A.Word.A.Day --Glasgow kiss

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Glasgow kiss

PRONUNCIATION:

(GLAS-go kis, GLAZ-)

MEANING:

noun: A headbutt: a strike with the head to someone's sensitive area (such as the nose).

ETYMOLOGY:

This slang for headbutt is relatively recent. The OED shows this 1982 citation from the Daily Mirror as the first printed use of the term:
"Glasgow has its own way of welcoming people ... There is a broken bottle gripped in the fist of greeting. Or there's the Glasgow Kiss -- a sharp whack on the nose with the forehead."
The term arose from allusion to violence in part of the city. An earlier term is a Liverpool kiss.

USAGE:

"The General Medical Council, the most useless body in Britain, can't even get the name of their new boss right. If John Reid is half as tough as he pretends he'll give this rotten lot a Glasgow kiss!"
David Mellor; Man of The People: Headbangers; People; Jun 15, 2003.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion, -- the religion of well-doing and daring, men of sturdy truth, men of integrity and feeling for others. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

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