Gallus

[duck]

Discussing Susan Boyle with the other half I happened to remark that maybe she was just a wee bit too gallus in her retorts . (though still still think she should have won) Being English he asked for a translation of gallus and I was rather lost to give an accurate one - just what do my fellow Glaswegians understand by it?

[Dave]

Gallus = Brilliant, also the title of an album by Gun

[John]

Hubristic, chutzpah?

[scottland]

Gallus=swaggering confidence.

[Quality Mince]

Gallus was always a male thing for me. No? I never heard of a girl ever being called gallus. It was more than being confident and having a swagger. For me a gallus person had to have some of the following:
• Be male;
• Be good looking;
• Have good patter;
• Wear trendy gear;
• Be very popular with the birds;
• Be a good footballer; and
• Be the envy of non-gallus males who had none of the above.

[Dexter St. Clair]

Gallus was always a male thing for me. No? I never heard of a girl ever being called gallus. It was more than being confident and having a swagger. For me a gallus person had to have some of the following:
• Be male;
• Be good looking;
• Have good patter;
• Wear trendy gear;
• Be very popular with the birds;
• Be a good footballer; and
• Be the envy of non-gallus males who had none of the above.

Aye, right.

[hazy]

Gallus = Wee Jinky.

[Quality Mince]

Asked my colleagues today at work what “Gallus” means. Everyone had their own ideas. One agreed with me that it referred only to males. Most said it referred to both gender. Two said that part of being gallus was to be very assertive almost aggressive. Not so sure I agree on this score. All my colleagues are women. I wonder if they perceive being gallus differently to guys?

On asking if Frank McAvennie was gallus. One said that he was 100% gallus. A few thought the exact opposite. A few were undecided / didn’t have a clue who Frank McAvennie is.

General consensus was a gallus person is a very confident, cocky person who has the patter.

So is Frank McAvennie gallus? For me, it’s a YES.

[onyirtodd]

A definition of 'gallus' suplied alongside the lyrics of 'Ma wee gallus bloke nae mair' suggests

"Gallus" is a term used mostly in the West of Scotland. A fairly comprehensive term covering a range of values, such as streetwise, cocky, sharp, bold, tough, flash, nonchalant.