English as spoken in Ireland

Echelle

I've just had yet another frustrating `conversation with my husband's mother who lives in the midlands. She tends to say the following kind of thing :"He said I should go" Quite often this can mean "He said he should go" as she is in fact quoting the person. In a long conversation when who said what is being discussed the result can be quite confusing. The mother in law is not the only one who speaks this way, other members of the family do also...is this common all over Ireland?.If so it must cause confusion in court cases also.

Malice

Midlanders in general are a bit strange. It's because they can't see the sea. It does things to their mind .

Jay D

malice_ wrote: »

Midlanders in general are a bit strange. It's because they can't see the sea. It does things to their mind .

true

Defenestrate

The one that sounds funny in my ears is "will I do this?" or "will I go there" etc, rather than the grammatically correct "should I". Sometimes even with an optional useless "so" stuck on the end.

At the end of the day though, even in England the way the language is spoken differs between areas.

dlofnep

You get frusterated over grammar? Easy there Tyrone! Who cares. People have their own way of saying things. Alot of it is due to gaeilge, and when the Irish people started to pickup English, they kept similar sentence structures. Relax.

Sherifu

Are you local?

JoeSchmoe

Defenestrate wrote: »

The one that sounds funny in my ears is "will I do this?" or "will I go there" etc, rather than the grammatically correct "should I". Sometimes even with an optional useless "so" stuck on the end.

At the end of the day though, even in England the way the language is spoken differs between areas.

.

wouldn't "shall I go there" be considered more correct?

Anyway who's to say what's correct in English grammar, the "proper" English is only spoken by a small minority of people these days and all the regional variations were never considered to be correct even though they are equally as valid

OK-Cancel-Apply

English is spoken in many different ways throughout these Isles. Londoners would probably find people from Newcastle unintelligible, and you'd be lost in some parts in Liverpool if you didn't understand scouse!

As for here, I don't know why people from Tipperary say 'Well' instead of 'Hello'. Some funny speech in inner-city Dublin too, I think I once heard "I woulda lovin ta went" instead of "I would love to have gone". :P

Bob the Builder

wait till' i tell your mother in law about this thread!

yah, midlands people talk a bitting off, but their not really that hard to understand imo. Cork people also. If you follow the conversation properly, and if they talk reasonably loudly, you'll have no problems...

robby^5

"yizzur rout of yizzur heads ya yokes"

*very drunk man on O'Connel street exclaims that he in fact thinks everyone else is drunk and he's not

I know its something that seems to be common among middle class teenage airheads in the states, but people who say "like" a lot really annoy me, Its something Ive only ever heard of here and in the states....loike.

EamonnKeane

Defenestrate wrote: »

The one that sounds funny in my ears is "will I do this?" or "will I go there" etc, rather than the grammatically correct "should I". Sometimes even with an optional useless "so" stuck on the end.

The "so" is not useless, it means "in that case". And "shall I" would be better than "should I".

445279.ie

malice_ wrote: »

Midlanders in general are a bit strange. It's because they can't see the sea. It does things to their mind .

:D:D

Thanks for that - explains alot about a guy I work with!!!

Defenestrate

EamonnKeane wrote: »

The "so" is not useless, it means "in that case". And "shall I" would be better than "should I".

The word "so" has an entirely different meaning than the phrase "in that case" and so is grammatically incorrect to stick on the end of a sentence. If people really mean "in that case" then why not just say it?

"Shall I" would be better than "should I" as noted by a couple of people but neither is incorrect and the example I had in my head was a "should" situation so there!

luckat

While it is good to speak grammatically, a lot of the more anal grammatical rules in English came about through attempts to impose Latin structures on normal English usage.

If you understand what someone's saying, surely that's enough to be going on with?

Capt'n Midnight

English and grammar rules, wow , roll the clock back to Shakesperes time and you will find that no two surviving signatures of his are spelt the same way. Local dialects were all oever the place and the spelling mistakes when a few chose ones were writtn done have been preserved forever.

Hiberno English has more homophones than English English. And lots' of people across the pond have major problems with the language "f for sugar"

AckwelFoley

I speak quite clearly thank you very much.

I personally dont know nor have i ever met somone that uses "I" when they mean "He"

Were they from Blackberry lane in athlone?

That would be my first thought.

Its soon to be renamed "fritzel lane"

randylonghorn

malice_ wrote: »

Midlanders in general are a bit strange. It's because they can't see the sea. It does things to their mind .

So freakin' true!

longshanks

seing as english is a basstard son of german, latin and who knows what else, who's to say whats right or wrong

rosarosa

It came by boat.

Acacia

We definitely carry some phrases over from gaeilge , that don't make grammatical sense in English. For example, the phrase 'I do be bored on the weekends'. I was trying to explain this to my Spanish teacher ( who is a native Spanish-speaker). She was very confused at the use of two verbs,'do' and 'be' together, god love her. :pac: It's terrible English, but it comes from an Irish ( gaeilge) sentence structure.

testicle

Defenestrate wrote: »

The one that sounds funny in my ears is "will I do this?" or "will I go there" etc, rather than the grammatically correct "should I". Sometimes even with an optional useless "so" stuck on the end.

