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IT’S official - bawbag is a real word.

But while calling someone one in England could provoke a kick to the proverbials - in Scotland it’s a term of endearment according to the Macmillan dictionary.

The slang for scrotum was used north of the border for decades before becoming a world wide twitter phenomenon when a devastating 2011 storm was dubbed “Hurricane Bawbag”.

And an official entry in the tome now includes the meaning: “a Scots word meaning scrotum, in Scots vernacular a term of endearment but in English could be taken as an insult.”

Bawbag has been included after a suggestion from an online dictionary user.

A spokeswoman said: “The word has been included in the crowd sourced section of the dictionary.

“It isn’t in the more official English version, but we have a facility for people to suggest words which are then investigated by us.

“If we can see that they are clearly vernacular words that are used then we will include them.

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“This word was suggested to us by an online user called “tooz” on July 10, 2016.

“The section of the dictionary can be useful for people learning English at an advanced level who want to be aware of widely used words.

The term bawbag is thought to have been used as a slang term in Scotland for decades, before being popularised in the comedy Still Game.

But it wasn’t until Hurricane Bawbag struck in December 2011 that the word went global.

The storm was the worst in a decade with devastating gales of up to 165 mph sweeping the country.

And as trees were uprooted and roads, bridges, schools and businesses closed, the storm was dubbed Hurricane Bawbag on twitter.

Within minutes the name sparked a trending topic on Twitter, which went on to became one of the top trending hashtags worldwide.

Rob Gibson, the former Convener of the Scottish Parliamentary Environment Committee, then became the first politician to use the term on national television.

Bawbag is also the name of a brand of underwear that sponsors charities fighting testicular cancer.