Irish, being late and swearing

AmyG123

Irish people seem to be always late, in college its normal to arrive 30 mins late.
There seems to be a casual attitude towards punctuality. One of my Irish friends said I'd be wasting time with being punctual.
Another thing that struck me is the casual attitude towards swearing which seems to be common in everyday conversations. My Irish friends have no problems with swearing, I've even heard children swearing.
I love Ireland but these two thing just annoy me.
Does anyone else have these experiences? Does this annoy anyoneelse?

Toto Wolfcastle

I fcuking love swearing.

For Forks Sake

Fcuk you OP, fcuk you.

lakesider

Fcuck me!, im late into this thread:P

whatismyname

Should've met my fcuking friend for lunch at 12, but fcuk her she knows I'm Irish and she can forking wait.

gazzamc

Oh **** I think I'm late to the thread, I'm fecking sorry lads.. Let me just get into the seat there in the middle row.. Fcuk

North of 32

A foreigner could easily be fooled into thinking Irish people are very time conscious. We often give distances in time, eg the library is 20 minutes walk from here, or the city is 40 minutes drive away. We don't use KM unlike the continentals. We have a preoccupation with lengths of time but aren't particularly punctual. I find it amusing when I think of it like that.

It's less amusing when buses are always late (or timetables inaccurate), and when people waste your time by showing up late to meetings.

Gran Hermano

I love Sundays, lazy brunch and sweeping generalisations for all.

EoghanIRL

Pays thousands of euros of college fees.
Still turns up late to college.
Could never understand this.

Peregrine

Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!

MRnotlob606

Definitely true about the being late and relaxed attitude.In countries like Sweden, your expected to be at least 10 minutes earlier.

Stillhouette

AmyG123 wrote: »

Irish people seem to be always late, in college its normal to arrive 30 mins late.
There seems to be a casual attitude towards punctuality. One of my Irish friends said I'd be wasting time with being punctual.
Another thing that struck me is the casual attitude towards swearing which seems to be common in everyday conversations. My Irish friends have no problems with swearing, I've even heard children swearing.
I love Ireland but these two thing just annoy me.
Does anyone else have these experiences? Does this annoy anyoneelse?

I am never late. What does annoy me however is sweeping generalisations.

MRnotlob606

I remember recently somebody showed up like an hour late and blamed it on "Gushty winds"

Fr_Dougal

MRnotlob606 wrote: »

I remember recently somebody showed up like an hour late and blamed it on "Gushty winds"

Gushty Winds...sounds like the name of a porn star.


They might have been telling the truth.

Cold War Kid

Yeah they're both true for a lot of Irish people (I don't like unwarranted sweeping generalisations either but surely people can't deny there's a lot of what the OP is talking about in Ireland?) The lateness thing is something people should cop on about. It's I guess having a relaxed attitude to things, and I don't have a problem with five minutes here and there (and e.g. the pub is fairly informal) but excessive lateness when people are counting on you to be there is just something people shouldn't be accepting as "Ah shur once they're there".

Banjo String

Maybe they were having an absolute cụnt of a day?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao5Kq0hJwzY

wil

The two thing that annoyme about anyoneelse is attention to detail when dealing out criticisms.

Panthro

If Ireland has a swear jar we would have all survived the recession

Tigger

not enough fucking swearing if you ask me

whatismyname

Tigger wrote: »

not enough fucking swearing if you ask me

you're so fcuking right

SpaceTime

I lived in France and everyone was always late, on holidays, smoking and swearing!

I've even seen news anchors turn up in set late and apologise to the viewers !!!

I'm not complaining about that btw - I like that aspect of France lol

I genuinely find Ireland pretty efficient! It's got a good balance between getting things done and not taking life too seriously (unlike some countries cough: Germany)

Most Europeans swear a lot - you just don't realise it as you don't speak the languages!

It's really only conservative American types who don't.

Spanish swearing is practically an art form!

YurOK2

I'm never late but I do swear. I think a lot of Irish people use swear words in a comedic way as opposed to an aggressive antagonistic way. I know I would often say "would you fűck off" in response to someone joking with me or if I was in disbelief at something I was being told.

dmc17

Gran Hermano wrote: »

I love Sundays, lazy brunch and sweeping generalisations for all.

