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Post by Maolsheachlann on Feb 17, 2022 9:58:48 GMT
An Irish idiom which you might not realize is Irish (I never did until recently) is "Up", as in "Up the Dubs!", "Up Dev!".
As you might remember, Nigel Farage was tricked into saying "Up the 'Ra!" in a video. When I mentioned this to my American wife she told me nobody would understand "Up X" as a cheer in America. She said people would be more likely to think it was equivalent to "Up yours!".
I've been doing some internet research to see if the British say this. I can't find any evidence that they do, but I might be wrong.
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Post by Séamus on Sept 13, 2022 3:23:24 GMT
The other day somebody (Calabrian background) was quite amused with my saying that Mrs X "says more than her prayers".
"More than her prayers...I like that one".
Sometimes you don't even realise that something you say is particularly Irish or particularly handed on from forbears.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 13, 2022 8:49:27 GMT
The other day somebody (Calabrian background) was quite amused with my saying that Mrs X "says more than her prayers". "More than her prayers...I like that one". Sometimes you don't even realise that something you say is particularly Irish or particularly handed on from forbears. I never heard that one! I recently had the opportunity to use the phrase, "You wouldn't be up to them". Another one that interests me recently: míle-murder. |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 15, 2022 13:52:55 GMT
Two phrases I heard very often during my single brief-brief visit to Ireland were "Thanks a million" and "Grand". Outside Irish lingo I had never heard that "million" (in Swedish it´s not common to praise like that daily, and also one poorer cousin "Thousand thanks" when less often said) and when we hear English from the US it would generally be "Great" instead, and not "Grand" in English from UK either?
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 16, 2022 9:17:33 GMT
Two phrases I heard very often during my single brief-brief visit to Ireland were "Thanks a million" and "Grand". Outside Irish lingo I had never heard that "million" (in Swedish it´s not common to praise like that daily, and also one poorer cousin "Thousand thanks" when less often said) and when we hear English from the US it would generally be "Great" instead, and not "Grand" in English from UK either? Thanks a million for that post, Tomas. It's grand. (I'm pretty sure "thanks a million" is common in Britain, as well. "Grand" is distinctive to us.) Could you tell us more about your visit here? |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 16, 2022 16:09:00 GMT
Two phrases I heard very often during my single brief-brief visit to Ireland were "Thanks a million" and "Grand". Outside Irish lingo I had never heard that "million" (in Swedish it´s not common to praise like that daily, and also one poorer cousin "Thousand thanks" when less often said) and when we hear English from the US it would generally be "Great" instead, and not "Grand" in English from UK either? Thanks a million for that post, Tomas. It's grand. (I'm pretty sure "thanks a million" is common in Britain, as well. "Grand" is distinctive to us.) Could you tell us more about your visit here? I remember the National Gallery best. St Patrick´s, and the bookshop Hodges Figgis, were two more places of visit. We also made a daytrip to Glendalough by car, and before driving outside Dublin we made a short stop on a hill near Rathfarnham Jesuit House (?) looking out over town. But it was too short in all, only a weekend Friday to Monday. "It was twenty years ago today" almost! |
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Post by Séamus on Dec 18, 2022 11:53:06 GMT
I don't know if anyone else was struck by the recent sight of Amy Grant and U2 sitting in a mutual group to receive an award for contribution to American culture; both acts originally had a Christian ethos in their own way,some evangelicals faulting Grant's divorce,though she seems to have not embraced the more secularised ethics of Misters Bono and Edge. Anyway,good to hear that Irish influence didn't cease with Ellis Island- one divergence might be the tendency of Americans to say "Go onnnn..." when desiring to cut a conversation,while Dubliners would always let out an "ahhh stop would ya" when they evidently enjoy the conversation enough to go on.
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Post by cato on Dec 20, 2022 9:17:36 GMT
When ending a phone conversation, particularly with a woman you know both parties use the word "Bye"several times until eventually one of you hang up.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Dec 20, 2022 10:23:26 GMT
I don't know if anyone else was struck by the recent sight of Amy Grant and U2 sitting in a mutual group to receive an award for contribution to American culture; both acts originally had a Christian ethos in their own way,some evangelicals faulting Grant's divorce,though she seems to have not embraced the more secularised ethics of Misters Bono and Edge. Anyway,good to hear that Irish influence didn't cease with Ellis Island- one divergence might be the tendency of Americans to say "Go onnnn..." when desiring to cut a conversation,while Dubliners would always let out an "ahhh stop would ya" when they evidently enjoy the conversation enough to go on. My aunt, a real old-fashioned Dub, often says: "Come here to me" when she's talking to me on the phone. Once I pointed out the impossibility of this and there was an indignant silence. |
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Dec 20, 2022 10:28:57 GMT
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Apr 14, 2023 11:18:11 GMT
I learned recently that "From Billy to Jack" is a distinctively Irish expression. At least, all the "hits" I get from it online are from Irish sources.
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Post by Séamus on Jun 7, 2023 9:02:38 GMT
There are plenty of explanations for the origin of someone being a "get" to Dubliners.
(Someone who should) get lost
(Someone who should) get over here for a belting
(Someone we should) get before they get away with what they've done
"Culchies" are a bit harder to explain. It sounds very much like a derivative from Gaelic.
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Post by Séamus on Jul 4, 2023 13:57:39 GMT
Along with the customs and traditions thread, I think it would be a good thing to have a list of Irish idioms and turns of phrase. There are so many that we use but never notice. For instance, "THE Christmas" instead of Christmas...etc..... I can remember (usually older) people taking about eating a bun-burger,not sure if an '&' had got dropped in-between. I'd imagine that people from outside of Dublin would be wondering why you'd want a sesame seed bread roll with another sesame seed bread roll inside it. |
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jul 5, 2023 9:28:24 GMT
Along with the customs and traditions thread, I think it would be a good thing to have a list of Irish idioms and turns of phrase. There are so many that we use but never notice. For instance, "THE Christmas" instead of Christmas...etc..... I can remember (usually older) people taking about eating a bun-burger,not sure if an '&' had got dropped in-between. I'd imagine that people from outside of Dublin would be wondering why you'd want a sesame seed bread roll with another sesame seed bread roll inside it. I'd never heard that one! I like the term "míle murder". How often do you hear this? I can only find a few hits on the internet, but I'm sure I've heard it more often than that would suggest. It's what's called a macaronic, which doesn't mean an expression coined by Paul McCartney but an expression drawn from two different languages. |
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