Irishisms that will confuse Londoners . . .

LordSutch

Irishman new to London/England walks into a shop and asks for a Sliced Pan! You can imagine the puzzled look on the faces of those serving, & those listening to this uniquely Irish request, > a slice what mate? a Pan, what, like a frying pan? you what mate? you want the hardware department mate, No? a half pan, you been on the spliff mate? what's that? total confusion > Better off asking for 'a loaf of bread' please

Irishman just arrived into Euston train station from Holyhead, walks into newsagent and promptly loses his wallet, asks staff where he can contact the Gards, slightly puzzled they look at him, 'Guards'? so they tell him to go back down to the platforms, maybe he will find one on a train? > Better off asking for the Police mate, guards in England are men who work on the trains

Those are two true stories, and if anybody else has any other amusing 'Irishisms' that are common to Ireland, but lost on Londoners, then please add them to this thread, for us all to enjoy. Finally, a word of caution to those just off the boat, don't ask any black people where you can pick up a Sambo, as this word has a totally different meaning outside of Ireland, as I discovered to my shock many moons ago while doing the lunch order . . .

Reekwind

Housemate enquires of an Irishman as to where some miscellaneous cooking instrument is. Is mightily confused by being told to look in the 'press'. Eventually the back and forth is resolved with a 'Oh, you meant look in the cupboard'

mikemac1

Is sambo a racist term? Not being smart, I don't know. I think I'd probably offend someone too without meaning it. Don't answer this, I'll go look it up now

OP, Irish Rail have guards too. And some trains have the guards van if you want to store your bike in there.

Anyway

A what? A rock shandy? What's that?

And the poor Brits seem unaware of the drink of the gods that is Red Lemonade. Some pubs have it in that gun dispenser thing they have but it's rare, very rare

Don't walk into your local London shop and ask for Taytos

seamus

mikemac1 wrote: »

Is sambo a racist term? Not being smart, I don't know. I think I'd probably offend someone too without meaning it. Don't answer this, I'll go look it up now

Yeah, "Sambo" is a bit like "N*gger" in that it was once a term in general use, but became a term of abuse as the equal rights movement moved on.
Ireland, having very few black people, let alone black slaves, would not have heard the word very much, hence why most Irish still don't consider sambo to be an offensive term. It's not. Not in this country anyway.

My wife lived in London for two years and the biggest things she would get slagged over are saying "yer man/yer wan" or "thanks a mill". The latter she says all the time, I'm not sure why it seems so odd. Maybe it seems too enthusiastic a "thanks" when someone has only sold you a pan of bread.

who the fug

when working behind the bar could always spot the wans just off the boat when they asked for a bag of taytos

studiorat

"Hey Guard! Is this Piccadilly Circus? "

"Yes sir, it is."

"Good, what time does it start? "

Fysh

seamus wrote: »

Yeah, "Sambo" is a bit like "N*gger" in that it was once a term in general use, but became a term of abuse as the equal rights movement moved on.
Ireland, having very few black people, let alone black slaves, would not have heard the word very much, hence why most Irish still don't consider sambo to be an offensive term. It's not. Not in this country anyway.

.......

Way back in nineteen-dickety (we didn't have numbers back them 'cause the Kaiser had stolen 'em) that might have been true, but I dispute the assertion that anyone with any awareness whatsoever of the world as it exists beyond the end of their own nose these days could live outside of Ireland and continue to think that a term like "sambo" is devoid of problematic history or connotations. It's not like Ireland has some sort of magic history whereby we've never had any race-related issues and so the concept is simply alien to us.

Bear in mind that the same logic you're using there would excuse any given English person for not understanding why Irish people "don't like the English".

In terms of hiberno-English conventions that I consider "normal" but which have occasionally confused English people here, I particularly find the corkonian double-positive-as-negative to be problematic. For some reason, a sarcastic "I will, yeah" isn't immediately obvious in its meaning to non-Irish/Scots :rolleyes:

And then there's red lemonade. I remember looks of derision from several English friends when I tried to get this in pubs...

schemingbohemia

A "glass" - I went into a pub in Manchester and asked for 2 pints of Boddingtons and a glass of cider....."they all come in glasses mate!"

Ask for a "half".

Fysh

schemingbohemia wrote: »

A "glass" - I went into a pub in Manchester and asked for 2 pints of Boddingtons and a glass of cider....."they all come in glasses mate!"

Ask for a "half".

