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Phrases and the likes you never hear outside Ireland

[Deleted User]

.. or at least if you do it likely originally came from Ireland 😂

i remember the aul lad once asking me if I had any news, I said no all quiet to which he replied “divil the bit then” apparently a phrase he picked up from someone he knew as a chap himself. I’m struggling to think of others right now but there’s some fine phrases and the likes that came of this country, scarlet for ye is another favourite!

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RandomViewer

We are where we are, and going forward,

Only a clouyster of a politician could come out with such drivel

Hangdogroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118296430#Comment_118296430

Pretty sure gaff is an English expression.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118301448#Comment_118301448

It's business-speak bullsh1t bingo, which originated on the West Coast of the US.

Beloved by politicos and other spoofers to make them seem more intelligent than they really are.

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118289972#Comment_118289972

gowl is an interesting one. Used that word years ago in company and an old fella nearly had a heart attack. He whispered that it was a term for a woman’s private parts where he came from (East Cork) and considered very rude. Not sure if he was having me on, but he did seem quite shocked.

Gowl or Ghoul?

In Irish gabhal means fork, and thus crotch.

So for him it obviously meant a woman's crotch. But in Irish the word isn't specific to a woman - it is also used for a man's gabhal.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118301545#Comment_118301545

And disparaged by those who regard themselves as the guardians of the language. Spouting the same old nonsense for years. Not an original thought among them.

gormdubhgorm

Blackguard / blaggard- I believe it comes from medieval times when the peasants/servants wore black. And were perceived as trouble/untrustworthy.

Markus Antonius

Why has nobody said "as the man says" as the man says?

Munstergirl854

Cute whore in England would mean a prostitute whereas here you could be on about a businessman who's smart with money..

Shagger is also used here as a term of endearment .you could hear someone say about a baby or dog isnt he a cute little shagger..I'm sure the english would be confused by that one.

The Irish swear words...Calling someone a dirty article,oinseach,luder,ya big gallut,Langer,gowl,wagon.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118304636#Comment_118304636

Oh yeah Wagon that is another one I use. I have no clue of it’s origins though.

Sgt Hartman

To call someone a "gomie" is another one I would never hear outside Ireland. Gomie means an idiot or foolish person, the same as "gobshite" or "eejit" basically.

epicmoe

"feck" used often by older women as if it was somehow much politer than saying ****.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118292918#Comment_118292918

It’s not unique to Ireland and is even in the dictionary.

iamwhoiam

Hotpress

[Deleted User]

pan / sliced pan.

Seems we adopted the French/Spanish term for bread, but only if it’s a loaf.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118304840#Comment_118304840

It’s one that my late grandmother (a Dub) used to use “a gomioliver”

as in “I wouldn’t be bothered asking that gomioliver.”

Also “he’s fly by night and tiddle the bricks!” (No idea where that came from but it’s old city centre Dub - a phrase for maybe describing a total fantasist or someone you couldn’t trust.)

”and it was goodnight now mam and thanks!” meaning someone took something for granted / without appreciation.

(Which is, I discovered later, a reference to someone getting laid and being dismissive or possibly even a reference to the sex trade.)

”and in she walked, with one arm as long as the other.”

- she visited, didn’t bring a present and ate all the biscuits.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all the angels and saints! You’re after giving me a heart attack!”

”Ah, talk to me trousers!”

“She’s only coding you!”

(Lying without malicious intent. Seems it’s the same linguistic origin as “codpiece”.)

She was from very much city centre Dublin but spoke with like one of those old fashioned Gay Byrne style accents that was very clear but, very Dublin too.

dxhound2005

Goes back a long way, according to Wikipedia. The origin is in Latin, as with many English words.

A pan loaf is a style of bread loaf baked in a loaf pan or tin. It is the most common style available in the United Kingdom, though the term itself is predominantly Scottish and Northern Irish so as to differentiate it from the plain loaf. The pan loaf has a soft pale brown crust all round the bread, in contrast to a plain loaf's darker crust only at the top and bottom.

A pan loaf was once more expensive than the then more common plain loaf. Therefore, in Scots and Scottish English, to speak with a pan loafy voice is to speak in a posh or affected manner, e.g. the distinctive accents of Kelvinside, Glasgow and Morningside, Edinburgh.

