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?

As regards the 'h' pronunciation, my dad (Protestant) said 'aitch' and my mum (Catholic) said 'haitch'. It's a great source of controversy and a fairly reliable identifier in NI🤣 Also dad pronounced 'a' as 'ay' and mum said 'ah'. Weird how that happened just by being brought up in different religious/political backgrounds.

That is a really interesting one @Tessisme .

I am so baffled by that whole thread. I just asked me English husband to spell my surname and he started with aitch. I've just never noticed or picked up on this before but clearly it's a major THING for people. All the Irish on that thread are being really funny though so it's worth reading.

I have definitely changed my R pronunciation since moving here because people just didn't understand what I was saying but I'm sticking with Haitch.

And I'm posh, South Dublin, private school educated.

My ILs (Midlands) say "haitch" but don't tend to pronounce the letter.

So they go to 'ospital or the village 'all.

I say aitch & do pronounce the letter.

Anyone else come across this?

Some English people get terribly exercised about 'aitch' versus 'haitch' - it seems to be an almost sacred caste-indicator for them. Status anxiety is an odd beast. I( went to primary school in England and learned 'aitch' and am always a bit self-conscious that it might seem affected if not outright wrong here, but know people are more tolerant about regional language variation.

I've been enjoying lots of very well-spoken highly educated journos saying 'gave him a loan of a bike' over the last few days (not enjoying the story, that poor man, treated abominably for doing a decent thing in an emergency). I fear some of our southern English friends would think that perfectly correct Hiberno English grammar was also 'uneducated'.

It is funny though, to watch them pompously show off their ignorance and prejudice.

So how should one pronounce the surname Hennessy ?
Ennessy or Hennessy** ?

Oh- I have another one that I only found out about a year or two ago.

The phase “on foot of” to mean “because of” or to describe one event or decision following on from another, is apparently an Irish thing.

I had always thought it was universal and quite formal- it seems to be used a lot in legal documents, e.g. “registration on foot of court order”.

Is anyone aware of it being used in the U.K.?

I lived in England for decades. One day I heard a tape of myself and noticed the odd dropped H and missed R. Horrified , I took steps to remedy this. R is especially important to me. It gives the Irish accent - and language - that lovely liquid quality. It is your sacred duty not to lose it. Rrrrrepeat after me - all aRound the Rugged Rocks the Ragged Rascal Ran...

Mac Aonghusa. OK it's a cop out....

Oh I've kept my Rs in my speech don't worry.

It's only when I say the letter R. From my part of Dublin I'd say 'Or' but in the UK no one knew what letter I was saying, so now I'll say 'ar' if I'm spelling my name (which has two in it).

@ConflictedCheetah but , since English people won't actually pronounce R *, surely it is 'ah'. 😂

• Unless it is an initial R.

@ConflictedCheetah I’m from the same part of the world as you and I’ve always pronounced r as “AR”, as have my parents who are also from SCD.

DH says “OR” 😬 and now the dc are saying it too- I guess they’re learning it at school.

I saw a documentary about the old days of RTÉ and it said that RTÉ announcers used to be banned from saying “OR”TE but the rule has been relaxed in recent years.

Definitely not an English-English phrase.

You definitely hear a lot of OR TE News these days!

I grew up in SCD and always pronounced R as "or". I used to hate when my mother was spelling her name and she would pronounce R as "are", but then I moved to London and swiftly learned to do the same to avoid a random extra O in my name.

I had an argument with DH once, he was trying to tell me that “everyone” says OR, that’s the name of the letter in Ireland, U.K., USA- everywhere. I said they do not DH. He wouldn’t listen.

Then a bit later I said to him.. “hey DH I forget the name of the little robot guy in Star Wars, what was he called again?”

“AR” 2 D2 he says.

I rest my case.

Spare a thought for young me arriving into a school system where not only was R pronounced 'or' instead of 'ah', but A was pronounced 'ah' instead of 'Ay'.

Confuuusing . . .

I feel your pain in reverse. There's no R in Ah of course. But that doesn't matter in England since nobody ever pronounces it 😂

Yes, I tried to remember whether infant school (in the extreme east of England) phonics classes taught us 'are' as I'd now say it, and decided probably not, so went for 'ah'.

I would think Hen with a pronounced H. Out of interest, what do English people call hens? As in female chickens. Are they ens ? That sounds like the letter N.

Ze ens @Alalalalalongalalalalalonglonglilong

Hens are called 'hens'. Although it is (like everything in England).area and class related.

Cf Henry Higgins' battle to get Eliza to say "In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen" instead of "In 'ertford, 'ereford 'nd 'ampshire, 'urricanes 'ardly hever 'appen".

'ardly HEVER 'appen...

In my part of the world (NW England) they would be 'ens.

’Ens live in a hell-shaped ‘en ‘ut.

I've just seen a thread about half term and thought I needed to post that we call it mid-term break.

Every time someone says a very Irish expression to me now I think I need to post it on the thread! So my next contribution is "well got" for someone who is thought highly of.