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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 2005 (SND, online supplement).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SAN TOY, prop.n. Name of a Glasgow gang, active esp. in the 1920s and 30s.Gsw. 1990 John and Willy Maley From the Calton to Catalonia 1:
Back closes runnin wae dug pee and East End young team runnin wae the San Toy, the Kent Star, the Sally Boys, the Black Star, the Calton Entry Mob, and the Cheeky Forty, the Romeo Boys, the Antique Mob, and the Stickit Boys.
Sc. 1996 Scotland on Sunday 7 Apr 9:
Quite why it [Baltic Fleet — a Glasgow gang] should have survived when many of its equally colourfully-named and notorious contemporaries — the Redskins, the Billy Boys, the San Toy, the Norman Conks, the Cumbies, the Liberty Boys, the Southside Stickers — have vanished is unclear, but it does point to the fact that the gangs represent a clear thread in the city’s historical culture.
Sc. 1997 Herald 25 Aug 12:
[In 1936] The Herald reported: “A running fight between two Glasgow gangs led to the appearance in court of two men. The fiscal stated that the case arose out of a fight between two sets of hooligans known as the ‘San Toy’ and ‘Bee Hive’ gangs.”
Sc. 2003 Daily Record 8 Jan 24:
In the early 1900s, large groups of men gathered together under Protestant or Catholic banners in the east end and took on each other in mass brawls and armed attacks between the San Toy Boys (Protestant) and the (Catholic) Tim Malloys.
Sc. 2003 Scotsman 6 Feb 6:
It would be another 100 years before the gangs made headlines with the formation in the East End of the Protestant Calton San Toy, a name that survives today as Toi. Their enemy was the Catholic Tim Malloys (slang for Bhoys). A Glasgow Catholic is still known as a Tim.

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"San Toy ". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 22 Dec 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snd00090541>

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