Non-derogatory Limerick Colloquialisms

gaf1983

Once I heard a girl on the phone on the bus saying

"Come here til I tell you a question."

And I was just wondering, is "Chawk it down" only used in Limerick or what?

Dave

"fair" is also used a nice bit. I worked with this girl last year who was from Croom side. Everything was "yeah twas fair good alright" or "It's fair warm today" etc.

cornbb

"fair" seems to be used by a lot of Tipp people living in limerick. They also say "well" as a greeting.

Yay, 100th post!

IceHawk

Calling someone a muppet used to be just a Limerick thing, but now it's sort of spread, much like Limerick itself.

Zapho

Yup cornbb, a lot of my Tipp friends say "fair" and "well" ( by 'a lot' I mean all!).
I seriously hate "Come 'ere I want ya"!

natter

I was in UL a good year before I had a clue what ye were talkin about with tackies!! (I dunno if thats spelt right)

Chong

Its close annoys me as in the weather is very close, or it would be the finest GRRRRRR.

Raiser

Only in Limerick is "Trun" used.
Its the past-tense of throw. [Throwed was experimented with before being deemed unworkable]

Typical usage:

Limerick Citizen A: "Throw over me knife Mikey"

Limerick Citizen B: "I trun it oh-var a minit ago ya fukkinretard-gowlbag"

iguana

Willem D wrote:

Its close annoys me as in the weather is very close, or it would be the finest GRRRRRR.

I'm pretty sure describing the weather as close is universal. I've heard it used by people in Dublin and the UK.

moshpit77

gowlbag

billy the squid

have heard people who are lucky being described as "latsy"

bullets

I read someplace the word "Muppet" ment Unwanted.

Dunno where the phrase "you muppet" came from I always thought
it was a Limerick thing to decribe firstly the
old style indi crowd then later sk8rs and also the spooky kids and doom cookies.

But I have heard people being referred to as Muppets in the USA
so unless the phrase spread like wildfire......

~B

stevoslice

i've been told that this is a limerick only way of speaking: -

"Are you goin out tonight, are ya?"
"Is that yours, is it?" etc...

another one is describing a large amount as 40-11 (forty eleven)

eg.
"Jaysus mike wuz fair drunk last nite, must've drank 40-11 pints"
"He did not, did he?"

and finally
"You goin out tonight?"
"I amen't"...

billy the squid

actually another one i have only heard in limerick

"I wouldnt believe that fella's radio"

stevoslice

stereophonics had a song out, that went: -

I wouldn't believe your wireless radio
If i had myself a flying giraffe
you'd have one in a box with a window...

must be welsh then as well.

good song actually!!!

gaf1983

thebhoy wrote:

i've been told that this is a limerick only way of speaking: -

"Are you goin out tonight, are ya?"
"Is that yours, is it?" etc...


and finally
"You goin out tonight?"
"I amen't"...

Yeah I've heard people ask stuff like "D'ya like United, do ya?"

I think people say "amen't" everywhere in Ireland though.

I heard that the term "ghoul" when it is used to describe a stupid person/someone you don't like comes from the Irish word "Gall" meaning foreigner, as in Dún na nGall. Basically I suppose when the word first came into use it was used to describe the only foreigners the Irish new, basically the English plantationers who were busy raping and pillaging the country so no wonder the term for foreigner came to be associated with people who act like ghoulbags.

Rubberbandits

As Regards the word Tackies to describe trainers, runners, kicks, whiterubberfootwalkers ect. As far as I know the word tackies arrived in Limerick during the late eighties. A priest who was visiting Africa arrived home with the word nestled in the cuff of his shirt to avoid detection. He then slowly fed the word with small amounts of refined grain (as is customary with the high carbohydrate dietry requirements of bisyllabic words) before it rested gently in the tongues of Limerick folk. Seriously, "Tackies" is apparetly an African (Swahili?) word that was brought to Limerick by a Priest.

Dave

I don't think "sham" has been mentioned yet.

Karmafaerie

The over use of the word "man"!
I hung around with a load of semi-scumbags for a few months as a kid, and I caught, what I like to refer to as, "manitus!"
I used to say the word man at least once a sentance!

" Aw man, did you see that man"

"Fu*k Sake man, i could have killed yer man for that"

And of cource we cant forget to mention the ever prescent "Decent" (pronounced Day-sent)!