What if I should go there, but am undecided as to whether I will or not?

Firetrap

I used to have a job transcribing interviews 'n stuff. Most people don't speak textbook perfect English in normal everyday conversations.

useful_contacts

Echelle wrote: »

I've just had yet another frustrating `conversation with my husband's mother who lives in the midlands. She tends to say the following kind of thing :"He said I should go" Quite often this can mean "He said he should go" as she is in fact quoting the person.

I live in the south east (Tipperary) and i say this all the time

Id be chatting to someone and id say "She was saying i should go visit him but i cant get outta work for it" but id mean someone else not myself

Not just a midland thing

Malice

One oddly-structured sentence I hear quite a lot in Galway and have seen at least once written here on Boards is "I do be...". For example "I do be heading into work for 7:30am." or "I do be looking at the clock at 12:45 waiting for lunch time.".

Defenestrate

testicle wrote: »

What if I should go there, but am undecided as to whether I will or not?

Well if you already know you should be going there then it's not a situation for "should I" is it? Definitely a "shall I". :cool:

rainbowtrout

malice_ wrote: »

One oddly-structured sentence I hear quite a lot in Galway and have seen at least once written here on Boards is "I do be...". For example "I do be heading into work for 7:30am." or "I do be looking at the clock at 12:45 waiting for lunch time.".

That's very much a west of Ireland thing, everyone in Roscommon says it too.

Karlusss

malice_ wrote: »

One oddly-structured sentence I hear quite a lot in Galway and have seen at least once written here on Boards is "I do be...". For example "I do be heading into work for 7:30am." or "I do be looking at the clock at 12:45 waiting for lunch time.".

Aimsir Gnáthláithreach makes an appearance. Nice to see the Gaelic making people slightly less intelligible in the 21st Century.

I've never heard the Midlands thing though, I'd be mad confused. Unless it was made clear through tone of voice, or they did the quotation marks with their fingers at the relevant point, I'd be lost.

mikemac

malice_ wrote: »

One oddly-structured sentence I hear quite a lot in Galway and have seen at least once written here on Boards is "I do be...". For example "I do be heading into work for 7:30am." or "I do be looking at the clock at 12:45 waiting for lunch time.".

Yeah, as was said already, it's a carryover from Gaelige. Pretty cool actually when you think about it. I do it all the time.

useful_contacts wrote: »

I live in the south east (Tipperary) and i say this all the time

Tipperary is in the Mid-West goddammit. :mad:
Well, North Tipperary is anyway, the good half

Dr_Teeth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English

burgess1

My Irish teacher told me she was working in a hotel in the UK a few years ago and one day she damaged a vacuum cleaner and had to tell the manager. When she said "Sorry, I'm after throwing your hoover down the stairs", he had no idea what she meant.

And I was with a friend from the UK yesterday and he said that when he came here first he was really confused by phrases like "giving out to someone" and "you have work to be getting done".

Agamemnon

burgess1 wrote: »

When she said "Sorry, I'm after throwing your hoover down the stairs", he had no idea what she meant.

My linguistics lecturer in college explained to us the origins of Hiberno-English in Irish sentence structure and she used to give examples like that. She had an upper-class English accent and it was funny to hear her say things like "I'm after having me tea."

ninty9er

happens everywhere.

dis, dat, dese and dose; as opposed to the english vis, vat, vese and vose; which are in turn spelled this, that these and those.

really, would ya be well with all this fuss over nuttin:)

Stuff being in the press is one foreigners never get either...i.e there's plates in that press over (there)

bangersandmash

Echelle wrote: »

I've just had yet another frustrating `conversation with my husband's mother who lives in the midlands. She tends to say the following kind of thing :"He said I should go" Quite often this can mean "He said he should go" as she is in fact quoting the person. In a long conversation when who said what is being discussed the result can be quite confusing. The mother in law is not the only one who speaks this way, other members of the family do also...is this common all over Ireland?.If so it must cause confusion in court cases also.

"He said, "I should go," "

maybe you're just retarded

if you spoke to real people/ever left your house/had a social life, you would realise that people do not always verbalize punctuation :pac:

______________________________________________________________

i once say don't written as d'ont! at least they were trying. I also think that scottish people saying "fray" for from and "ken" for know is hilarious

trishasaffron

Yesterday saw those "tomato's" for sale in Donnybrook Fair.

OK-Cancel-Apply

trishasaffron wrote: »

Yesterday saw those "tomato's" for sale in Donnybrook Fair.

Ah sure now that's a fair mistake we all make when tired.

DJ_Spider

I am from the UK and have been here for 2 years now. I lived in London, the north, (fecking freezing!) the south west and the south coast. So I have a mish mash of sayings. It has been tricky getting used to the sayings over here, and my g/f has had just as much trouble with mine! :eek:

The things that annoy me is when she askes for a package of crisps, it isn't a package it's a packet! A package to me is bigger. I have gotten used to press, but still find it strange, we call it a cupboard because originally it was a board for hanging cups on then someone put a box round it. But I now use grand like a native, hate yoke, loike, ya know wot I mean, and people saying now every 2 seconds when they serve you in a shop!

