Weegie is now recorded as a term for a Glaswegian in the latest update to the Oxford English Dictionary. Other Scottish terms added include bampot, bawbag, coorie, geggie and roaster.
Weegie, n. and adj.: “A native or inhabitant of Glasgow; a Glaswegian.”
Introducing the new entry, Oxford English Dictionary said:
“Another new addition, and another word you might want to use with care, is Weegie, a colloquial abbreviation of Glaswegian. It is first recorded (with the spelling Weedjie) in Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel Trainspotting, in which the Edinburgh characters are not very complimentary about their Glaswegian compatriots: one character decides that arguing about working-class hardship is ‘pointless wi Weedjies’ because ‘Ah’ve never met one Weedjie whae didnae think that they are the only genuinely suffering proletarians in Scotland, Western Europe, the World.’
The negative connotations of the word have lingered, and although it is sometimes used as a self-designation—‘I’m a working-class Weedgie who grew up in a scheme,’ wrote the Glasgow writer and critic Willy Maley in 1999—many examples are slightly dismissive or mocking uses by non-Glaswegians, as in this comment about Glasgow city planning in the Aberdeen newspaper The Press and Journal from 2005: ‘Early weegie attempts to reach orbit by building high-rise flats tall enough have now been abandoned.’ Conclusion: Glaswegians can call themselves Weegies, but if you’re an outsider, proceed with caution.”