That's caught me out too It's happens more than once in places that have Leffe on tap which annoys me a bit, because if you're working in a bar that has Leffe on tap you should know that:
a) there are particular glasses you're supposed to use for Leffe, and
b) you're not supposed to serve Leffe by the pint.

LadyMayBelle

"Will you get a litre of milk in the shop"..a, litre? Is that like two pinter? Grrr..

exiledelbows

'Giving out' to someone is completely lost on people over here, which is a bit strange.

Also, if I'm late for work and I apologise and say I 'slept in' everyone starts laughing. Apparently I should be saying I 'overslept'

mathepac

"Sorry I'm late, I slept it out." U wo' maite?

"A half pound of rashers please" ???

"A head of cabbage please"

Tefral

"Your one" or "Your Man"

They dont have a clue what im talking about when i say that.

kelle

"Washing the delph", having "rashers" for breakfast, saying you got "thick" with somebody when they annoyed you, constant use of "like" in sentences. I could probably come up with loads more, but I was very quick to step up from being a "bogger" when I moved to London.

LordSutch

Try asking for scallions in the shop!

Scallions is totaly lost on English people, 'Spring Onions' is the translation )

mathepac

LordSutch wrote: »

Try asking for scallions in the shop! ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scallion Ah the poor feckers are showing their lack of classical education; the botanical name for scallions is derived from the town of Ashkelon in Ancient Greece; any Brits that ever went there were simply grave-robbers, not looking to be educated as well as us.

LordSutch

Now now, be nice to our neighbours :rolleyes:

Another one I have just thought of is 'Ghee' which obviously has a rather rude meaning & a different spelling in Ireland, but in London its a well known type of butter in many ethnic shops!

Can I have some Ghee please, go on try it for a laugh

mikemac1

LadyMayBelle wrote: »

"Will you get a litre of milk in the shop"..a, litre? Is that like two pinter? Grrr..

Do they not sell by the litre?

If so, there's another thing I've learned from this thread

mathepac

"Jacinta your chicken is on'y gorgeous. Howja cook it?"

"I fried it in ghee after marinading it over-night"

"Ya did wha'? Did I fecken hear ya righ', righ'? O good jaypaus, I feel sick"

"Yes I learned about it in England from the Asians"

"You learned about ghee in England? You never heard about it here? I think I'm going to faint. Well answer me this then smarty pants, if ya fried it in ghee, then how come it still smells like chicken?"

Aoifebm

Allergic! Is it only in Cork where you can be allergic to a person?

83ste

LordSutch wrote: »

Now now, be nice to our neighbours :rolleyes:

Another one I have just thought of is 'Ghee' which obviously has a rather rude meaning & a different spelling in Ireland, but in London its a well known type of butter in many ethnic shops!

Can I have some Ghee please, go on try it for a laugh

You think that's bad... http://lovegeebag.blogspot.com/

100% serious as far as I can tell.

Irishpimpdude

serrity wrote: »

You think that's bad... http://lovegeebag.blogspot.com/

100% serious as far as I can tell.

Pissed myself when i looked at that first haha, but on closer inspection there's chinese writing on the bag it doesn't say gee, was going to order one for the gf if it did ha

ICANN

'Story?'
What story do you speak of?

'I'm allergic!'
What do you have an allergy to?'

'Cidona please.'
o.O

afatbollix

The press one has had me shouting at people.. One person even started to look in the fridge and the Ironing board..

Numptys I tell ya!!

maggiep2010

I'm a primary school teacher...

"get the copies out of the press please.."
"What?"
"get the copies out of the press I said.."
"What???"
"GET THE COPIES OUT OF THE PRESS NOW!"
(teaching assistant steps in)
"Miss would like you to get the writing books out of the cupboard"

Thank god she had experienced the paddy teachers before me!

BrokenArrows

The way I pronounce the letter R seems to confuse people.

I pronounce it "or". English say "ar". Is it just me or have I been saying it wrong all these years.

LordSutch

BrokenArrows wrote: »

The way I pronounce the letter R seems to confuse people.

I pronounce it "or". English say "ar". Is it just me or have I been saying it wrong all these years.

I guess some regions in Ireland do say "or" (Paul Reynolds "or" RTE News for example), but I think the majority of Irish people say 'arr' as do most English people, both are correct, but I guess they just don't hear too many people pronouncing the letter R as "or" in London/England.

Mint Sauce

"were you full"

"huh"

"were you full last night"

"what"

"were you full when you were out"

"i've no idea what your asking"

"were you drunk"

Conversation went some thing like that when back over in London recently

gerardduff

Calling London/UK "over" is a hilariously paddy thing to say.

