This is an example of the Travellers taking a Scots word and developing a slightly different nuance of meaning. The Dictionaries of the Scots Language originally defines hairy thus: A young woman living in the slums of Glasgow who habitually goes about without a hat. latterly however, its meaning has shifted as recorded by Munro in The Patter: A contemptuous term for a sluttish girl: `What are ye runnin about wi that wee hairy for?