Why are people from Paisley called Buddies, my mate was born there, and he doesn't know the origin of it.
Astaqq, Manchester, UK
Just a guess really but wasn't Paisley once famous for cotton? Could it have something to do with the spinning of cotton buds into thread?
Seth, Edinburgh, Scotland
It's a local pronunciation of "bodies", i.e., people - somebody, anybody, nobody. That's all.
John Bennett, Glasgow, Scotland
It comes from the old Scottish custom of calling a person a "body", pronounced "buddy". As in, "naebody kens", or "Gin a body meet a body/ Comin' through the rye..."
A "wee Paisley body" is just a cosy way of describing a citizen of that town, and nothing to do with the more familiar American usage in "buddy, can you spare a dime".
Alan Smith, Stockport, Cheshire
I seem to remember my father (or maybe my grandmother) telling me of a quote by somebody which said that Scotland was populated by "Highland gentlemen, Lowland farmers and Paisley bodies".
Peter, Paisley Scotland
I hadn't even heard of the expression "Paisley Buddies" until I immigrated to Australia in 1957 and joined the "Paisley Buddies Club". So I don't know where it started. I thought that is was just a name invented by expats.
Janette Anderson, Auckland, New Zealand
Could there be a connection between the song "Buddy can you spare a dime" that originated in the USA, and the poverty that was relevant in Paisley at the beginning of the century.
Buddie Or Buddy ?
in General St. Mirren Discussion
Posted
Found this from the Guardian on-line;
Why are people from Paisley called Buddies, my mate was born there, and he doesn't know the origin of it.
A "wee Paisley body" is just a cosy way of describing a citizen of that town, and nothing to do with the more familiar American usage in "buddy, can you spare a dime".