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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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BASS, n.³  Usu. in phr. ya bass, term of abuse, often used in gang slogans.Gsw. 1972 George Friel Mr Alfred M. A. (1999) 528:
The application of the phrase caused some dispute at first. Nobody doubted ya bass meant you bastard. But the grammarians who discussed it were undecided about its vocative or apostrophic use. Some said cogs ya bass meant O Cogs! You are bastards! Others said it meant we are the Cogs, o you bastards! Gsw. 1979 Maurice Lindsay Collected Poems 77:
Materialised from the flaked stones of buildings
dank with neglect and poverty, the pack,
thick-shouldered, slunk through rows of offices
squirting anonymous walls with their own lack
of self-identity. Tongs ya bass, Fleet,
Fuck the Pope spurted like bloodGsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 79:
'ya bass' Belligerent phrase affixed to gang names in graffiti or slogans: 'Tongs ya bass!' Presumably this derives from 'you bastard' rather than from calling someone a fish.Gsw. 1989:
Tongs, ya bass!Gsw. 1990 Glasgow Herald (15 Jun):
On Fair Saturday we have something called Bastille Ya Baz! We will not go into the fact that the organisers cannot spell the good Old Glasgow word "bass".Gsw. 1990 Douglas Lipton in Hamish Whyte and Janice Galloway New Writing Scotland 8: The Day I Met the Queen Mother 58:
Hooded Crow
Corbies, ya bass!
Raptors is thick as mince.wm.Sc. 1998 Alan Warner The Sopranos (1999) 49:
Ah, cannie Fionnula. Uhm totally skint. I was working part-time in the Superstore, fucking bass, yon Tina MacIntyre cliped on me that ah was pregnant and they fucking sacked me on the spot.Gsw. 2000 Ian Pattison A Stranger Here Myself 147:
We were all nervous, eager to get on with it. Stig let out a sudden cry. 'Young Team, ya bass!' We roared in response and steamed into the pub.Gsw. 2003 Evening Times (28 Jul) 8:
Did you know the phrase 'Ya Bas' is not necessarily rude? Scrawled across walls by Glasgow gangs in the 1960s, it comes from the Gaelic war cry 'aigh bas' which means 'battle and die'.