Irish in the UK - what are the things that it took you ages to realise people don't say here.

[ConflictedCheetah]

Inspired by the thread about Pancake Tuesday.

That thread has cracked me up because SO many posters are insisting no one EVER calls pancake Tuesday - it's Pancake Day - and sayu it's weird and wanky to call it that. And then all the Irish people on the thread are like ' wait, we've always called it that and never noticed that no one else did.

So what else you got?

For me, and I'm here 20 years, I only found out about a year ago that no one here calls a birth certificate a 'birth cert'. My English husband thought it was proper weird that I kept saying that. I had never picked up that it wasn't a thing! I think Irish people are so used to talking about the Leaving Cert or Junior Cert etc. that the Cert but feels natural. DH says no.

What other ways have I been unknowingly embarrassing myself for 20 years?

They definitely say 'floor' on EastEnders! 😀

In Gaelic the word for cupboard is prios (press).

Ooh ooh <sticks hand up enthusiastically like Hermione Grainger>

I read in Medieval times a cupboard was literally a board on which you kept your cups, and it evolved into a wall hung box with shelves and doors over time.

I imagine that's if you were quite wealthy. If you were poor you probably sucked up rainwater from puddles.

A lot of posters acting the maggot on MN these days... this thread is mad craic in fairness, its a tonic.

@Pablova love the Matt Damon T Shirt. I wonder does he know about it? I'll bet someone told him.

@Tallisker and others who commented that 'a wee run out' is also used in England. I've been met with bewildered looks and assumed it wasn't in use.

I guess the use of the word 'wee' is interesting in itself and could be misunderstood to mean tiny. A wee run out is likely to be a full day out by car rather than a nip to the shops. See also 'a wee pint'.

Most i picked up immediately and just assimilated! eg, instead of runners, I'd say sneakers, instead of ''give out to a bold child'' I'd tell off a naughty child.

But somebody upthread mentioned ''bring'' and yes, that one confused me. I think I have it now, you can take something to a party but you would bring the leftovers home. Have I got that right? In England you wouldn't say ''bring the cake to the party'' you would take the cake to the party and bring the leftover slices home. Oh well ! I am not 100% committed to assimilation, I think now I overdid it and regret it.

I think I have it now, you can take something to a party but you would bring the leftovers home. Have I got that right? In England you wouldn't say ''bring the cake to the party'' you would take the cake to the party and bring the leftover slices home
Exactly that!

Been thinking more about the floor/ground. I think I do sometimes call it the floor outside even though I would still say that's wrong. Only for something man-made though. I can hear myself saying something was dropped on the floor on a tarmac road but never in a field. But I would still he annoyed with my brain for reaching for the word floor first when really anything outside is the ground.

I've really enjoyed this thread (I'm not Irish). On bring/take, the above posts are right if you're the person going to the party. If you're the hostess, you would ask, "Can you bring some cake?" and "Oh, do take the left-overs home."

I'm from SW England and I call it all floor. Always have done and I'm not going to stop. People use words differently based on how people speak around them when they're growing up, it's not because they 'don't know better' or they're uneducated. 🙄

I know the distinction that other people make, I understand it perfectly well. I don't make it myself because I don't want to.

Yes I'm English and would never refer to the floor outdoors. Don't know anyone who would either.

That was a time when Ash Wednesday was a big deal, if you passed someone on the street by 5pm with no ashes they would stop to explain they were getting the late mass somewhere else, not having ashes was almost a source of scandal.

Yes! I had a fringe as a child / early teens. The ashes were gone in no time & I had to explain to questioning teachers / nuns that I had got ashes!

Thanks Jane. Voice of reason 😂

@Sportycustard I too mirror people's accents.
Dh and dcs think I do it on purpose but I really don't.
On a trip to NI I was looking for something in a shop, they didn't have it but another branch had it and the shop assistant advised me to go there.
It was pre Good Friday Agreement and there was no way I could go to that area. The shop assistant obviously thought I was from NI because of my accent. Which I had just picked up.

I think it's strange to knowingly use the wrong when you know other people will think you're a bit thick because of it

But I guess if for some reason you never mix with anyone outside of your micro language region it doesnt matter

N.Irish here ...
Wile meaning very, as in I'm wile cold- I'm very cold
Quare meaning some, as in that's a quare dress you've got on- that's some dress you've got on

The whole point of the thread is to embrace natural/regional variation. I don't like the use of floor for ground, but that doesn't mean PP should stop, just as I have zero intention of changing my usage of bring Vs take, gotten, haitch etc.

I was on the LUAS one day when I spotted a young chap sporting a 'Who's taking the horse to France' t-shirt. I couldn't resist laughing and saying, "Love the t-shirt". Turns out he was from NZ and bought it in a charity shop. The lady in the shop explained to him that the phrase was from a TV ad and he had googled the ad. We had a grand chat until it was time for one of us to exit the LUAS. I told him it was an iconic ad but only aul wans people of a certain age would get it.

Never saw 'The Original JLo' merchandise. That's brilliant! 😂Must pick up some of the stuff for my friend who lives abroad. She's too much of a fashionista for the t-shirts notions. Maybe a mug or a tote bag.

My teen dd, born in England, has just asked me to stop saying "You're welcome" to her friends when they come into the house. She says it sounds like I'm prompting them to say thank you for something (like the song "You're welcome" in Moana). I don't know if I can.

My parents would say "Feck it" a lot and insist it wasn't rude 😁

If people think I'm thick because of that then they don't know me, so I don't really care what they think of me. Nobody who knows me would ever think that I was poorly educated, stupid or bad at English. It's not wrong. It's just not what you say.

I don't even live in England anymore so I speak to plenty of people away from where I grew up (Wurzel country where people say all kinds that I'm sure you wouldn't approve of).

Well said.

Biddy may have originated from Irish, but has been very well known in England for a long time.

It's not 'cassie' for swimming costume - it's 'cozzie'. Short for costume.

Let on is common in Englnd, but it means 'reveal (something you do know)' - as ot does in the example given - not 'pretend to know (something you don't)'.

Several people have mentioned 'make strange' but nobody has defined it. What does it mean?

Scottish and I totally say this 👍👍

I would use all of those - from Manchester.

My best friend is from Northern Ireland and lots of these are very familiar. One thing she says though is ‘smooth’ the cat rather than stroke it.

Make strange relates to a baby or small child who gets shy or upset if a stranger approaches it (to chat) or tries to pick up the baby or small child. People would say, "Oh, he (or she) is making strange".