Back in the 80’s the Proclaimers had a song called “500 miles”
There is a lyric I’ve seen on various Internet sites as
“And if I haver, yeah I know I’m gonna be,
I’m gonna be the man who’s havering to you.”
or “haveling” or “haverin’” or “heavering”
But when I try to look up ‘havering’ in a UK slang dictionary I get nada. What the heck is the lyric and what does it mean??? I recently downloaded this song and have it in the car now, and not knowing is begining to bug me.
Anybody?
-rainy
Merriam-Webster and dictionary.com seem to agree with my original thought.
M-w: chiefly British : to hem and haw
Dictionary.com: [Etymol. uncertain.] To maunder; to talk foolishly; to chatter. [Scot.]
Whoops, hit reply too soon.
So, basically, to chat with. Perhaps the US English version might be:
“And if I hang out \ yeah I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who’s hanging out with you.”
Yep. Scottish slang. Equivalent to blathering.
Dammit. Didn’t think to look it up in a regular dictionary. Once again foiled by the obvious.
Thanks.
-rainy
In an interview with the singer years ago (no cite) he said, in context, it meant to talk drunkenly in a rambling manner.
Or, as in the cover version recorded by Down By Law:
And if I haver,
Whatever the fuck that means,
I’m gonna be the man who’s havering with you
The G-Spots - a University of Maryland a capella group - covered this song, and I am convinced that they rendered the lyric
And if I read Hegel,
then you know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who’s Hegellin’ for you.
I remember hearing an interview when the song was first popular where one of the guys said that it meant to feed someone a line/bullshit them – y’know, like you do with your girlfriend when you didn’t call on her birthday.
–Cliffy
Since it’s “havering to you”, I always assumed they’d worked local slang for masturbation into the song. Damn.
This was one of my mondegreens. I thought that he was singing:
“And if I heave up, yeah I know I’m gonna be,
I’m gonna be the man who’s heaving onto you.”
The singer sounded like he’d been in a few pubs before…
If I were a woman, I would be happy to know that I was the only one he would pick for this.
My husband and I had this discussion just the other day. When the song came out, my room-mate was dating a Scotsman. He flat-out lied to me about the meaning, and I may have to go back in time and kill him.
It’s very tempting here to claim special Scottish expertise and tell you some utter nonsense.
Resist, resist!
Yes, Leaffan nailed it, but I must say I like the alternative versions, especially the “Hegel” one, (although I can’t really imagine the object of his desires being all that impressed by the sweet nothings of Hegel. 
HA! I was right! Apparently your Scottish friend was havering to you! 
Damn you, Hal, for stealing my thunder! I was gonna say that. 
I always thought it was some weird Scottish pronunciation of “heave,” like “hayve-uh.” In the verses leading up to that one, he talks about going out and getting drunk and so on, so I figured the logical next step was throwing up “to” his girlfriend.
Aww, I thought to myself, those romantic Scots!
I always thought it was some weird Scottish pronunciation of “heave,” like “hayve-uh.” In the verses leading up to that one, he talks about going out and getting drunk and so on, so I figured the logical next step was throwing up “to” his girlfriend.
Aww, I thought to myself, those romantic Scots!
(Sorry if this posts twice.)
Huh. All this time I thought it was ‘hither’.
But if he really wants to impress this lass he’d be better of singing:
“And if I Hoover, yeah I know I’m gonna be,
I’m gonna be the man who’s Hoovering for you.”
Don’t we have a thread going currently about how the language and what they have specific words for tells you so much about that culture?
Indeed. (And I will take a single malt with my haggis thank you.)