The word 'Pirtie'

weiss

hey

i heard someone use the word "pirtie" (not sure if spelled correctly)
As a reference to potatoe and was looking online for explanation, it seems that it either originates from donegal or scotland..

anyone know anything about this word? like how it came to be..

one theory was that it meant "poor day" although i don't see the connection.

cheers

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

My Granny always says it. I always just assumed it was a version of prati (or how ever you spell that) which is the Irish word for a spud (incase you didn't know).

Kind of like how kids are referred to as waynes (again spelling??) which I'm pretty sure is just "wee ones" made into one word.

weiss

Kind of like how kids are referred to as waynes (again spelling??) which I'm pretty sure is just "wee ones" made into one word.

i've heard some rural people use "un" for "one" and "way" for "we" in some sentences.
so, wee ones for some people would be pronounced wee'uns or sound more like way'uns which sounds like waines.

babaloushka

weiss wrote: »

hey

i heard someone use the word "pirtie" (not sure if spelled correctly)
As a reference to potatoe and was looking online for explanation, it seems that it either originates from donegal or scotland..

anyone know anything about this word? like how it came to be..

one theory was that it meant "poor day" although i don't see the connection.

cheers

Prátaí (praw-thee) - the Irish for potatoes, so 'purties', AKA spuds The king of foods - and so versatile.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

So what you're all saying is...... I was right

irish1967

Aren't you always Tickle

rikerdonegal

weiss wrote: »

i heard someone use the word "pirtie"

I had an ex-housemate used to say that all the time.

Just to be annoying, mostly :rolleyes:

bigaid1

this pronunciation comes from the ulster scots. the british and irish governments have pumped a small fortune into the promotion of the ulster scots language and culture.

as part of the good friday agreement they had to fund promotion of the irish language and to remain fair to both sides, they had to fund ulster scots as well

me_right_one

I hate this crap of Ulster Scots. If you're from Ulster, your native language is Gaelic, and if you're from Scotland, you're native language is Gaelic!!!! FFS:rolleyes: What they're trying to pawn off as a new language is just english with a Scottish accent.

And its obvious its the Gaelic word for potato.

BlackEdelweiss

I have no information to say eitherway but i dont think it is from the ulster scots, my granny has been using that word all her life as have all my cousins and myself and we are not anywhere near ulster scots. I thought it was just a good Donegal word. As somebody else spelt it before, it is "purties". Another one we used to use was "poundies", not sure where that is from but it is for mashed spuds or spuds that were pounded.

irish1967

I always thought 'poundies' was mashed potatoes with scallions in them. Well that was how we used it at home anyway.

I moved to Donegal from Derry when I was 9 and that is the first time I heard the word 'purties'. Everyone used to take time of school to go 'purty gathering'. I remember well seeing gangs of boys and girls in trailers on the back of ole massey ferguson tractors heading off to the fields to go 'purty gathering'.and it was dam good money at the time too. (c. 1978).

babaloushka

irish1967 wrote: »

I always thought 'poundies' was mashed potatoes with scallions in them. Well that was how we used it at home anyway.

I moved to Donegal from Derry when I was 9 and that is the first time I heard the word 'purties'. Everyone used to take time of school to go 'purty gathering'. I remember well seeing gangs of boys and girls in trailers on the back of ole massey ferguson tractors heading off to the fields to go 'purty gathering'.and it was dam good money at the time too. (c. 1978).

Hence (perhaps) that old local saying 'as thick as poundies' Too much time away from school?

irish1967

babaloushka wrote: »

Hence (perhaps) that old local saying 'as thick as poundies' Too much time away from school?

I am sure that our families outlooks on missing school for purty gathering were similar Babaloushka.

:rolleyes:

Mint Sauce

think my gran calls them prudies

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

My mum is always banging on about "poundies". As someone already explained I'm 99% sure it's mashed potatos with scallions through, and then you make a well and stick a big lump of butter in it so it melts through.

Isn't mash with scalions also called champ though?

ladymarmalade

They call it champ when theres cabbage in it too i think??

We call mashed spuds with butter and onions ' brucheen ' !!!!!!!!!

irish_goat

I'd pronounce it "pur-dies" and usually put on a culchie accent if I'm saying it.

me_right_one

Whats "Boxty"?

BlackEdelweiss

Grated potatoe cakes fried in a pan, I think.

BlackEdelweiss

irish1967 wrote: »

Everyone used to take time of school to go 'purty gathering'. I remember well seeing gangs of boys and girls in trailers on the back of ole massey ferguson tractors heading off to the fields to go 'purty gathering'.and it was dam good money at the time too. (c. 1978).

