Fun and laughter wi Glesgae patter

There was a time when Sam the Skull, as sung by Alastair McDonald, was the only famous Glasgow cat but now there’s a new pride in town.

The Wildcats is a comic strip by artist Catherine Neville that’s helping educate people around the world about some of the legendary Glasgow patter.

Since she started drawing caricatures of her and a friend’s three domestic felines almost 30 years ago, and giving them human personalities, Catherine’s cartoon cats have developed a life of their own.

“Sometime around the early 1990s I was sharing a flat with my friend Mo and three cats. For amusement I started to draw them and imagine the kind of things they’d get up to if they were human based on their characters,” said Catherine.

“Droos was clever and bossed the other two about, Bogey was laid back and loved food and when Moss arrived all hell broke lose. Moss seemed to be the rebel and was always getting up to all sorts, including throwing a hissy fit when anyone new walked in. Visitors were usually wary!”

The self taught artist, who specialises in drawing iconic Scottish buildings, found her talent for cartoons could be used to help promote her other passion for the Scots language.

Over time Catherine, developed a number of story lines she could use to illustrate some of the words and phrases she grew up hearing in the east-end of Glasgow.

“I’ve always been passionate about promoting the Scots language because living in the east-end of Glasgow it’s what I heard and I just imagined that’s the way The Wildcats would speak if they could,” said Catherine, who has been amazed by the number of Americans who are keen to learn Scots words and are interested in speaking the language.

“I find the Glasgow humour particularly funny. I love listening to Billy Connolly, Kevin Bridges and all the other Glasgow comedians but sometimes an ordinary person can be just as funny when they are telling anecdotes.

“I love the stories people tell me and I use some of that in the cartoons. Glaswegians have a number of words which share the same meaning.”

It’s been estimated that just as the Inuit people are believed to have more than 50 words for snow Glaswegians have at least 25 words for being drunk, including steamin’, miroclous and blootered.

“Sometimes all it takes is a turn of phrase or a single word which can spark an idea that I can build a cartoon around,” added Catherine, who has begun building a following for her work on social media. “I find it’s a good way to introduce Glasgow words to a wider audience and it’s fun to do.”

Catherine can be found tweeting at https://twitter.com/catnev8, on Instagram @the_wildcats_ glasgow and on FaceBook @ catnev8.