We're a shower of lazy fcukers as well. No wonder we're always late.

whatismyname

Lawnmower Tim wrote: »

I do think it's good to try to limit your swearing, it loses its effect when you swear in every second sentence. I'm making a concerted effort to cut it out and hopefully improve my vocabulary in doing so.

Ah would you ever feck off with that sh1te

rosb

I have a friend who is always late for coffee. She blames it on the mental traffic. I come in the same road to town and there is no 'mental' traffic. And even though I know she is probably going to be late, I am still on time.

Mint Aero

I've a great way to deal with people who are always late to things. I ban them with my ban hammer.

Tigger

whats with all the cunts who cant spell fuck

thelad95

EoghanIRL wrote: »

Pays thousands of euros of college fees.
Still turns up late to college.
Could never understand this.

Lol if they turn up for class at all..

MRnotlob606

****

dr.fuzzenstein

OP. move to southern Italy. An Italian colleague of mine once compared their swearing to a symphony, it is that much of an artform.
I find in Ireland, there's two kinds of punctuality, coming to work and meeting in socially. Who am I kidding, where would you meet socially in Ireland? It's the pub. It's always the pub. Coming to work has to be spot on, depending on the business and there are exceptions, but going to the pub is open ended. Could be early, could be late, next week, next month or never, but it's not always that strict...

Cravez

EoghanIRL wrote: »

Daddy/Mammy pays thousands of euros of college fees.
Still turns up late to college.
Could never understand this.

Fixed

I would most likely think if they put thousands of their own euros to pay for fees they would show up on time.

Not paying? Ah sure 3 hours late be grand.

walkingshadow

I like how in Ireland we use the word cnut frequently in everyday conversations, even as a term of endearment, whereas in the UK and US, it is probably the most offensive curse word, rarely even spoken in movies and tv.

Aongus Von Bismarck

I abhor the excessive use of bad language by some Irish people. You know the type: ignorant louts sitting in concrete beer gardens hoovering back cider and peppering their conversations with every sort of obscenity and curse word. The words lose all meaning. It just screams ignorance and lack of wit and intelligence.

When you hear someone who rarely curses come out with one then you know they are genuinely angry/afraid etc.

My Father never curses as a rule. I remember when he found out my younger brother was smoking weed and hanging around with stoners.

"You stupid fûcking prick" he shouted at my brother, "why can't you be more like Aongus?"

His use of those two words really resonated with me.

HalloweenJack

OP, where are you from?

I don't know that many Irish people who are late. And the ones that I do, have a reputation for being late and get stick for it.

I enjoy that we curse, I don't think it's a big deal. People who get worked up about it are taking themselves way too seriously.

And if you think the Irish are bad at these two things, never go to any country in the Mediterranean or you'll have a nervous breakdown just going through the airport.

I agree with a poster earlier on who said we have a good balance between good time-keeping but not taking it too seriously.

lulu1

I am never late and the swearing is not too bad but my oh can't finish a sentence without saying feck sake just a pure habit

kfallon

I'm never late but boy do I swear like a trooper!

waraf

As the great Dylan Moran says, late is an idea, late is bullsh!t...

Cee-Jay-Cee

The Irish in general are very punctual, it's just that everything starts a half hour earlier than usual to give people a chance to arrive

As for swearing, never heard anything so fcuking ridiculous in my fcuking life before ya bastard.

WoollyRedHat

Even our flagship talk show emphasises our odd flirtation with punctuality ...."The Late Late show".

Not just late, very late.

gimmick

Friend of mine has a rule with punctuality

If you are meeting someone of the street you are allowed to be 30 mins late.

If you are meeting in the pub you are allowed an hour

If you are calling to their home you can be as late as you want.

So the rule of thumb I have with him, is arrange for an hour earlier etc than I intend on being there.

As for the swearing, the English and the yanks are as bad if not worse.

ghogie91

Haha I can't believe that turning into work on time but severely hungover being acceptable was missed!

