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?

Agree that "I'm off" is completely standard in England, both in terms of annual leave (I'm off on Tuesday) and saying goodbye (I'm off, see you tomorrow). I'd only say "on annual leave" if I was putting up an out of office reply or saying that someone wasn't available on the phone.

I am familiar with lots of these as they seem very similar to the Gaelic idioms in the Lilian Beckwith books ‘The hills is rising’. But ‘after’ I had completely misunderstood. So ‘are you after your dinner’ means ‘have you had dinner’ and not ‘do you want dinner’? I was thinking of it more to match the English ‘what are you after then’ meaning ‘what do you want’.

My husband is Irish and these are some of the sayings I have learnt from him:

The press (the cupboard)
The wear (the dishes)
Yer man
Giving out
Happy out (seems content? He can't always explain this one!)
Mind her/ him/ you (look after)

These are just a few I can think of

You're both wrong, it's an attic

Never heard of roofspace but yes Shrove Tuesday certainly a thing especially for those of us on v Catholic households. I'd never say Pancake Tuesday when speaking Irish but always in English.

It's funny, you don't realise some of these aren't universally known. Mind yourself seems so everyday! I love Hiberno-English, it has a warmth somehow. The bring/take thing is new to me and I don't think I'd say I brought them to the beach but.. I don't think I'd notice someone else saying it. Interesting.

When I moved in with my now DH, he was looking for the towels and I said to him they are in the hot press, and he was ????

And because I am not very patient and it had been a long day, I said ffs the hot press look… and he looked so confused and said oh the hot water cupboard..

I really hadn’t realised it was weird, he also calls the immersion a hot water cylinder (new zealanders are long winded)

Anyone heard the phrase "I wore the face off him last night" as in getting a good snog. Possibly just a Dublin expression. You also could be asked "did you get the wear".

Do people still say Delft for the best china? That's what my gran called it.

I say delpht (Delft?) for all crockery, as does my mum. I think my friends do too? Friends and I are all from southside Dublin but our mums are from all over (Northside, cork, somewhere west I can't remember now ).

More than 20 years in this still drives nordy DH mad.

More-ree-ya -

for example - - 'apparently, he didn't know anything about it moreeya' (suggesting he did)

Not sure if 'how's she cutting?' - 'divil-a-bit' has been mentioned?

My parents never said Delph! We just said plates. I remember asking what Delph was! The pencil sharpener one is Northenden sourhside as I remember my Dad saying parer for sharpener.

It's only an attic if it has propper stairs and floor boards.

How are ye? How are yous?
Very useful plural of 'you'.
I use the first one and my dh uses the second one because he's a Dub.

'she was stood there sitting down with a face like a slapped arse' -

heard this expression during a holiday to Dingle.

Ah I'd forgotten about shift. I'm sure I've heard it more in a shagged a random context rather than just snogged.

My Irish Mum and family both use ‘you are very cute aren’t you’ or ‘he’s very cute that one’ I’m not sure how to describe it but to them it means a bit too clever or smart or even sneaky maybe.

Kids don't say shift anymore. I've a dd 20. A young girl at work from the North side uses "wear" or is it ware?

That sounds bizarre to me!!

Also 'eejit'. Cillian Murphy's no eejit.

I remember as a teenager going to a dance in Leitrim with my cousins. They warned me in advance about a local lad who should be avoided as he was a cute hoor 😆

Interesting! Ours did, but I still think my friends all say attic and theirs would've been the classic ladder setup. Or, if they were fancy, a Stáire (sp?)

Don't eat/touch those - 'those are only for show'.

When my Nan was expecting visitors the best cups were brought out. You weren't allowed into the 'good room' before they came. The bowl of fruit was placed in the middle of the table (grapes were added to make it look fancy) and biscuits were arranged on a plate - and Red Nash's Lemonade was 'on show'.

You'd be 'hanging' for a biscuit and mineral but you'd 'be skinned' if you touched it before they arrived. (I'll skin you if you put your fingers on it). 0r (I'll be skinned if I do etc.)

I'm English with a Scottish Dad. We had a press. My mother much preferred Mothering Sunday as that was the church festival. Pancake Day was Shrove Tuesday, the floor was the Received Pronunciation middle class word used indoors and ground outdoors.

Stop acting the Amadán.

Favourite expression of a nun in my old secondary school.

Messer- you're a messer !
Skit- don't skit me - (like if the tap was squirting a bit) hard to describe..not a word and pronounced sky -t.
Parer for pencil sharpener
Copy for notebook.
She's cute that one- as in clever /sneaky.
A lot of these were already said.

My mum is from Belfast and for years I thought a whore was pronounced who -er. As I copied my mum.

Also if someone is a bit hard faced she'd say they were a hard looking old egg or hard old chaw
Scutter is another one

I remember the confused look I got from a butcher in London when I asked for a ham hock (ham bone) to make soup