[Deleted User]

What I often find though is when you get a phrase used by someone who isn’t from southern England, like sliced pan or hot press there’s much arrogant hilarity, even though those phrases are often very logical and old in origin. Press for example is just from older English.

I remember being in London and an American colleague of mine said “I spilled coffee all over my pants” - Immediate laughter and mockery, as pants in England exclusively means underpants / knickers.

She just responded “330 million Americans, as well as Irish and the Canadian and hundreds of millions of second language English speakers agree these things are pants, yet you think I’m the one speaking in colloquialisms.”

[Deleted User]

I think these might be both British but I remember hearing them in my childhood. Peg and chuck.

The teacher pegged the duster at the student.

I chucked my sandwiches over the wall.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305171#Comment_118305171

That -

'she visited, didn’t bring a present and ate all the biscuits' is a good one, never heard of that one before.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305171#Comment_118305171

I remember all of them from my Dublin youth alright. Including the accent you speak of. Neither the "Ronnie Drew' nor the "Howya" accent, much clearer diction and much more "middle class". The Dort accent seems to have swamped that in the early 80's. From my experience in many cases the latter came not from generational Dubs, but by more recent arrivals from the countryside whose kids took it up and quite a number particularly the girls had elocution lessons at school. The rural version of that was much more singalong and less "English" and nasally(and nicer). That has pretty much disappeared too, having been replaced by a more mid atlantic twang throughout. Though more current California than the old hollywood mid Atlantic(which has pretty much gone extinct too).

Though the tiddle the bricks one I heard was "he's a go by the wall and tiddle the bricks" for a sneaky fecker. Which you can picture a cartoon villain back to the wall sneaking around with his hands to the wall. 😁 Another one was "shore" instead of "drain". EG "The shore's blocked again!". IIRC that's another Tudor one that we held onto and the English didn't(like "press"). "Bowler" for dog was another common one in Dublin anyway(I can't remember what the cat version was). "Clatter" for a hit or a punch. "Bowsie" and "gurrier" are still around but seem to be less in use. "Scraabing" for "scratching". "Pox" and "poxy" seems to have fallen out of common use, though we should bring that back with the current pandemic....

[Deleted User]

The one I heard, which could have been a story that grew legs, but still funny:

American office rings receptionist in Ireland.

“Hi, I just want to check that you got that report we sent over. It’s highly confidential. So make sure it’s kept securely.”

”It’s already in the press.”

(Caller almost has heart attack)

”what! How?”

”I just put it straight into the press when it arrived.”

”OMG … you published it ?! Why!?”

”No! … The press! The cupboard here beside my desk. I’ve securely locked it.”

john123470

Mar dhea

"Lookit... (to begin an explanation for something)

cute hoor

the arse on yer wan

you brought the weather with ya

the craic was 90

made a hames of it

the music was cat

[Deleted User]

Not sure how common this is, but my parents generation would have said "good man yer da" a lot, i always assumed it was a half insult because the compliment is to yer da and not to you, but im only guessing.

Also "as dead as hector".

Gregor Samsa

In most of the world, a ditch is exclusively a trench in the ground, usually filled with water. In Ireland the term is often used for a raised boundary, like a hedgerow.

So you’ll hear of Irish farmers “knocking” or “building” a ditch, whereas their foreign counterparts would be filling or digging them. (although obviously the trench definition is known here too).

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118306930#Comment_118306930

I was wondering where the Gurrier one came from originally.

My theory on it has something to do with the Norman-French. Because 'guerrier' is the French for warrior.

silliussoddius

Clouster

bassy

I am though.

I will though.

Be alright to.

divillybit

I asked my old neighbour how's she cutting?

'Ah, shur grabbing the divil by the tail' he said.

'And you're not letting go!' was my reply.

Day Lewin

Good man yourself!

I'm bushed. Or knackered.

"Young one" meaning a little girl, and "young fella" meaning a boy - used to be very common in Dublin.

[Deleted User]

I had one with the phrase “your man”.

There were a group of Americans sitting there understanding that my colleague was referring to my boyfriend or husband, who I was weirdly not defending and fully agreeing that “Your man is an awful egit.”