Up Ireland and Up the chinese aswell, there lovely people

Dirty Dingus McGee

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I abhor the excessive use of bad language by some Irish people. You know the type: ignorant louts sitting in concrete beer gardens hoovering back cider and peppering their conversations with every sort of obscenity and curse word. The words lose all meaning. It just screams ignorance and lack of wit and intelligence.

When you hear someone who rarely curses come out with one then you know they are genuinely angry/afraid etc.

My Father never curses as a rule. I remember when he found out my younger brother was smoking weed and hanging around with stoners.

"You stupid fûcking prick" he shouted at my brother, "why can't you be more like Aongus?"

His use of those two words really resonated with me.

Nothing woring with cursing it can be far more expressive than using so called proper english.

Saying something is a load off bollocks can be much better than saying something is rubbish.

Stephen Fry below sums it up much better than me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_osQvkeNRM

jester77

The swearing thing is not unique to Ireland, it's everywhere here and not just in general conversation. It's used a lot in business as well. I work for a highly respectable German business and we have lots of business events around Germany. One of the popular ones running at the moment is called "How I fu*ked up" where successful business people gives talks on their previous failings and what they learnt from it to be become successful.

ColadaSolada

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Nothing woring with cursing it can be far more expressive than using so called proper english.

Saying something is a load off bollocks can be much better than saying something is rubbish.

Stephen Fry below sums it up much better than me
ube.com/watch?v=s_osQvkeNR]

But when every second sentence you speak describes something as bollocks then it loses its meaning. Swearing should be used sparingly to enhance its impact when you do decide to swear.

Dirty Dingus McGee

ColadaSolada wrote: »

But when every second sentence you speak describes something as bollocks then it loses its meaning. Swearing should be used sparingly to enhance its impact when you do decide to swear.

But the vast majority of people don't swear every second sentence.

nc19

Try working with Russians and polish OP

Kurwa!!! All day long......

whisky_galore

I know a few Italians living here, they kind of go 'wow, stuff actually WORKS here, this must be what Germany is like'....just goes to show there are countries more laid back than we are.

whisky_galore

walkingshadow wrote: »

I like how in Ireland we use the word cnut frequently in everyday conversations, even as a term of endearment, whereas in the UK and US, it is probably the most offensive curse word, rarely even spoken in movies and tv.

Overheard a bunch of 'ladies' in a bar on South Australia, "Renay, she's a facking caaant..." and "caaant" this and "caaant" that. Trust me the Aussies sure know how to turn the air blue.

pablomakaveli

When i first started seeing my girlfriend who's english, she had an issue with how i swear so often. This was despite me telling her it's just kind of normal back home. When i brought her over to Ireland it kind of opened her eyes a bit.

The defining moment was when she overheard a girl walking past us who was having a conversation on the phone, saying something like "For ****s sake what a ****" or something like that. Anyway after that trip home she hasn't had an issue with me swearing since.

But yes it does seem like we Irish swear a lot.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

nc19 wrote: »

Try working with Russians and polish OP

Kurwa!!! All day long......

Romanians have to be the swearingest motherfeckers around. One of my friends is Romanian and it's fcuk this, cock that, bitch the other. Thought it was just him but the more I meet and see on TV and stuff (like that Channel 4 doc a while back) the more I think it's probably pretty common over there.

ticklebelly7

I had the misfortune to be a prosecution witness at a major trial and my evidence was largely based around an old diary I'd written years before.

The defence barrister read out extracts from the diary where I referred to everyone from my mother to my best friend to my cat as A C*nt.
In front of an English court, this was supposed to be evidence that I was a thoroughly disreputable character ...

Luckily the jury weren't of the same small-minded po-faced mealy-mouthed piss-flapping arse-**** knob-throttling *rse-painting cuntocious dog-tossing middle class mindset as this smeg-stain of a barrister and they found the Defendant guilty. The judge even used my words in his summing up (minus the swearing).

(Edit: this has asterisks in it only because the the auto check yoke has decided it's rude to swear and decided to censor it - on a swearing post. Fornicate that for a lark)