English words and expressions used in Ireland only

ColaBeDamned · 27-02-2010 07:03AM

falan wrote: »

Gowl...

Dudess wrote: »

A great one - I use it all the time. It just has the same meaning as "muppet" - i.e. a generic insult. Although I've seen it used here as a slang word for... gee.

It certainly is slang for that! It comes from the word 'gabhal' and can mean fork, split or crotch.
It's a great word to throw about

Have a read on google

http://bocktherobber.com/2006/10/you-fukken-gabhal

cock robin · 27-02-2010 09:58PM

Irish === Runner's

English = Trainer's

27-02-2010 10:49PM

poppies instead of spuds!!!!

Seonad · 27-02-2010 11:20PM

I told an English guy that he was "such a messer" yesterday and he hadn't a clue what I was on about

FarmerGreen · 28-02-2010 12:02AM

InTheTrees wrote: »

The jacks...
where does that come from?

Elizabethan English - Jakes, slang for garderobe (a toilet, but they hung their coats there because the smell kept the moths away).

flowersagogo · 28-02-2010 12:15AM

away with the fairys ,be careful how and where you use this one.

falan · 28-02-2010 08:18PM

Be wide....

LordSutch · 28-02-2010 10:03PM

Sambo's upstairs! > only in Ireland :pac::pac::pac:

Meaning in Ireland = sandwiches upstairs, usually seen on a sign outside a pub!

English/American/Australian meaning = Blacks only upstairs :pac::pac::pac:

Sambo = a very derogatory word (outside of Ireland).

Other 'Irish-isms' which baffle other nationalities include .............

Press = Cupboard.
Hot press = Airing cupboard.
Slept it out = Overslept.
Sliced pan = Loaf of bread
Bate = Beat.
Messages = Shopping
You's = You (plural).
Shore = Drain.
Give out = to complain . . .
Runners = Trainers.

rsta · 03-04-2010 04:20PM

Old thread, but so funny! Heres a few more:

Using the word agin instead of saying by the time or before. I've only heard this said in Kildare/Carlow.

It'll be 5 a clock agin i get home = It'll be 5 a clock by the time I get home.

Also saying ja instead of do ya, like ja know what i mean!

Keep sketch will ya!

kierank01 · 03-04-2010 06:37PM

hanner wrote: »

poppies instead of spuds!!!!

spuds instead of potatoes

merengueca · 03-04-2010 06:47PM

Plug it out instead of unplug - my boss always gives out to me for using that one (then gets vexed when I say give out).

Bold instead of naughty

Mineral instead of soft drink

Starting a conversation with 'Well?' and finishing it with 'Talk to ya!'

owenc · 03-04-2010 07:59PM

Omg I have never heard any of them sayings!! Do people down south call trainers runners?

Helix · 03-04-2010 08:03PM

took me ages to find a replacement for "giving out" over here

its ok using it around canucks i know tho, ive explained what it means

MaybeLogic · 03-04-2010 08:27PM

cock robin wrote: »

Irish === Runner's

English = Trainer's

Gutties, up north.

owenc · 03-04-2010 09:11PM

MaybeLogic wrote: »

Gutties, up north.

gutteys??? are you from up here?? ive never heard that either...

heres a list from here..

thon--that.
wee-small.
we say aye all the time which means yea.
canny-cant.

and millions more just cant remember them now.

MaybeLogic · 03-04-2010 09:38PM

owenc wrote: »

gutteys??? are you from up here?? ive never heard that either...

heres a list from here..

thon--that.
wee-small.
we say aye all the time which means yea.
canny-cant.

and millions more just cant remember them now.

From Dundalk.
I've heard other Nordies use it.
Even gets an entry in the Urban Dictionary.

owenc · 03-04-2010 11:05PM

MaybeLogic wrote: »

From Dundalk.
I've heard other Nordies use it.
Even gets an entry in the Urban Dictionary.

Lol are you talking about newry ppl or Belfast??? Newry lot sound like people down south they say three as tree no wonder I've never heard that!

beegirl · 03-04-2010 11:45PM

A friend of mine from the US couldn't understand the way we use 'so'... because we might say 'ok so' or 'so, what do you want to eat' whereas they only use it instead of then/therefore e.g. I was tired so I went to bed.

When I was working in the US there were SOOO many things different, a few I can remember are:

Car park - they didn't know what I meant by this, they call it parking lot
Half three (meaning 3.30) - someone said to me "so half of three, that's 1.30?" :rolleyes:
Queue - Apparently this word isn't in their vocabulary at all, they call it a 'line'

Another thing somebody got really annoyed with me about was drawing a line through my seven's - he was all like 'bloody europeans'. I didn't know that was a european thing, but there ya go!!!

rizzee · 04-04-2010 01:23AM

YANOOOO THERE WAS CATTLE DOWN WITH THE WIMMENS AND THEY CERTAINLY LOVE THE MILK SO THEY DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

FELCHING.

