Things said in Ireland that no one says in England

El_Duderino 09 · 31-12-2017 10:21am

I was chatting with a woman yesterday who described two people as being ‘very great’ meaning close friends. I don’t know if it’s an old timey expression or a country expression but I’ve never heard it in England.

I lit up when I heard it. Love that description of friends!

looksee · 31-12-2017 10:56am

I seem to remember it as an old expression my mother would have used occasionally in the north of England. I'm not absolutely sure though, it may come back to me!

LynnGrace · 31-12-2017 11:04am

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I was chatting with a woman yesterday who described two people as being ‘very great’ meaning close friends. I don’t know if it’s an old timey expression or a country expression but I’ve never heard it in England.

I lit up when I heard it. Love that description of friends!

I haven't hear that expression in years. I love it though.

vektarman · 31-12-2017 12:00pm

Ireland: I was sitting.
England: I was sat.

Ireland: I was standing.
England: I was stood.

lufties · 31-12-2017 12:04pm

My ex is English. Sometimes I would finish my sentences with the word 'so', like OK so....she'd say 'so'? 'So what?

larko · 31-12-2017 12:25pm

I've been working with an English guy for 2 years now. He's been having good fun with us and our words. Last week it was "cough bottle" he thought this was a good one.

He still cant get some of the Irish names though. I can see the Fr Dougal look on his face when someone says an Irish name.

Oops69 · 31-12-2017 1:06pm

'he fell down on the FLOOR' when it's outside ---- it's ' the ground '!!!, in fairness thats just a bit dopey by them .

looksee · 31-12-2017 1:20pm

Oops69 wrote: »

'he fell down on the FLOOR' when it's outside ---- it's ' the ground '!!!, in fairness thats just a bit dopey by them .

No, that's just, as you say, dopey, most people would say ground, I think.

George White · 31-12-2017 1:33pm

Mysteriouschic wrote: »

Irish - Hair bobbin
English - Hair band

When it's raining
Irish - it's lashing outside
English - It's pissing outside

Irish - Buzzing
I'm not sure what the English equivalent is.

I use more of the English phrases only some of the irish phrases.

Buzzing is bull****ting, isn't it? Only heard "buzzing" last year from an eejit builder who was going on about how the place he was working was going to be a strip club or some ****e.

Permabear · 31-12-2017 5:57pm

This post has been deleted.

George White · 31-12-2017 6:23pm

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Yes, I think the usage I'm using is possibly Dublin-centric.
"Why are you saying such ****e?"
"I'm only buzzing."
"Buzzing?"

Permabear · 31-12-2017 6:24pm

This post has been deleted.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 31-12-2017 6:28pm

George White wrote: »

Yes, I think the usage I'm using is possibly Dublin-centric.
"Why are you saying such ****e?"
"I'm only buzzing."
"Buzzing?"

As in messing around or being facetious?

George White · 31-12-2017 8:38pm

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

As in messing around or being facetious?

Yes, I'm not sure if messing itself is Irish only, though, I used to, but then I remembered Kenneth Williams saying "stop messin' about!" but I think Irish just tend to drop the about.

Oops69 · 31-12-2017 8:46pm

de dubs 'do be buzzin of each udder' all de toime , in that sense it means getting on well together whether its recreational or working together .

TheRiverman · 31-12-2017 8:54pm

If I went back through all the posts I would probably find it has already been mentioned, "I was sat"instead of "I was sitting","I was stood" instead of "I was standing".English people showing their brilliant grammar skills with their own language.

Spanish Eyes · 31-12-2017 9:44pm

I love the way some in the UK add an R when there are two vowels following each other. Scratching my head to think of an example, but let's say Emma Ellis. It can turn into Emmar Ellis.

Re going for the messages, I also would love to know the etymology of that one! I read upthread that it was connected with going to the post office for telegraph messages and picking up a few bits in the shop whilst there, or writing a message to the shopkeeper for the illiterate maid to pick up for the Lady of the Manor.

I was reading a book recently based in Scotland and one of the characters kept mentioning going to the shops for "Comestibles" Now I wonder if the "mes" in that word morphed into messages. The phrase is used in Scotland AFAIK. Although it's a long shot.

Anyway I had to look up the word comestible, I had never come across it used in everyday speak up to then. For shame.

There is also the Fetch, Shall, and Perhaps. We say Get, Will, and Maybe.

It is totally fascinating.

the purple tin · 31-12-2017 10:34pm

lulu1 wrote: »

Did anyone ever notice when they go to stay with friends/family in england that they would drink tea all day and nothing to eat with it..

And to complicate matters, they call their dinner tea (which mostly doesn't include a cup of tea).

the purple tin · 31-12-2017 10:41pm

lardarse wrote: »

I`m originally from over the Irish sea, and was living down in London with my Irish girlfriend, her teenage sister came over to stay with us for a few weeks. We where walking down the road one day, when she stopped dead in the street and burst out laughing. So i asked her whats up? She pointed at the side of a mini bus, which read "dial-a-ride" which in london at the time was a service to take the old folks to hospital appointments and the like. She was thinking London had some very liberal sex laws.

lol. On a trip to Galway once I saw an attractive young female backpacker (looked american) thumbing with a small bunch of flowers and a sign that said 'a flower for a ride' :eek:

Mutant z · 31-12-2017 10:50pm

Whats the craig saying that to an English person will give you strange looks.

theteal · 31-12-2017 10:55pm

"Your man", as in "look at your man up the road"

I've been met with the response, "My man? I don't know that fella"

Mutant z · 31-12-2017 10:57pm

To shift someone which means to snog someone in the UK.

