Scottish word of the week: Pagger

Two players from Edinburgh derby rivals Hibernian and Hearts have an altercation. Picture: SNS

It is not used across the whole of Scotland, and anecdotally it seems to predominate in Edinburgh and the surrounding regions of the country’s east coast.

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What is certain is that there are a few playgrounds that will have rang with the immortal threat, “I’m gonnae pagger you!”

Urban Dictionary, the irregular and somewhat esoteric vine on which new words grow, describes pagger as meaning “to fight”. There are, of course, plenty of synonyms for this around Scotland: a square go, the rammy, and so on.

There is an English equivalent too. In the north of England, paggered is an adjective for someone who is tired or exhausted - a state you might find someone in if they’ve been on the receiving end of a paggering north of the border.

• Scottish word of the week: Sprunt

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