English words and expressions used in Ireland only

MungoMan

Since moving abroad, I have noticed that we use a lot of words and expressions in Ireland that are not standard english,
I didn't realise this until I used the expressions, and people didn't know what I was talking about

The one that nearly everyone in Ireland uses incorrectly is "I'm after doing something". In England, if you say "I'm after eating my dinner", it means that you want to eat your dinner.
In Ireland it means I have just eaten my dinner.

Here are other expressions and words which I have noticed are used in Ireland only, and nobody in UK understands

I'll put it on the long finger" meaning that you'll delay doing it.
He has no Cop On (as in no common sense).
Pare you pencil (as in sharpen your pencil).
Pass someone out on the road when driving (overtake). I've heard a lot of Irish people saying this. In UK, to pass someone out is to be unconscious.
Hotpress (Airing cupboard).
Kitchen press (Cupboard).
People in western Ireland using the word "Ye" as a plural of "You", I guess that's a throwback to Elizabethan english

And finally, "you big gob****e", I dont know what that means though, must be that I am one.


You get to know the ones you can use if you want to be understood.

Can anyone think of any other examples of words and expressions used in Ireland only, but not including arse, feck and eejit.

Dudess

My British/Aussie/American/kiwi friends think it's hilarious when I say "giving out". :pac:

Red_Marauder

press ( to mean cupboard)

yoke (to mean thing... or ecstasy for that matter, perhaps)

Overheal

A wild Etymology Thread appeared!

I choose you, Charmander!

DogmaticLefty

I hate it when people say "cheers". My mum does it all the time and it really annoys me. Every time I say goodbye to her on the phone, she has to say "cheers".

kowloon

People thinking feck is a word made up by the Father Ted writers so they could avoid saying fook on TV.

major bill

ive always heard girls when angry say ''im gonna kick her box in'':pac: and the word geebag is defo only used in ireland

Mrmoe

washing the ware
I scrope me knee
how she cuttin

Doc

"You're man" or "You're one" meaning that guy or that girl. I’ve gotten some funny looks saying that in England and Australia.

"giving out yards!"




"I'm after (whatever)" rather than I have done....




"ride them sideways is another one"

bluto63

Whenever I'm talkin about some person and I say 'you know yer one' no one over here understands what I'm talking about.

Doop

Dudess wrote: »

My British/Aussie/American/kiwi friends think it's hilarious when I say "giving out". :pac:

Had this in work the other day, no one knew what I was talking about saying ' the boss was giving out' .... giving of what was the answer?!

yoke is a good one too

I like to use 'yer man' or yer one' alot, but people around are slowly learning!

(in Oz)

CiaranC

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

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

MungoMan wrote: »

People in western Ireland using the word "Ye" as a plural of "You", I guess that's a throwback to Elizabethan english

Fink that's more of a thing of Irish differentiating between plural and singular "you". Don't know what the real word for that is though, but most European languages do it, though Irish (afaik) doesn't have a distinction between formal and casual "you".

Thing that gets me is when you're watching home and away and neighbours and they say things that remind you that they're really Irish; like "good on ya". That's great

Overheal

Overheal wrote: »

A wild Etymology Thread appeared!

This is likely to be a rather tame one as it doesn't contain any nuts (yet!).

Bonito

Around where I'm from somethin' that does my head in when I hear it is; "What's the buzz our" or "Alright our lad" Like wtf?? Also "Ya scaldy basta'd" is something i've never heard anywhere else.

Wishbone Ash

DogmaticLefty wrote: »

I hate it when people say "cheers". My mum does it all the time and it really annoys me. Every time I say goodbye to her on the phone, she has to say "cheers".

One of my pet hates!

'Cheers' is such a retarded phrase but a significant section of society seem to think it's acceptable a a form of 'thank you'.

Doc

"I got sick" is another one when we say it we mean we vomited but in other English speaking countries it only means I became unwell.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

thats 'grand'

I'm 'grand'

Reminds me of the hot headed Australian farmer I was working for stating that 'A fcukin' piano is grand but that bit of work you did isn't!'

Also putting 'now' at the end of sentences.
How's things??
Oh not too bad now
Not too bad now?? What was wrong earlier??

Red_Marauder

Saying "So I am" at the end of a sentance, or some variant.

That is very irish so it is.

major bill

foreigners dont know what way to take ye when ye say ''story horse'' to them

Pot Noodle =

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

One of my pet hates!

'Cheers' is such a retarded phrase but a significant section of society seem to think it's acceptable a a form of 'thank you'.

Cheers

Wishbone Ash

Irish people who go to Britain and refer to crisps as 'Tayto'!

Bodhisopha

"me hole". Hate that expression. So uncouth.

kraggy

"I'm after doing it again".

Said this once when I was travelling and the gang from England I was with erupted in hysterics when I tried to convince them it was proper English.

It was only when I came on here and started a thread about it that I realised it comes from Gaeilge "tá mé tar éis..."

Overheal

Deleted User wrote: »

This is likely to be a rather tame one as it doesn't contain any nuts (yet!).

So do I need a Megaball or a Hyperball to lock it?

Red_Marauder

Bodhisopha wrote: »

"me hole". Hate that expression. So uncouth.

Almost as bad as "getting your hole" (to score)

MungoMan

MungoMan wrote: »

The one that nearly everyone in Ireland uses incorrectly is "I'm after doing something". In England, if you say "I'm after eating my dinner", it means that you want to eat your dinner.
In Ireland it means I have just eaten my dinner.

That expression throws English people as they don't understabd the syntax, and think you mean you'll do something "after you have eaten dinner!"

Misty Chaos

I remember having to explain to a English girl on my old college course what I meant when I say ' cribbing. '

I never referred to a parer as such when I was young, I always called it a topper so in college when some people asked me for a parer, I was like ' WTF is a parer!? '

Doc

"I'm going out but I'm not going out, out."

