Meaning and local context
In Newcastle, “gan canny” means Take care, go carefully, or proceed gently. A warm Geordie leave-taking or warning.
Example in context
A local example is “Gan canny on the icy road.” In plain English, that means “Take care on the icy road.”
Gan canny on the icy road.
Take care on the icy road.
How to interpret it
The surrounding sentence is important when interpreting “gan canny”. Use the regional sense above when the situation matches the example instead of relying on the word or phrase in isolation.
Tone and caution
Canny has several meanings, so the phrase matters. Because this is informal regional language, tone and situation should guide whether you use “gan canny” yourself or simply recognise it when someone else uses it.