We used to call it "purty picking", I havent heard that since I left school a long time ago, half the class would be away purty picking and not a word was ever said about it, all us townies used to be very jealous of the country boys at that time of year.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

From wiki -
Boxty (bacstaí or arán boct tí in Irish) is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Donegal (where it is know locally as Poundy or Poundies),

BlackEdelweiss

irish1967 wrote: »

I always thought 'poundies' was mashed potatoes with scallions in them. Well that was how we used it at home anyway.

It could well be, I havent called it that name in about 20 years but when I read it here it did sound familiar. I do remember hearing that they were called poundies becuase they had to be pounded with an old milk bottle or something like that, probably dident have fancy mashers back in the day.

me_right_one

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

From wiki -
Boxty (bacstaí or arán boct tí in Irish) is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Donegal (where it is know locally as Poundy or Poundies),

Hmmm. Thats interesting. Would I be right in saying that the translation for arán boct tí is "the poor bread of the house"? ie The poorti? Purtie?

BlackEdelweiss

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

From wiki -
Boxty (bacstaí or arán boct tí in Irish) is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Donegal (where it is know locally as Poundy or Poundies),

Take whatever you read on wikipedia with a pinch of salt, it is created by members of the public, any of us could have written that and none of us have the same version of the story. I dont think boxty and poundies are the same thing.

bigaid1

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I have no information to say eitherway but i dont think it is from the ulster scots, my granny has been using that word all her life as have all my cousins and myself and we are not anywhere near ulster scots. I thought it was just a good Donegal word. As somebody else spelt it before, it is "purties". Another one we used to use was "poundies", not sure where that is from but it is for mashed spuds or spuds that were pounded.

from this it is obvious that you think ulster scots was invented 10 years ago.
"we are not anywhere near ulster scots"

do you think its a place? if you are in the province of ulster, hard luck, ulster scots is all around you.

ULSTER SCOTS..=ENGLISH

way ................= with
fray ................= from
deek ...............= ditch
sla ................= slow
nu ................= now
doon ............= down
gan = going

these are a few examples of ulster scots words that i hear everyday in Donegal.
by the way, i am not into ulster scots at all. waste of government money.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

True about wiki.

Well I'm pretty sure Boxty are pancake type things made from shreaded or greated potato. I think someone already said that.

And from all the different explainations of poundies I think it's safe to say it's some sort of mashed potato.

Aran bocht ti would translate as something like "poor house bread" or "bread of the poor house" but as quite a few people have said. I'm pretty sure "purtie" when referring to spuds is just a different pronunciation of "pratai"

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

bigaid1 wrote: »

from this it is obvious that you think ulster scots was invented 10 years ago.
"we are not anywhere near ulster scots"

do you think its a place? if you are in the province of ulster, hard luck, ulster scots is all around you.

ULSTER SCOTS..=ENGLISH

way ................= with
fray ................= from
deek ...............= ditch
sla ................= slow
nu ................= now
doon ............= down
gan = going

these are a few examples of ulster scots words that i hear everyday in Donegal.
by the way, i am not into ulster scots at all. waste of government money.

The "ulster" accent and a lot of the pronunciations are a result of the mixing of the Scottish and Irish accents over a few hundred years.

Personally I don't thin kit deserves to be called an actual language. I mean it's just a way of pronouncing words. I could write a sentence in ordinary English and someone from Donegal or Derry would read it out differently from someone down in Kerry. Does that mean that they're speaking 2 different languages? No.

At the very most it could be called a dialect, but it's not a language. As someone said already Gaelic and Galic(sp?) are the respective native languages of Ireland and Scotland.

bigaid1

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

The "ulster" accent and a lot of the pronunciations are a result of the mixing of the Scottish and Irish accents over a few hundred years.

Personally I don't thin kit deserves to be called an actual language. I mean it's just a way of pronouncing words. I could write a sentence in ordinary English and someone from Donegal or Derry would read it out differently from someone down in Kerry. Does that mean that they're speaking 2 different languages? No.

At the very most it could be called a dialect, but it's not a language. As someone said already Gaelic and Galic(sp?) are the respective native languages of Ireland and Scotland.

it never was recognised as a language but the U/Scots agency are trying to have it recognised as an official language so that they can get european money

http://www.ulster-scots.co.uk/

BlackEdelweiss

No I dont think its a place and I know it wasent invented 10 years ago but I do know where my family is from and it has nothing to do with ulster scots, it is pure Donegal, with the last god knows how many generations came from the same few fields and the same with all their neighbours. I am well aware of the ulster scots thing but I think the word is just a Donegal/ulster word, but as I said I have no information either way.

babaloushka

ladymarmalade wrote: »

They call it champ when theres cabbage in it too i think??

