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Continuing on from last week’s crash-course in Irish slang,
we’ve printed the second half of phrases to help you keep up
when visiting your Irish watering hole this year. . .
D
Da : father
Dander : a leisurely stroll
Deadly : very cool
Delph : crockery, cups, saucers etc
Dickey Dazzler : an over dressed man
Diddies : breasts
Dig : punch or slap
Doing a line : courting, seeing someone
Donkey's Years : a long time - 'I haven't
seen him in donkey's years'
Doorstep : a sandwich made
with thickly cut bread
On the Doss : To be goofing off
Dote : a lovely little thing, usually a baby
Down the Swannie : down the drain
Drink Link : bank ATM
E
Eat the head off : attack verbally
Eccer : homework (from exercises)
Eejit : idiot
Effin' and blindin' : cursing and swearing
Elephants : drunk
Erection section : slow set at a disco
F
Fair play/whack to ya! :
well done!
Fart around : to fool around
Feck : used instead of the other F word
Fecker : used instead of the other F word
Fecky the Ninth : complete idiot
Fierce : very; 'twas fierce cold
50p lifesaver : condom
Fine thing/fine bit of stuff : admiring comment on
member of opposite sex
Fire away : continue, go ahead
Flahulach : flamboyant, also very generous,
throwing money around
Flagon : large 2-litre bottle, usually cider
Flaming : drunk
Flea Rake : a comb
Flicks : movies, pictures
Fluthered : drunk
Fly Cemetery : currant bun
Flying low, you're : your zip is undone
Foostering : wasting time
Foundered: freezing cold
G
Gaff : house
Gameball : OK
Gammy : a load of crap, useless
Gander : a nosey look
Gansey : sweater, jersey, pullover or loads (of
something)
Gargle : alcohol
Gas : funny
Gasur : young boy
Gawk : stare
Gear : good
Gee-bag : general term of abuse
Gee-Eyed : drunk
Get out of that garden : same as ""Yeah right!" or
"Get up the yard!""
Git : rotten person
Gob : mouth, as in: "shut your gob"
Gobber : A spit (of the green kind)
Gobshite : idiot
Gom, Gombeen : idiot
Go way outta that! : Dismissive response,
indicating disbelief
Grand : fine, nice
Gurrier : lout, hooligan
Gut : stomach
H
Hames : a mess -
'He made a right hames of the job'
Haven't got a baldy : no chance
Haven't got a snowball's chance in hell : no chance;
longer version of above
Head : friend or pal e.g. How's it going head?
Header : nutcase, unstable person
Head the ball : foolish person/ or generic name for
any person
Heavin' : thronged/packed i.e the place was heavin
last Saturday
Heel : the first or last slice of a loaf of bread
Hole in the wall : ATM
Holy joe : sanctimonious person
Holy show : spectacle
Hooley : party or celebration
Hop, on the : bunk school, playing truant
Horrors : drunk, e.g. I was in the horrors last night
Hot Press : airing cupboard
How's the form? : How are you?
How's the talent? : Is there anyone good looking/
interesting about?
I
I am in me wick : you must be joking!
I could eat the lamb o' Jayjus through the rungs of
a chair : I'm very hungry
I'd eat a farmer's arse through a blackthorn bush! :
I'm hungry
I've a mouth on me : I'm hungry
I've a throat on me : I'm thirsty
I will in me brown : I won't!
J
Jackeen : a culchie's name for a Dubliner
Jack in the box : A dead Dublin man
Jacks : toilet
Jaded : very tired, knackered
Jammers : very crowded, busy
Jammy : lucky
Janey Mack! : Gosh, really?
Japers! : Gosh, really?
Jar : A pint
Jaysus : Jesus
Jo Maxi : taxi
Johnny : condom
Johnny-jump-up : pint of Guinness mixed with
Bulmers (cider)
K
Knacker : gypsy, travelling person
Knackerette : gypsy, travelling person of the female
variety
Knick-knacking : ringing a doorbell and running
away
Knocked up : pregnant
L
Lady Muck : a stuck-up woman
Lamped him out of it, I : I really hit the guy hard,
knocked him out
Langers : drunk
Lashing : raining hard
Laudy daw : snob
Legger, do a : to abscond from the scene
Legging (it) : moving at pace!
Letting on : pretending
Like a blue-arsed fly : running around,
hectically busy
Little green man : a small bottle of Jameson's
Loaf : to head butt someone
Locked : very drunk
Lush : a bit of a drinker
M
Ma : mother
Maggot, Stop acting the : stop messin' around
Malarky : tomfoolery
Mangled : drunk
Manky : filthy dirty
Massive : brilliant, deadly
Me auld segosha, me auld flower : best friend
Milling : fighting
Mind yourself : be careful
Minerals : soft drinks
Mitch : bunk school, playing truant
Molly : effeminate
Molly coddle : over protect
Mortaller : mortal sin
Mortified : embarassed, usually said by your ma
Mot : girlfriend
Muppet : fool, idiot
Muzzy : a little brat
N
Narky : cranky
Nixer : a job done on the quiet so that no tax has to
be paid on the wages.