Helix · 04-04-2010 06:03AM

MaybeLogic wrote: »

Gutties, up north.

tackies in scotland i believe

owenc · 04-04-2010 08:37AM

Helix wrote: »

tackies in scotland i believe

Ok that gutteys thing must be a Belfast thing because here we just say trainers

RichieO · 04-04-2010 10:47AM

Coming from the UK to Clare in the 70s I noticed a few differences.

The word tremendous is pronounced tremenjus, even by T.D.s and professional people...
Also for wrong I heard ron, there are other words that lose a g too and the exchange of a D for TH as in dis, dese, dem and dose. Also this conversation actually took place, "I'm going fer a bat now" what sort, cricket or baseball? "NO! I'm going to the batroom fer a BAT" sorry my mistake...

kravmaga · 04-04-2010 11:59AM

MungoMan wrote: »

Since moving abroad, I have noticed that we use a lot of words and expressions in Ireland that are not standard english,
I didn't realise this until I used the expressions, and people didn't know what I was talking about

The one that nearly everyone in Ireland uses incorrectly is "I'm after doing something". In England, if you say "I'm after eating my dinner", it means that you want to eat your dinner.
In Ireland it means I have just eaten my dinner.

Here are other expressions and words which I have noticed are used in Ireland only, and nobody in UK understands

I'll put it on the long finger" meaning that you'll delay doing it.
He has no Cop On (as in no common sense).
Pare you pencil (as in sharpen your pencil).
Pass someone out on the road when driving (overtake). I've heard a lot of Irish people saying this. In UK, to pass someone out is to be unconscious.
Hotpress (Airing cupboard).
Kitchen press (Cupboard).
People in western Ireland using the word "Ye" as a plural of "You", I guess that's a throwback to Elizabethan english

And finally, "you big gob****e", I dont know what that means though, must be that I am one.

You get to know the ones you can use if you want to be understood.

Can anyone think of any other examples of words and expressions used in Ireland only, but not including arse, feck and eejit.

Well the English can be a very "Matter of fact race" compared to us Irish.

Irish people have a habit of asking a question ,not waiting for the answer and then answering , "NO" at the end of the question.

"Did you see where I put my cars keys" No?

Another funny one is the use of the word "Taximan" instead of Taxidriver....afterall it could be a woman driving the taxi, lol:)

Say "33 and a third", was always asked to say this from work colleagues when I lived in London.

MaybeLogic · 04-04-2010 12:23PM

owenc wrote: »

Lol are you talking about newry ppl or Belfast??? Newry lot sound like people down south they say three as tree no wonder I've never heard that!

I've heard it in Newry, to be sure.

Oblomov · 04-04-2010 01:15PM

ROFL

I never realised I'd forgotten so many.. It was explained that English was taught in Ireland by teacher's who spoke no Gaelic. The pronunciations, Quare for queer the Quare fella, very odd...The Gowl from Ghoul , the syntax is correct in Gaelic but similar to other foreign languages the wrong order when transposed. Film and Filum are classic examples.

Fabulous thread..

I'll be after leaving ye now....

owenc · 04-04-2010 01:31PM

MaybeLogic wrote: »

I've heard it in Newry, to be sure.

aw well then no wonder ive never heard that then.. lol.. the words down south seem to be a bit different to here.. because of the galeic language... my friend who learns irish told me that in irish three is tree.. so thats why they say tree for three in dublin.. lol.

orourkeda · 04-04-2010 01:56PM

Yore Ma

owenc · 04-04-2010 02:08PM

orourkeda wrote: »

Yore Ma

You sound like a farmer it's your mum

Shakeandbake! · 04-04-2010 10:21PM

Scelp = Thump/Slap

Scelp = Slice (as in a slice of cake)

Chawing = Chewing

"Up she flew and the big cock flattened her" - I randomly say this a lot but don't know where it comes from or what it really means!

owenc · 04-04-2010 10:34PM

owenc wrote: »

gutteys??? are you from up here?? ive never heard that either...

heres a list from here..

thon--that.
wee-small.
we say aye all the time which means yea.
canny-cant.

and millions more just cant remember them now.

oh aye i foregot tae put in one that i foregot tae mention... cuttey... means girl..thats the way we speak here.

English words and expressions used in Ireland only

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