Over
I was over (I spent some time in the UK)
You were over (You visited me then)
He was over (So did that other guy)
She was over (And his girlfriend)
It was over (It happened while we were in the UK)
They were over (The entire family came aswell)
We were over (Occasionally we go back to visit, (esp to go to football matches))

They think it's all over; it is now.

LordSutch

I agree, and the whole misuse of the term 'UK' always amuses me (and many Londoners too I expect).

Pintoplain

"Golden Pages" earned me baffled looks a few years ago. Must've sounded like I was on a fairytale quest.

S.M.B.

bahahahahaha

why would you ask for a copy of the Golden Pages?

emeraldstar

irish-stew wrote: »

"were you full"

"huh"

"were you full last night"

"what"

"were you full when you were out"

"i've no idea what your asking"

"were you drunk"

Conversation went some thing like that when back over in London recently

In fairness I would be equally

duffarama

BrokenArrows wrote: »

The way I pronounce the letter R seems to confuse people.

I pronounce it "or". English say "ar". Is it just me or have I been saying it wrong all these years.

This happens me all the time, luckily there's no R in my real name!

Reekwind

In terms of accents, I've never been so mortified as when a client burst out laughing at my mention of the 'turd warehouse'. (Which followed the first and second warehouses, obviously)

LadyMayBelle

girls at work caught me looking up the 'death notices' on RIP.ie...

exiledelbows

LordSutch wrote: »

I agree, and the whole misuse of the term 'UK' always amuses me (and many Londoners too I expect).

Because London and English/British people always get the whole Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland thing spot on... :rolleyes:

Cedrus

BrokenArrows wrote: »

The way I pronounce the letter R seems to confuse people.

I pronounce it "or". English say "ar". Is it just me or have I been saying it wrong all these years.

orr is the correct pronunciation as gaeilge
arr is the correct pronunciation as bearla

Richard

LadyMayBelle wrote: »

"Will you get a litre of milk in the shop"..a, litre? Is that like two pinter? Grrr..

Some milk is sold by the litre - it depends on the brand...

LordSutch

exiledelbows wrote: »

Because London and English/British people always get the whole Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland thing spot on...:rolleyes:

Agreed;
English/British/Londoners grasp of Irelands geography is probably even worse, but this thread is about Irishisms that will confuse Londoners.

Sherfin

When flipping a coin "Heads or Harps" will get you a few strange looks

Solair

LordSutch wrote: »

Try asking for scallions in the shop!

Scallions is totaly lost on English people, 'Spring Onions' is the translation )

Works fine in America!

There are plenty of Englishisms that confuse the hell out of Irish people (and others) too.

I remember working in London and people kept saying "All right mate?" "Are you all right?"

Which, to an Irish person, or an American means = it looks like you're ill / Is there something wrong with you?

Both Irish and American people in the office were getting really weirded out by it! More so the Americans.

Fysh

Solair wrote: »

Works fine in America!

Ah yes, America, with their majority share of the world's Londoners...

theparish

"Ahh surr begoshh an begorrahh tuur a lurr a lorry",they looked at me as if I had two heads

Solair

"Like OMG! Like TOTALLY OMG... what a MARE!"

Referring to the trams in Croydon etc as the "Luases"

Mostly, it's just minor technical / trademark issues.

Calling any power company "the ESB"

saralou2011

"Ah you've landed!"

illumin

Using the word "grand" to reply to anything positively confuses the hell out of non irish people. I get very self conscious using it

Solair

There are plenty of Irishisms that confuse people from neighbouring counties though!

Best approach is to speak in a fake cockney accent using bad rhyming slang. They love that over in London!

Richard

Sherfin wrote: »

When flipping a coin "Heads or Harps" will get you a few strange looks

Except the harp side both on IR£ and Euros is the "Heads" side as it is the national symbol.

Cedrus

The Leaving - "leaving what, leaving where?"

The Inter - "?????????"

Debs - "Ooh, you went to a posh school?"

LordSutch

Solair wrote: »

Referring to the trams in Croydon etc as the "Luases"

Mostly, it's just minor technical / trademark issues.

Calling any power company "the ESB"

Very true, or calling a London Bobby a Garda.

I worked with a girl from Cork in the IFSC in Dublin a few years ago, she had just come back from London after living there for ten years, with a story about how her friends house had once been broken into, she told us that they had to call the Gards over to take finger prints!