I don't think anybody mentioned "sham", because it goes without saying!

kyp_durron

Gis a bottle o fizzy fanta ill ya.

Zapho

"Can i've ten john player blue an' a packet a shkins?"

Karmafaerie

I prefer it whe nthey call them "Johnny Blue"!!!!!

keevita

10 JPB, or 10 Johnnies, is also quite amusing. one of my personal favourites (i hear it alot because unfortunately i dont have a tracksuit/belly top/thick gold necklace) is 'Schtate o' that wan' (state of that one)

pleuraXeraphim

Very much used but not all probably exclusive to Limerick

Whats the story kid.....
OR
arite Bud...

and the use of the word like as well is used in nearly every sentence

know wha i mean like....
no what Im sayin like, dya

Oh and everyone you know, being referred to as maurice is another:

You going out tonight maurice?

hailtothechimp

Rubberbandits wrote:

As far as I know the word tackies arrived in Limerick during the late eighties...Seriously, "Tackies" is apparetly an African (Swahili?) word that was brought to Limerick by a Priest.

This reminds me of an incident involving a friend of mine (a Limerickian) who was working as a security guard in London. One of his colleagues was a chap from Zimbabwe, who (during a bored conversation late one night) happened to mention that he was heading into Camden the following day to buy some "tackies".

My friend thought he was hearing things and asked the guy to elaborate. Sure enough he meant exactly the same thing Limerick people mean when they use the word.

I'd always thought the word was exclusively a Limerick thing but if you look up the word in the Oxford Dictionary of English you'll see that it's listed as S. Afr (a South African colloquialism). No mention of it having any connection to Irish-English.

So the priest story is at least plausible, though I very much doubt that the word is actually Swahili. Anyone got any more on this?

Delphi91

Then there's "stall on" pronounced "Schtawl on", which is used to mean "wait a minute" or "wait for me".

And of course "schtawl de bawl"

echomadman

Gomey (go-mee) and "waalk onn"

"Gomey hed on yer man, whaddayoolookinat, waalk on kid or i'll bust ye"

Monaleen F.C.

"grand" is possibly a phrase used more-so in Limerick then anywhere else, according to a Longford girl who's just come here for college.

"Bjior", used througout Ireland but it may have its origins in Limerick

"Fien" simply referring to someone. Like fiend without the d

"Boss" becoming more popular here, but didn't originate in Limerick I think.

"fiq" as in to shag

"felcher" or "to felch" again not from Limerick, but is spreading around. Has it's source in Ardscoil Ris (not directly there, but it was brought to Limerick via Ardscoil). I'm not explaining what it means.

Roy Rogers

Actually, bjior is spelled beoir (byore) and comes from traveller language, Cant - no word of a lie. It's a word for (trying to remember exactly) either a girl, a girlfriend, or a wife.

I remember reading an essay on Irish English languages and dialects for an essay one time, and seeing this in it. It was actually really interesting. I think (but don't quote me) that 'nacir' is also a word for person in that language, so that might be where calling travellers 'knackers' came from.

billy the squid

was about to type out the same thing roy. both beor and feen come from traveller cant or shelta, and seem to have migrated into slang of the mid-west region.

beor meaning woman and feen meaning man. also the word "sham" meaning man has also migrated from shelta to local dialect.

peckerhead

'Takkies' is Afrikaans, but it's been Sowth Effricun (S. African English) for runners/trainers for donkeys years.
Mind you, they don't generally understand what 'shake the tackie' means!

billy the squid

peckerhead wrote:

'Takkies' is Afrikaans, but it's been Sowth Effricun (S. African English) for runners/trainers for donkeys years.

I would love to know how the word migrated from South Africa to Limerick. The word "Tackies" has been used for runners as far back as I can remember.

sioda

The use of double negatives has to be a major limerick thing

Such as: I wasn't doing nothin or I wasn't doin nothin to no one or the classic I didn't do nothins not exactly double negative but hey

gaf1983

billy the squid wrote:

I would love to know how the word migrated from South Africa to Limerick. The word "Tackies" has been used for runners as far back as I can remember.

My mum used to live in Canada and she said she heard it being used out there too.


The following isn't a Limerick colloquialism, but I was in hospital the other day and one of the patients said to a nurse, which I thought was funny,

"Hurry up and take your time!"

bazz26

Not sure if this is exclusive to Limerick but when younger we used to say "That's rapid" meaning that's brilliant or great.

spinalsly

yup bazz i remember that one!