What it means
A scally is a rough, scruffy young lad, especially round Liverpool and the North West, who's always hanging about, chatting lip, causing aggro, or acting the clown in a trackie. It's usually a dig, but people also say it with a half-laugh when it's one of their own being a little menace.
Usage examples
"Them scallies are outside the offie again, la, revving their little bikes and gobbing off. I'm just trying to get home with me scran."
"A couple of scallies were doing wheelies outside the chippy until the rain sent them home."
"He played the scally as a teenager, all tracksuit and cheek, now he runs a tidy little business."
"Look at that little scally bombing down the entry on an e-bike with no lights on, thinks he's king of the estate."
"Our Kev was a right scally back in the day, always lurking by the shops in a trackie chatting pure nonsense."
Where it comes from
Scally comes from scallywag, an older English word for a rogue or mischief-maker. In North West speech, especially around Liverpool, it got shortened to scally and settled in as the go-to label for a mouthy, scruffy young troublemaker with that local estate-kid flavour.
Other ways to say it
This expression also appears in
