Glasgow smile

"Chelsea grin" and "Chelsea smile" redirect here. For the deathcore band, see Chelsea Grin. For the metalcore song by Bring Me the Horizon, see Chelsea Smile (song).

For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation).

Actor Tommy Flanagan has the scars of a Glasgow smile from having been attacked outside a bar in Glasgow.

A Glasgow smile (also known as a Chelsea grin/smile, or a Glasgow, Smiley, Huyton, A buck 50, forced smile or Cheshire grin) is a wound caused by making a cut from the corners of a victim's mouth up to the ears, leaving a scar in the shape of a smile. ^{[2] [3]}

The act is usually performed with a utility knife or a piece of broken glass, leaving a scar which causes the victim to appear to be smiling broadly. ^[4]

The practice is said to have originated in Glasgow, Scotland, in the 1920s and 30s. ^[5]

Notable victims

• Fang Xiaoru (1357–1402), Chinese scholar-official ^[6]
• Agustín Lara (1897–1970), Mexican composer ^[7]
• William Joyce (1906–1946), American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during World War II ^[8]
• Elizabeth Short (1924–1947), also known as Black Dahlia, an American woman found murdered in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California ^[9]
• Lee Seung-bok (1959–1968), a nine-year-old South Korean boy murdered by North Korean commandos
• Tommy Flanagan (born 1965), a Scottish actor ^[1]

See also

• Colombian necktie
• Dueling scar
• Glasgow razor gangs
• Glasgow's miles better  – 1980s advertising campaign
• Headbutt, known as a "Glasgow kiss" or "Glaswegian kiss"
• Joker (The Dark Knight)
• Ichi the Killer
• Kuchisake-onna ("Slit-Mouthed Woman")
• Slashing (crime)

References

1. Fretts, Bruce (12 November 2014). "Sons of Anarchy's Tommy Flanagan on Those Facial Scars, This Final Season, and Chibs". Vulture . New York . Retrieved 12 January 2019.
2. Mills, Rod (27 October 2008). "Surgeon Says Hospitals Treat a Knife Victim Every Six Hours". Daily Express . Retrieved 20 November 2009.
3. Arlidge, John (24 April 1995). "City Slicker Glasgow". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
4. Peter Ward Booth; Barry L. Eppley; Rainer Schmelzeisen (2003), Maxillofacial trauma and esthetic facial reconstruction, Churchill Livingstone, p. 555, ISBN   9780443071249
5. McKay, Reg (19 October 2007). "Razor gangs ruled the streets but even in the violence of pre-war years, one man stood out". Daily Record . Glasgow . Retrieved 12 January 2019.
6. Elman, Benjamin (2013). Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China. Harvard University Press. p. 30. ISBN   9780674724952.
7. "AGUSTIN LARA, POET AND COMPOSER, DIES". The New York Times. 7 November 1970. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 10 July 2025.
8. West, Rebecca (1964). The New Meaning of Treason . Viking Press. p.  25.
9. "Hollywood's most famous unsolved murder". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2025.