But I use where are you to, clamming, (hungry) mutton, (deaf) face like a smacked a$$, and of course don't say my H's much to the amusement of my g/f, especially when I say 'ammer or 'ole!

So you see even someone who is a native of england can't talk proper like wot I does! Actually I was born in Galway and moved to Essex when I was 3 years old, I was then adopted and grew up in cheltenham, (where the gold cup horse races are) I even lived in gloucester for a while and my claim to fame is that I drank with fred west! :eek:

mrsdewinter

Fair few influences there, alright, DJ-Spider. I love the quirky 'do be' construction. It's so handy, it really underlines the point that this is an action I undertake on a very regular basis. I grew up in Galway, but the person I picked this up from is from the southeast. Never realised it was a particularly West of Ireland thing.
OP needs to listen to the context.
Whoever said that they transcribe speech all the time and pointed out that it doesn't always comply with the rules of grammar is right. You'd be shocked how inarticulate we are in everyday speech, and how much we depend on verbal clues and the context to pick up the meaning.

Defenestrate

trishasaffron wrote: »

Yesterday saw those "tomato's" for sale in Donnybrook Fair.

Do you have a favourite Donnybrook Fair employee? Perhaps the efficent Marie, the pretty Alexandra or maybe even the hilariously named Junior?

useful_contacts

micmclo wrote: »

Tipperary is in the Mid-West goddammit. :mad:
Well, North Tipperary is anyway, the good half

I live in South east OF tipperary, you know nenagh, cahir...ring any bells?

rainbowtrout

useful_contacts wrote: »

I live in South east OF tipperary, you know nenagh, cahir...ring any bells?

That's funny I could have sworn Nenagh was in North Tipperary. At least it was the last time i was on the Nenagh bypass

anonymous_joe

Defenestrate wrote: »

Do you have a favourite Donnybrook Fair employee? Perhaps the efficent Marie, the pretty Alexandra or maybe even the hilariously named Junior?

Everything about Donnybrook Fair is blissful. Except the prices I suppose. ><

Capt'n Midnight

rainbowtrout wrote: »

That's funny I could have sworn Nenagh was in North Tipperary. At least it was the last time i was on the Nenagh bypass

They changed the boundary to get the IDA grand for the Ambulance factory.

FruitLover

Acacia wrote: »

She was very confused at the use of two verbs,'do' and 'be' together, god love her. :pac: It's terrible English, but it comes from an Irish ( gaeilge) sentence structure.

Explain how.

Edit: after pondering, I think I get it - 'bíonn sé ag obair' kind of thing.

biko

FruitLover wrote: »

Explain how.

"To do is to be" - Nietzsche
"To be is to do" - Kant
"Do Be Do Be Do" - Sinatra

HAPPYGIRL

I went out with a guy from Tipperary his sayings wrecked my head. 'i do be', 'he have', 'well', 'for the gallery', 'the mother' (refering to his mother), Well bud how's she hanging'. Grrrrrrr.

Wibbs

Another one, the shore is blocked rather than the drain is blocked. Apparently an elisabethan throwback.

One I absolutely hate is the fairly recent addition of H's where they don't exist. The word height is the big one. You'll notice there is no H at the end of that word people. It's not the same as width. It's not "heighth", OK?

That bloody ad on the old telly warning truckers about low bridges and the like, the voiceover buffoon does it. "Watch your heighth".

I blame eejits trying to elocute their sons and daughters away from the flat H dropping tongue of their bumpkin forebears. So instead of saying wit and hi, they come out with width and heighth. God forbid you drop H's so add them just in case. Grrrrrr. Ruf instead of roof is another bugbear.

_feedback_

Echelle wrote: »

I've just had yet another frustrating `conversation with my husband's mother who lives in the midlands. She tends to say the following kind of thing :"He said I should go"

What's the big deal with that?! She was quoting somebody...

phreneticus

Echelle wrote: »

I've just had yet another frustrating `conversation with my husband's mother who lives in the midlands. She tends to say the following kind of thing :"He said I should go" Quite often this can mean "He said he should go" as she is in fact quoting the person. In a long conversation when who said what is being discussed the result can be quite confusing. The mother in law is not the only one who speaks this way, other members of the family do also...is this common all over Ireland?.If so it must cause confusion in court cases also.

Try living in waterford with such beauties as "i do be girl" Which does not, in fact mean "hullo, I am a female" but "why yes female compatriot, indeed I am"

It BeeMee

rainbowtrout wrote: »

That's funny I could have sworn Nenagh was in North Tipperary. At least it was the last time i was on the Nenagh bypass

useful_contacts wrote: »

I live in South east OF tipperary, you know nenagh, cahir...ring any bells?

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

They changed the boundary to get the IDA grand for the Ambulance factory.

Regardless of North or South, Nenagh definitely isn't East Tipperary.....

itsallaboutheL

i used to live with a Cork girl who said "with" instead of "for" when refering to lenghts of times spent places.. i.e "i was there with 20minutes" instead of "for twenty minutes", used to drive me nuts.

Lizzykins

Dr_Teeth wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English

Just spent the last 20 minutes on that link! Great fun!