Irish, being late and swearing

walkingshadow · 18-05-2015 12:10PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:12PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:14PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:24PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:26PM

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

waraf · 18-05-2015 12:30PM

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

Cee-Jay-Cee · 18-05-2015 12:31PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:35PM

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

Not just late, very late.

gimmick · 18-05-2015 12:38PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:39PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:41PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:46PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:47PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:47PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:50PM

Try working with Russians and polish OP

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

whisky_galore · 18-05-2015 12:55PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:57PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:58PM

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 · 18-05-2015 12:58PM

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 · 18-05-2015 01:04PM

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)

Egginacup · 18-05-2015 01:30PM

EoghanIRL wrote: »

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

So you show up early "to get your money's worth"?

Haha.

dr.fuzzenstein · 18-05-2015 02:01PM

Egginacup wrote: »

So you show up early "to get your money's worth"?

Haha.

I take it you didn't pay for your education, or lack thereof.

That aside, the Yanks can swear too if they want to:

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

the_syco · 18-05-2015 06:16PM

AmyG123 wrote: »

Does anyone else have these experiences?

Fcuk no!

Precious flower · 18-05-2015 07:35PM

I was known for being the late one among my friends but then again often they too were running late so it works itself out.

The Irish are good for talking about absolutely anyway or talking about nothing in particular just for the sake of talking. Elderly Irish people are well versed in this but I think it's nice. It's good to be able to interact with strangers, you never know when someone might just be needing to talk about anything or having a bad day.

Hannibal Smith · 18-05-2015 07:43PM

ticklebelly7 wrote: »

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)

Haahaa after all the language you went all Downton Abbey in the end...auto check ftw

Summer wind · 18-05-2015 08:28PM

Every time I'm going somewhere I make an effort to be ready on time. Then I look at the clock and realise 45 minutes more than I thought have gone by. So then I'm late and running around the house grabbing my jacket bag and keys shouting f*ck f*ck f*ck. So yes I'm late a lot and I swear a lot.

Irish, being late and swearing

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