Most people know that words fascinate me, and I’m a careful observer of linguistic quirks…so it only seems natural that I’m constantly noticing the differences in expression of Irish English versus Canadian English. Some of the turns of phrase the Irish use make me laugh, and others make more sense to me than our counterpart. So here’s a primer on common Irish expressions.
Grand: Everything is “grand” here, and this is generally the equivalent of our “fine” and also “great.” When someone asks how you are, you say grand. When someone tells you they’re going for coffee and will be back in 15, you say grand. It’s a handy catch-all word.
What’s the crack? This means, what’s new/what’s up/what’s going on? Crack is also the equivalent of “stuff.” If you ask someone if they liked a film/song/book/etc. they might say, “yeah, it was great crack.” This always makes me giggle.
Your (yer) man: This is one of my fave Irish linguistic quirks. I'm planning to bring it back to Canada with me and incorporate it into our English. Yer man refers either to someone very general, or someone very specific. Eg. if your cable isn't working, you might say, "I'll ring yer man and have him come round." Or, if your boyfriend/brother/father/male friend is coming by the house, your friend might say, "When's yer man coming by?" Obviously this is entirely contextual, but people always know exactly who you mean, so it works:) The female equivalent is your one, and very occasionally, your woman.
Are you alright/okay? This one I find hard to get used to, as it’s the equivalent of our “can I help you?” Store clerks will look at you and ask that, and I always find it awkward to respond to. Sometimes you’ll get a term of endearment added to it, which is nice – it’s usually older Irish women who might call you love or dear, or as the woman in the pharmacy said to me the other day – “are you alright, pet?”
Any joy? Like us saying “any luck?”
You’re alright: This is often said in response to an apology – if you bump into someone and say, I’m sorry, the person will often say “you’re alright,” or sometimes “you’re grand.”
Knock the spots off you: Like us saying, it’ll put hair on your chest.
Fair balls/Fair play: This generally means “good for you.” Many people have said this to me when I tell them why I’ve come to Ireland…
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The makings of a weekend in Dublin
Lately I've felt really happy about being in Dublin. Not that I wasn't "happy" before, but almost daily I feel a little thrill about being here, about being able to experience living in another country, and also about not being in Vancouver. As much as I love Vancouver, and think of it as home, it really was time for a change. I miss my friends and family, and I have had low days here when I felt lost and alone, but I haven't been homesick at all, and I've never wanted to go home during those down times. That's just my ruminations on my current state of mind:)
Last weekend I went to a social put on by the organization that supports people like me (on working/holiday visas). There's something called a Literary Pub Crawl in the city centre, and I've wanted to go on it for a while (for obvious reasons) so I thought I'd join in the social so I could go with a gang of people. I met an American girl, Emily, and even though the crawl started off with great gusto, we were separated from the crawl at the next pub, so didn't get to see any more performances or get sung any more songs by our tour guides.
But Emily and I persevered, being that we were a stone's throw from about 50 pubs in the city centre, and went on our own crawl. Well, really, we just went to one other pub, but it's now my official "favourite pub." A friend at work, Frank, told me about it; it’s called The Long Hall -- mainly because it's a long hall, he explained... He called it an "old man's pub" -- because old men go there. Frank is good at shedding light on subjects... But it's also called that because people go to drink and talk -- there's no loud music, and there's no "scene" going on there. It's just people drinking and talking. So we did that too, and talked and drank with some Irish lads, who weren't old -- well, they were my age -- Emily at 23 might have considered them old! Anyway, it was a great night -- felt like an authentic pub night in Dublin.
Emily and I have become friends, although she is headed back to the states shortly, so we're taking advantage of the fact that we like to do a lot of the same things. This past weekend we went to a rugby match and cheered on Leinster (one of the four Irish provinces) while they kicked Edinburgh’s butt all over the field. I brought a thermos of hot chocolate and a flask of Bailey's and we were the envy of our seatmates:)
On Sunday we visited the famous Guinness factory. It's a pretty cool place, with 7 floors of exhibits, and on the 7th floor is the Gravity Bar, a round, glass-walled bar with an great view of the entire city, but more importantly, where you get a complimentary glass of Guinness. I didn't drink the glass of Guinness I'm holding in this picture, but I was thinking of all of you who would have drunk it for me...and you know who you are:)
Last weekend I went to a social put on by the organization that supports people like me (on working/holiday visas). There's something called a Literary Pub Crawl in the city centre, and I've wanted to go on it for a while (for obvious reasons) so I thought I'd join in the social so I could go with a gang of people. I met an American girl, Emily, and even though the crawl started off with great gusto, we were separated from the crawl at the next pub, so didn't get to see any more performances or get sung any more songs by our tour guides.
But Emily and I persevered, being that we were a stone's throw from about 50 pubs in the city centre, and went on our own crawl. Well, really, we just went to one other pub, but it's now my official "favourite pub." A friend at work, Frank, told me about it; it’s called The Long Hall -- mainly because it's a long hall, he explained... He called it an "old man's pub" -- because old men go there. Frank is good at shedding light on subjects... But it's also called that because people go to drink and talk -- there's no loud music, and there's no "scene" going on there. It's just people drinking and talking. So we did that too, and talked and drank with some Irish lads, who weren't old -- well, they were my age -- Emily at 23 might have considered them old! Anyway, it was a great night -- felt like an authentic pub night in Dublin.
Emily and I have become friends, although she is headed back to the states shortly, so we're taking advantage of the fact that we like to do a lot of the same things. This past weekend we went to a rugby match and cheered on Leinster (one of the four Irish provinces) while they kicked Edinburgh’s butt all over the field. I brought a thermos of hot chocolate and a flask of Bailey's and we were the envy of our seatmates:)
On Sunday we visited the famous Guinness factory. It's a pretty cool place, with 7 floors of exhibits, and on the 7th floor is the Gravity Bar, a round, glass-walled bar with an great view of the entire city, but more importantly, where you get a complimentary glass of Guinness. I didn't drink the glass of Guinness I'm holding in this picture, but I was thinking of all of you who would have drunk it for me...and you know who you are:)
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