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?

Red and black for mixers in pubs (red lemonade or blackcurrant squash)
eg - guinness and black, whiskey and red

I still love that you can get a tea any time of day in irish pubs and nobody bats and eyelid!

What's fascinating me here is the difference between one part of a very small country and another. I lived in Cork and Dublin cities and learned new words in each. Some phrases seemed exclusive to my home town.

I was raised and still remain in Ireland but my mother was a Hyacinth Bouquet type and slang of any kind was not allowed. We had elocution lessons and she would immediately correct us if we said something with a strong accent in case we sounded 'like a local', god forbid. What's making me laugh here is how many phrases I genuinely didn't know were Irish. Lodge a cheque, plug out the kettle, he looks shook etc.

'Go away' or 'feck off' as an expression of shock or surprise is another one. Meant affectionately and usually meant as continue on... similar to 'no way!'

Stop the lights is similar in use, used a lot where I'm from. Someone told me it came from a gameshow in the 70s where they had to shout this to stop flashing lights to get a prize.

This one is just different meanings surely?

"I forgot my sun cream when we went to the beach last week" = one occasion.

"We always got an ice-cream whenever we went to the beach as kids" = general, over multiple occasions.

After living in Ireland and now back in England (with an Irish DH) I have picked up a few phrases that I still use:
Hot press (easier to say than airing cupboard!)
It's jointed (busy)
Bold (for naughty - that threw me when I first started living in Ireland- why are all these children so brave!)
Good Luck - for bye - again threw me why? I'm not doing an exam etc!!
Go on / Go on wi' you - to end a conversation
Santy - Father Christmas
'The man' - mild threat to get DC to behave
There are probably many more but they have become normal to me!

The point being in NI "whenever" is used in place of when. So it is used in your first example of it being one occasion.

And...
Himself- for DH
I will yeah - No
Giving out - complaining (that leads to confusion but it fits perfectly!)

Similarly, 'wherever' for 'where'.

Fascinating thread. I grew up in Liverpool so many of these dialect phrases are familiar. ‘Youse’ is commonly used in Scouse.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned the pulmonic ingressive - the little gasp that indicates assent or shows that someone is listening to you. It is particularly fascinating to see its spread as it probably originated with the Vikings, and is found in regions of Scandinavia and the Nordics, parts of Scotland, parts of Ireland and then further west in parts of Canada. I would be interested to know from Irish MNers if it is still a common feature of younger people’s speech, as the general trend in other regions seems to be that it is starting to die out.

I had an English mum but grew up in Northern Ireland. She would say airing cupboard which is a hot press to the locals. There were many other words that were baffling to my local friends.

But of course some of these words are also used elsewhere — why wouldn’t they? I know ‘oxter’ for armpit is used in Scotland, but (probably?) not the Irish words for different kinds of handful or armful which my dad uses in English and which I was thinking about recently listening to the Motherfoclóir podcast.

To put smacht on someone, which I love.

Stravaging, wandering or rambling around, sometimes used as synonymous with gallivanting? (Also used in Scotland, I think?)

Codding.

To be weak for yourself (‘He’s weak for himself with his new haircut.’)

’Sketch’ as a warning a teacher/garda/other authority figure is coming.

Ooh I forgot Lep. As in, he was leppin round the house not a feckin bother on him.

Cute is interchangeable as in something or someone is cute or does something that's cute like a cute puppy, then there's the cute hoor meaning sly or sneaky.

I'm enjoying this thread. I always say cupboards after living in London for over 12 years.

Cute is one thing, a cute hoor is another entirely!

If something is a cinch it means it's easy or simple. I would treat that as Standard English.

However in the US it means to draw in with a belt as in to cinch at the waist. Apparently the US also use it to mean clinch. Shudder.

I once referred to Peter Mandelson as a cute hoor and that caused double confusion.

Yeah kindling is creeping in here too. When I first lived in Cork everyone said Kippins ( Cipíní as Gaeilge ) But the other day the cashier didn't know what I meant 😔. Thats where we are headed. Like the new housing estates with their generic , meaningless non Irish names. Rant over . Til tomorrow 😉

Ah yeah okay, I remember teachers in primary school chastising children over "the do-bes and the does-bes". So in our location it had different forms for the first and third person: I do be late for school every morning, he does be still in bed when I get home. In fairness, it fills a grammatical gap for situations that standard English doesn't do well or at least requires further qualifiers to convey the info about the repeating aspect of what's going on.

Loving all these.

Not a word or phrase but:

Me asking my dad: The christening is at St X's in Clonrock. Is that the Catholic church that looks like a Protestant church that's along from the Protestant church?

Dad: That's the one.

My DH: Eh? I didn't understand a word of that.

Not sure if it's an age thing or an irish thing, but does anyone else still say French stick for a baguette?

Did you not ask in English as it seems pretty clear to me!

Stop the lights - yep, RTE game show called Quicksilver presented by Bunny Carr. Back in the days of one channel that started at 5

Yeah. Also used to be a chocolate bar French Nougat which we pronounced Nugget.
Although some expressions are directly translated from Irish eg 'she is in England with 20 years ' , others are just older forms of English which hung on here a bit longer.
Ants were always called Pismires when I was a child for example. Correct English but now obsolete.

It's weird cos my kids are militant atheists but they can spot the difference too. We attended a wedding in a Cof E in England and my son said ' but this church looks Catholic' . Later I was talking to a lady selling books etc there and she said ' we are Anglo Catholic '.
In Ireland it's easier to spot perhaps? Protestant churches might have a weather vane or flag pole rather than a cross.

Age thing, not Irish thing.