Nifty 50 : a Honda 50cc motorcycle
Nip : nude, as in 'I saw him/her in the nip'
Nits : head lice
Noggin : head
O
Oirish: typically, clichéd Irish(ness)
On the never never : On Hire purchase
On the ockie : on the hop, playing truant from
school, work
One and One : fish and chips i.e. One and One Cod
Ossified : drunk
Oxters : armpits
P
Peeler :
policeman
Perishing : very cold
Pint of plain : a pint of Guinness
Plankin' it : very nervous
Plastered : drunk
Plastic Paddy : someone of Irish descent who has
all the accoutrements of Irishness
Plonker : idiot
Póg : kiss
Pogue Mo Thóin : kiss my arse
Polluted : drunk
Porter, a rake of : a lot of stout
Powerful : great, excellent, grand
Praities : potatoes
Press : cupboard
Puck : punch
Puke : get sick, vomit
Put the heart crossways in someone : Give
someone a terrible fright
Puss :face, usually sulky
Q
Quare : contrary to popular belief this does not
mean queer or strange but great! - it's irish irony
Quare hawk : odd fella
Queer bit of skirt/talent : a really attractive woman /man.
R
Rabbit on : talk a lot
Rag order : disorganised
Rake : a great amount of anything
Rapid : amazing
Rat : squealer; some one who tells on you.
Reddener : blush
Redser : somebody with red or ginger hair
Ride: an attractive person / to have sex
Ri-Ra : fun and excitement
Riverdance : The act of commiting suicide in the
Shannon. "so and so did The Riverdance"
Ronnie : moustache - after movie star, Ronald
Coleman
Root : search
Rub-a-dub-dub : the pub
Rubber : pencil eraser
Ructions : Loud arguing or commotion - 'There
were great ructions at our house last night'
Runners : trainers, everyday sports shoes
S
Sambos : sandwiches
Savage : very severe or excellent
Scab : one who scabs (constantly borrows or tries
to get freebies)
Scarlet : blushing
Scrap : fight
the Scratch : dole, social security
Scratcher : bed
Screwed : fecked, in trouble
Scrubber : female of low morals
Scuttered : drunk
Scutters/Squitters : diarrhea
Scutting : catching a ride by hanging from the
back of a moving truck and then jumping off
Session : Drinking all day long, typically starting
before noon
Shaper : young guy who takes up a lot of space
when he struts around.
Shenanagans : carry-on/horse-play
Shrapnel : loose change
Single : bag of chips
Six o' one, half a dozen o' the other : exactly the same
Skiver : someone who avoids work
Slagging : having someone on, making fun of
them
Sláinte : Cheers (literally Health!)
Sleeveen, Slinkeen : a sly type, pinch the eyes out
of your head
Slug : mouthful of a drink – “gis a slug”
Snapper : child
Snared rapid : caught doing something one
shouldn't have been doing
Sneachta : cocaine (sneachta is the Gaelic word for
‘snow’)
Snot rag : handkerchief
Sound : really good
Spud : typical nickname for someone with the
surname Murphy
Stop the lights! : jayzuz, really?!
Stocious : drunk as a lord
Stung : embarrassed after getting caught doing
something ye shouldn't
Suckin' diesel : having a good time
T
Thick :
idiot/stupid
3m : a young male who's only cares are his ma, his
mot and his moustache
Throwing Shapes : what a shaper does...see above.
Togs : swimming trunks
Turf Accountant : bookie/betting shop for horse or
greyhound racing
Two-bulb : squad car
U
Undy-grundy : wedgie
Up the duff : pregnant
Up the flue / In the family way : pregnant
Up the pole : pregnant
Up the yard! : be off with ya!
Up to ninety : near boiling point, ready to explode
V
Vexed :
upset
W
Wafer :
ice cream sandwiched between two flat
wafers
Wagon : horrible female
Wall-falling : knackered, exhausted
Wet the tea : make tea (comes from the practice of
wetting the leaves in the bottom of the pot)
Whiff or Whack : a smell
Whist : keep quiet
Wojus : poor or bad; "That tea is wojus."
Y
Yoke :
a
thing (
pass me that yoke)
Yonks : a long time
Youngfella : generic term for a youth (male)
Youngwan : generic term for a youth (female)
You couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo : bad
aim, woeful hurler/darts player/soccer player etc.
Yoyo : euro
Z
Zeds: when you need to get some sleep you need
to get some zeds. |