Glico Man

"Going bushing" is another one

Don't think anyone outside the Irish people has any idea what it means

humberklog

Are ye'wide.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Doc wrote: »

"I'm going out but I'm not going out, out."

"Were you drinking?" "Na I only had two!"

Any other country in the world that's drinking

Dudess

Bodhisopha wrote: »

"me hole". Hate that expression.

I love it!

kraggy wrote: »

"I'm after doing it again".

Said this once when I was travelling and the gang from England I was with erupted in hysterics when I tried to convince them it was proper English.

It was only when I came on here and started a thread about it that I realised it comes from Gaeilge "tá mé tar éis..."

Yeah, I was in a pub in Majorca and there was a football match on TV - a scuffle broke out between some players so I asked a bunch of English lads "what's after happening?" to which their collective response was .

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Irish people who go to Britain and refer to crisps as 'Tayto'!

... or the police as "the guards".

I don't think "cheers" is an Irish phrase, more an English one.

opinion guy

Did ye lay pipe ?

Savage....savage wavin....


Ill let ye figure that one out ye'reselves....:D

also

does be or do be.
I does be washing the dishes. I do be at the cinema.

All above are probably regional to NorthEast area I reckon

mikom

Tan.

m@cc@

MungoMan wrote: »

Since moving abroad, I have noticed that we use a lot of words and expressions in Ireland that are not standard english

The greatest butchers of the English language are the English.

m@cc@

m@cc@ wrote: »

The greatest butchers of the English language are the English.

and good butchers can do wonders with a pile of assorted meats from various places. :pac:

m@cc@

Reminds me of a Jack Dee quote. He was in a hotel in Ireland and they asked him what paper he wanted. He replied the Independent. The guy behind the counter said "And if we can't get that, what'll it be?" "A disappointment" Dee replies.

ashyle

'I'll be dug outta ye' and 'I'll kick ya up and down the stairs', my mam says these to me, worringly enough. In school there was 'I'll bate ye' (maybe I just have a punchable face).
'Youse' as in you plural. I have it spelled in my predictive text cos I use it so much!

Novella

Ah sure (shure), she's a gas young wan!

She is a rather funny young lady.

BossArky

Andrew Wonderful Crystal wrote: »

I'm 'grand'

Lol, this morning some Australian asked me how I was.

Him: How are you this morning?
Me: I'm grand
Him: Lol ... grand?
Me: ... eh, yeah

Doc wrote: »

"You're man" or "You're one" meaning that guy or that girl. I’ve gotten some funny looks saying that in England and Australia.

Same here. In London my colleagues used to get a good laugh out of me referring to someone as "your man" / "your one"

typical shocked response --> "He is not my man"

Jordonvito

A personal fav of mine:
-"well horse would ya throw her one?"

-"oh yeah, i'd make ****e of her"

only in ireland would this conversation make sense

PeteEd

yes


Aye

dub02

I live with alot of Jamaicans and Trinidadians here in New York and they to use a broken form of English too (alot worse than ours btw) called patois or creole.

Like ours, its funny but very interesting, I've come to the conclusion that like my Caribbean friends...I'm from a small island too thats being influenced by a larger country so in order to create some differences or identity we've developed small changes in the most basic of things....the language, food, mannerisms

On a side note...they absolutely love it when i say "whats the story" or call them "horse" or "boss". Also, how can I put this mildly... sometimes you can hear a country twang off the Trinidadians:eek: i do be in tears especially when they say "hey boy" I read somewhere before that centuries ago Irish farmers from the west immigrated to the Caribbean so who knows.

Irish surnames are also very common throughout the Caribbean islands...i have friends with Prendergast, McDonagh, Brown etc...:)

Captain Chaos

''How'ya me ole flower'' is good one.

Or people getting a hand full of shopping, ''I was just up getting some messages'', never understud where that came from.

I was on a DART a few years ago and the driver informs us that ''this train will be out of service at the next station due to, to use and Irish term, it being completely bandjaxed'' I nearly burst out laughing at his honesty. It was badly struggling to release the breaks and you could hear the metal on metal scrapping so it was a way of dealing with his frustration I guess.

stovelid

Begrudger.

Geebag.

The latter is a thing of beauty and should be listed officially.

Dravokivich

Geebag.

ya sack...

munchkin_utd

The one that nearly everyone in Ireland uses incorrectly is "I'm after doing something". In England, if you say "I'm after eating my dinner", it means that you want to eat your dinner.
In Ireland it means I have just eaten my dinner.

Where's that from? Never heard it in my life.
Till now.
Was brought up on the border, and went to college in Belfast, so it must be from somewhere down south for me not to have come across it.
That said. The Mrs is from Cork and never heard her abusing the language in that particular way.

Her crowd have a habit of saying "I do be doing" something when they do it every day.
Obviously an attempt to do present continous which exists in Irish but not in English.
It really made sense that there's such a close connection with the Irish when we looked at the census from 1910 and her great grandparents in North East Cork could speak irish and english but couldnt read or write, meaning that they didnt pick Irish up at school so it had to mean that it was still alive in the area when they were growning up.
Theres no Irish there now.

ldee

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

One of my pet hates!

'Cheers' is such a retarded phrase but a significant section of society seem to think it's acceptable a a form of 'thank you'.

Thought it was just me. I hate when people says cheers. You hear it in restaurants and shops all the time...'Cheers' :mad::mad::mad:

say it when clinking glasses only!!

Anyway - mets an american couple on holiday. Told them i was 'pissed last night' and they didn't thought i was telling them I was mad.....

Dravokivich

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Where's that from? Never heard it in my life.
Till now.

I'm after readin yer post...