We call mashed spuds with butter and onions ' brucheen ' !!!!!!!!!

Yes, that word was used in our house too when I was a child - when I say it now I can almost taste the spuds and butter :P I don't care what they're called or how they're served up, but OMG I love my spuds If I was forced to eat only one food item for the rest of my life, it would be spuds.

babaloushka

irish1967 wrote: »

I am sure that our families outlooks on missing school for purty gathering were similar Babaloushka.

:rolleyes:

Absolutely!

irlpic

I recall sitting in the old cinema in Letterkenny watching Basic Instinct, when a friend of mine thought it would be a good idea to give Sharon Stone a bit of encouragement by shouting out loud -

"Gon sir, gay 'er the pirdys!"

ladymarmalade

irlpic wrote: »

I recall sitting in the old cinema in Letterkenny watching Basic Instinct, when a friend of mine thought it would be a good idea to give Sharon Stone a bit of encouragement by shouting out loud -

"Gon sir, gay 'er the pirdys!"

LMAO :D

bigaid1

irlpic wrote: »

I recall sitting in the old cinema in Letterkenny watching Basic Instinct, when a friend of mine thought it would be a good idea to give Sharon Stone a bit of encouragement by shouting out loud -

"Gon sir, gay 'er the pirdys!"

pure ulster scots

Wishbone Ash

ladymarmalade wrote: »

LMAO :D

+1

smashey

bigaid1 wrote: »

pure ulster scots

Or as I like to call it - dialect.

byte

So it's brucheen I had today with my chicken! Sounds very fancy, compared to just "spuds n' onion mash"!

irlpic

You'll know times are hard when your eating the 'The big wan way the wee wan' as my granny liked to call it.
The big spud with the wee spud and dam all else!

smashey

Purdies and butter.

Local-womanizer

smashey wrote: »

Purdies and butter.

Real butter it has to be btw.And a wee touch of salt,hard te beat!:pac:

ladymarmalade

Local-womanizer wrote: »

Real butter it has to be btw.And a wee touch of salt,hard te beat!:pac:

Ah but who's taking the horse to France

me_right_one

irlpic wrote: »

"Gon sir, gay 'er the pirdys!"

Go on sir, give her the potatos

Guan, <SNIP>

irish1967

me_right_one wrote: »

Go on sir, give her the potatos

Guan, <SNIP>

Really? Oh. I thought he was buying her a bag of chips. Gosh

me_right_one

irish1967 wrote: »

Really? Oh. I thought he was buying her a bag of chips. Gosh

Ah, ya see? Confusement already. Ulster scots must really be a different language so!

irish1967

(note to self): do not use the above phrase in abrakebabrah next time

babaloushka

me_right_one wrote: »

Go on sir, give her the potatos

Guan, <SNIP>

Really don't see any connection there!

Cul a cnoic

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

From wiki -
Boxty (bacstaí or arán boct tí in Irish) is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Donegal (where it is know locally as Poundy or Poundies),

Boxty, a favourite in Leitrim, see this tread in the Leitrim forum: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055572632

Never seen boxty or whatever else it called for sale in any of the shops in Donegal, most shops sell it in Leitrim though.

irish1967

Used to see Boxtie every Thursday night in the Astoria Wharf in Bundoran. :-)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Right, I asked my dear old mum what the craic is with poundies.

Her explaination is that they were basically mashed potatos, except they didn't have mashing devices, they had instead pounding devices.

This was something like a mallet, but with the head turned in line with the stick bit??

That's possibly the worst description of anything ever.

Basically the potatos were pounded into submission rather than being mashed.

I sometimes get annoyed when people make fun of the Irish and the potato, but lets call a spade a spade, I frickin love my spuds.

muffler

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

but lets call a spade a spade, I frickin dig my spuds.

FYP

dub in donegal

Yes Sirs/Madames,
Purty emanates from Gaelic-prataí(potatoes). Nothing to do with Donegal specifically-see The Purty Loft pub in Dún Laoghaire. The Brits adopted some of our words and they were used in conversation with the result the Irish themselves also adopted them in everyday language when conversing in English... for example the word "smashing" used by the Anglo-Irish in Ireland and England comes from Gaelic-is maith é sin.
English (being a bastard/mulatto language) robs words from other idiomata.
Here endeth the torture!