Alun · 31-12-2017 10:57pm

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Re going for the messages, I also would love to know the etymology of that one! I read upthread that it was connected with going to the post office for telegraph messages and picking up a few bits in the shop whilst there, or writing a message to the shopkeeper for the illiterate maid to pick up for the Lady of the Manor.

I was reading a book recently based in Scotland and one of the characters kept mentioning going to the shops for "Comestibles" Now I wonder if the "mes" in that word morphed into messages. The phrase is used in Scotland AFAIK. Although it's a long shot.

In the Netherlands the phrase for going shopping is "Boodschappen doen". Boodschap is also the Dutch for message, so literally "Doing the messages". So possibly a hangover from Old English which has strong links with Dutch/Low German.

01-01-2018 8:36am

TheRiverman wrote: »

If I went back through all the posts I would probably find it has already been mentioned, "I was sat"instead of "I was sitting","I was stood" instead of "I was standing".English people showing their brilliant grammar skills with their own language.

You wouldn't have to go through all of them, just read a dozen posts back and you'd find it

From my experience living in England, it's a Northern English way of speaking, rather than England as a whole.

looksee · 01-01-2018 2:25pm

Yes, it is north of England, its one of the words/phrases that I really have to think about.

miamee · 03-01-2018 1:49pm

George White wrote: »

Yes, I think the usage I'm using is possibly Dublin-centric.
"Why are you saying such ****e?"
"I'm only buzzing."
"Buzzing?"

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

As in messing around or being facetious?

It is meant as messing but can also mean being in a great mood, "everyone was buzzing last night after the match!"

It's always a positive thing anyway. "I'm only buzzing off ya/with ya" = I'm only messing with you/pulling your leg.

worded · 03-01-2018 1:55pm

miamee wrote: »

It is meant as messing but can also mean being in a great mood, "everyone was buzzing last night after the match!"

It's always a positive thing anyway. "I'm only buzzing off ya/with ya" = I'm only messing with you/pulling your leg.

Snap out of that buzz your on worded

Your wrecking me buzz worded

My granny god bless her fell in with the wrong (knitting) circle and wound chastise me as a child with these comments

miamee · 03-01-2018 2:04pm

Two very common usages that I'd forgotten about there, worded

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 07-01-2018 2:20am

My English friend heard me saying 'He rode her' and thought I said 'rolled'. He started using the expression 'roll a girl' and I assumed that was an English expression. It was only later that I realised he was only saying it to me and thought he was using the Irish expression.

El_Duderino 09 · 07-01-2018 3:15am

'Do be' and 'does be', as in 'i do be up at 7 every morning and it does be cold'.

It's a direct translation of the present tense continual in irish. So that's one thing that's only used in Ireland.

We were told not to say it but I think it actually counts as proper Hiberno-English.

Mearings · 08-01-2018 5:16pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

'Do be' and 'does be', as in 'i do be up at 7 every morning and it does be cold'.

It's a direct translation of the present tense continual in irish. So that's one thing that's only used in Ireland.

We were told not to say it but I think it actually counts as proper Hiberno-English.

It does be not.

Nekarsulm · 08-01-2018 5:33pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

'Do be' and 'does be', as in 'i do be up at 7 every morning and it does be cold'.

It's a direct translation of the present tense continual in irish. So that's one thing that's only used in Ireland.

We were told not to say it but I think it actually counts as proper Hiberno-English.

That used to drive our National School teacher mad.
" Leave your "do be's" and your "does be's" under the bed" ws her inevitable response.

frozenfrozen · 08-01-2018 5:38pm

"it is cold in the morning" vs "it does be fookin freezing when I'm out in the van while yis fookin layabouts do be still in bed!!"

looksee · 08-01-2018 8:20pm

"I amn't" as against "I'm not". Ir - Eng

"You aren't" (are-ent) Ir - "you're not" Eng - "you arn't" North of Eng.

tac foley · 08-07-2018 7:00pm

looksee wrote: »

"I amn't" as against "I'm not". Ir - Eng

"You aren't" (are-ent) Ir - "you're not" Eng - "you arn't" North of Eng.

Add to this 'I ain't' - still common in less-well educated Londoners/Estuarians.

The 'other' grandfatherand his wife in our family group still uses this form of 'I'm not'.

tac

19-09-2018 11:08pm

Came across an auld fella at home whom I hadn't set eyes on in many a year and he quipped, startled, 'Aha, is it yourself that's in it?' I lit up with that syntax (An tusa atá ann?), responding with a smile, 'Who is this gorgeous man?'

Of course, what he was doing was giving himself a breather to think which of the family I was, but you can be sure they wouldn't be using that structure over in England ('There were two of them in it'/Bhí beirt acu ann, "weather that's in it" "day that's in it" etc)

"With a week", "with years" etc rather than "for a week" "for years" etc - still very common among people closer to the Irish - e.g. he's been there for/with a week/Tá sé ann le seachtain or He's been there for/with years/Tá sé ann le blianta, etc.

In Connacht among the older people you would be "walking out with" (ag siúl amach le...) a cailín when you'd be courting.

The whole "Not but" structure for "only" - e.g. There were not but 10 people in the pub - ní raibh ach deichniúr sa teach leanna.

And then all those ways to convey the weight/magnitude of emotion or pain or suffering - There was great sadness on him; bhí dobrón air. I always remember the author Joe O'Connor writing an article about that particular syntax in the Irish and its significance (in The Sunday Tribune column he had about 20 years ago). It was such a lovely piece of writing. So much richness of expression.

Imeoidh mé uait/I'll go away from you. I shall [sic "I will") depart.

Things said in Ireland that no one says in England

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