for anything.
I first encountered the "wee neds" in an early autobiography by Billy Connolly, from the mid-1970s. Billy did not offer the acronym as an explanation.
"""""I think "Ned" is just a typical bloke's name, the way a Glaswegian might call you "Jimmy", without meaning it to be an ancronym for anything."""""
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News for you - Us Glaswegians stopped calling people "Jimmy" sometime in the 70s.Rab c.Nesbit and the occasional English idiot mocking a Scots accent are the last ones I heard using that way of addressing someone...And the word "ned" is never used in the way you describe.
Thank God someone's speaking sense.
Another possibility is "neanderthal".
Talking of neds, anyone checked out wee Cruft on Youtube?
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!
Growing up (in the east end of Glasgow) in the 80s I've always known what a ned is, but it's only in the last decade or so that the "Non-Educated Delinquent" accronym came about, or at least that was when I first came across it.
I have some doubt as to the origins of the word "ned" and I'm pretty much convinced that it does NOT derive from the above. For starters, who actually uses the word "delinquent"? I think whoever (sorry, I forgot your username) mentioned the backronym is correct in that the word appeared before the "non-educated delinquent". It just sounds made-to-fit.
Plus not all neds are uneducated - some of them are quite smart but choose to live a thuggish life!
I have no idea where it DID come from, but my parents (born in the 60s, teenagers in the 70s) said they don't recall hearing it until at least the 80s.
Also, a friend of mine from Edinburgh claims the word came from an area in the suburbs called Niddrie, where the local thugs were referred to as Nids, and later Neds, but I dispute this because I think it's a Glasgow word.
As for the accents in the film, I cringed at certain parts because it's just NOT how we speak. It DID sound as if they were talking to be understood, rather than how they ACTUALLY talk.
I'd love to see a Glasgow film where people actually talk in it the way they talk in real life! I realise it wouldn't be understood outside of Glasgow....but that's why there are subtitles! :-)
It didn't help that the script was sub par too. This could have been a whole lot better. I was very disappointed.
In my opinion the 70s setting wasn't appropriate. I think the 80s would have been perfect!
One problem - N.E.D.S. doesn't stand for this. It's just a word. The acronym idea is folk etymology, BS in other words. A lot of words have got this treatment, e.g. Pom, Pommy, which some Aussies have down as "Prisoner of Mother England". Except it almost certainly ISNY.
Anyway, it's UNeducated, not "non-educated" as any educate fule kno.
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!