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?

@irishmurdoch I'm in Glasgow and would say amn't is grammatically ok. It's 'am not' with the apostrophe for the missing letter But I'd also happily say "am urnae" for 'I'm not' and "aye am urr" for 'yes I am' so make of that what ye will.

Loving this thread!
Ive lived in London for 9 years now and when I first moved, people would take the mick for saying 'well' instead of hello, 'grand' instead of ok and 'thanks a million'!
Also agree with the previous posters who said 'press' for cupboard - that was a tough one to change. People thought I had lost my mind!

Oh and "That's grand"

Or

"Would you like a cup of tea Liz?" "No thanks, I'm grand".

"Disgusted" as a response to an upsetting or sad situation rather than just a bad smell or obnoxious person.

Sound and cop on are regional to NW England too. They aren't exclusively Irish. Possibly due to the number of people who came to Liverpool from Ireland. But definitely both a north west England thing too.

Amn't, give out and cop on - definitely took ages to realise that people didn't understand those. My kids are very familiar with them though 😁
Also yolk and deadly.

Putting 'so' on the end of sentences.

Amn't is also common in Cornwall, and possibly wider West Country.

Mothering Sunday has been morphing into Mother's Day n England since at least the 1980s (my grandmother used to complain about it) and the latter has now almost completely taken over.

Do be doing - drives my English husband nuts.

Also death notices on the local radio.

St. Stephen’s Day.

English people call the ground outside the 'floor'.

In Ireland the 'floor' is only indoors.

They don't know what a hotpress is.

I'm not Irish but have Irish family.

My favourite "Irishisms" are...

1. Don't you be so bold! (For naughty)
2. Amn't - I love this, and can't figure out why we don't use it in England.
3. Will I put the kettle on? (Where English people would say "shall I".

I am fascinated by all of the little differences, they're so interesting.

Airing cupboard?

I've lived in Ireland since meeting Irish DH 30-odd years ago. I haven't (completely) lost my accent, but I've picked up many of the Irish-isms above over the years, and they're second nature to me now. I have to really think how I speak when I go 'home' to the UK to visit relatives or they would have trouble understanding me!

I am English and would only ever say floor for indoors too. Outside, it is the ground.

Might be a regional thing in England?

I disagree with this? Although I am in Liverpool and Scouse is heavily influenced by Irish, so I recognise a lot of these mentioned. But I really don't think this one is true.

I grew up in Scotland and recognise a lot of these from back home
Yoke is a brilliant word for a "thing" and I would definitely use it here but no one would understand.

Knock on the light

I'm English and I have lived in several cities and nowhere have I heard that.

Taking 'a wee run out', that's an excursion or day trip generally in the car, no running involved. Understood to be that in Ireland, carries no meaning in England.

Came on to say "amn't" but loads of others there before me! Here's an excellent explainer video on amn't https://www.tiktok.com/@cedrusk/video/7039059557464788229?lang=en

This guy does brilliant videos about various language quirks. Worth a follow

"What age are you/is she now?" instead of "How old are you?". It's a direct translation from Gaeilge "Cén aois atá tú?".

The stringing together of prepositions, "Come out from in under there!". It makes perfect sense in Irish, not so much in English.

The "do be/does be after doing something" and "I seen it" are also direct translations from Irish.

I was born in NI but grew up in Yorkshire and then moved back when I met and married a NI man. I went back to Yorkshire to visit friends and when we were leaving I said, 'Ok, we're away'. They had no idea what I meant. Once upon a time I would have said, 'We're off' 😂

North east of England here and it’s Mother’s Day, Pancake Tuesday here, also floor is only inside, loads here would say brought to rather than take and gotten.

Getting “lifted” or “collected” from the airport/night out/bus. As opposed to getting picked up.