Irish idioms

IRISH IDIOMS, SAYINGS AND PHRASES

17 DE MARZO DE 2016 CEPER MARÍA DE LUNA SEP Negratín (Cuevas del Campo)

1- You could skin a cat out there

Cats from Kerry to Donegal live in a constant fear of being skinned alive when the RTE weather announces temperatures dipping to -5 during the night.

The utterance of “Well, you could skin a cat out there, it’s frightfully cold!” from their middle-aged female owners sends a shiver down their spine and serves as a gentle reminder to be thankful they didn’t start out life like a Sphynx cat.

The good news for our feline friends is that 99% of Met Eireann’s weather reports are a crock of shite, so they probably won’t look like those inside-out looking creatures for a while to come.

2- Get the finger out

Spending more than a matter of minutes with an older Irish person has only one guaranteed outcome – they will call you and your generation lazy and useless. You’ll get the “When I was your age I was already…” spiel you’ve heard countless times before.

On top of that you’ve also been told to “get the finger out!” Out of where? You can clearly see my arms are folded as I lean awkwardly on my hurl at the full forward line. Now, what were my opponent and I talking about before we were so rudely interrupted!

3- It cost me an arm and a leg

Irish people love to tell you when they’ve forked out some of their hard-earned Euros. What they fail to tell you is how much it physically pained them to pry open their wallet to do so.

At times I feel some of my family would rather pay with a limb than key in their PIN at the debit machine. I’m still waiting for the day my girlfriend gets wheelbarrowed to the door with a pair of designer jeans in tow!

4- Take your point, the goals will come

In terms of the game played, this phrase makes total sense: you should choose to go for the score which offers the easier path. On the larger scale of life I suppose it means to take the easy option every time and never aspire to aim for anything that may be blocked by some sort of obstacle. GAA idioms should really stick to the field of play!

5- You’re taking the piss

Now, we don’t go around stealing urine samples from clinics before you jump to conclusions! Taking the piss is a figurative way of saying you’re joking with someone.

Americans are “kidding”, Irish people are “taking the piss”, note the difference!

6- As happy as Larry

The happiest guy in all of Ireland is, and forever will be, some lad named Larry. No one knows the reasoning behind his permanent state of happiness but fair play to him for remaining so optimistic throughout the recent hard times which have hit the country. He must have found a nice market being the only upbeat person in the country since 2008!

7- Away with the fairies

An Irish person’s way of saying another one is a bit mad. The phrase essentially means you’re living in your own land where common sense and rules are figments of the imagination. “Ah don’t mind that lad, sure he’s away with the fairies!” a common rebuttal to the opinion of that lad in your group of friends.

8- On their way out

Only in Ireland would you talk about a person approaching death as you would a person leaving a bar. “How’s Tom doing up at the hospital?” I ask my Dad. “Ah not too well, he’s on his way out!” he responds. The news sinks my heart, although this time no one will be rushing after him to pay his bill at the pub!

9- Running around like a headless chicken

Back to animal brutality we go! One day you’re graduating from Maynooth with a degree in Theology and the next you’re struggling to find a job in Supermac’s. They said the skills I learned would be transferable! A decapitated chicken’s desperate attempt to cling on to its final moments of life encapsulate your struggle finding a job perfectly, no?

10- Nearly never bulled a cow

It’s as close to getting “close, but no cigar” you’re going to get in the Irish countryside. I’m no expert on breeding animals and the terminology associated with it, but this one seems pretty obvious! I guess the further you live from the countryside, the less likely it is that you will ever hear this idiom… but you can’t get that image out of your head can you? So, the next time you nearly do something, try to just do it to save an elderly Irish man using this expression and creeping you out!

11- Not the full shilling

Big deal, we don’t use the old money anymore! We never switched to “not the full Euro” for fear of the currency going the way of Brian Cowen’s reign as Taoiseach! Not the full shilling is used to describe that lad who you think has a few screws loose in their noggin. Your evidence is based solely on hearsay and that never-ending look on his face that screams “psychopathic serial killer”.

12- Throwing a sausage down O’Connell Street

Every town in Ireland has that one girl who has hooked up with more than her fair share of townsmen. On top of that, each town in Ireland also has enough gossipers to colonise a newly-discovered island. Add the two together and you come out with a hideous way of describing the fact that she may have taken one too many Denny’s sausages in her time.

Here are 15 Irish expressions to break out on St. Paddy's Day: 1. May the road rise up to meet you.

You may recognize this popular blessing (in Irish Gaelic: Go n-éirí an bóthar leat) from Catholic weddings or cross-stitched pillows in Nan's house. One of the main characteristics

of Celtic Christianity is the use of images of nature to show how God interacts with people.

"May the road rise up to meet you/ May the wind be always at your back/ May the sun shine warm upon you face ..." uses everyday images to mean, may God remove obstacles in your journey through life.

2. Sláinte!

In an Irish pub, patrons toast each other sláinte (pronounced "slaan-sha") as they clink glasses of Guinness. Derived from the Old Irish adjective slán (which means "safe"), sláinte literally translates as "health" and is used as a stand-in for the more time-consuming "I drink to your health!"

3. What's the craic?

Greetings like "Any craic?" and "How's the craic?" give rise to potential awkward misunderstandings for tourists, because craic is pronounced like "crack." The most straightforward definition is fun or enjoyment, and it can substitute for "How are you?" A typical response is "divil a bit," which means "not much."

4. May the cat eat you, and may the devil eat the cat.

Consider this insult a double whammy. By saying, "Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat," the speaker wishes that a cat gobble up his enemy like a can of Fancy Feast, and that the Devil eat them both. It's a surefire sentence to Hell.

Curses are far more detailed and nuanced in Irish culture, as compared to the traditional Fbombs dropped in the U.S. Here's another popular mouthful of an insult: "May you be afflicted with itching without the benefit of scratching." Burn.

5. Two people shorten the road.

Company makes the journey fly, as evidenced by one anecdote from Celtic folklore. In it, a father asks his son to "shorten their journey" to see the king, and refuses to continue on foot when the son doesn't know how. Frustrated, the son asks his wife what to do. "Every one knows that storytelling is the way to shorten a road," she says. They set out the next morning, and the son weaves a tale the whole way to White Strand. Lesson learned: Giorraíonn beirt bóthar.

6. Story horse?

Move aside, Wishbone. "What's the story, horse?" — abbreviated as "story horse?" — is how you ask a buddy what's up. It's a less breezy greeting than its American counterpart, and invites the other person to really dive into what's been going on in life.

7. On me tod.

A lonely lad says, "I'm on me tod," if he's riding solo at the bars that night, or alone in general. Tod Sloan was an American jockey whose mother died when he was young, whose father abandoned him, and whose incredibly successful horse-racing career came to an end

when he moved to the U.K. and was ridiculed for his Western riding style. Sloan was always said to be "on his own."

This expression is one of the best-known examples of Cockney rhyming slang, a phrase construction that involves taking a common word and using a rhyming phrase of two or three words to replace it. "On my Tod Sloan" rhymes with "on my own"; but in typical Cockney fashion, the word that completes the rhyme ("Sloan") is omitted.

8. Acting the maggot.

Friend's messing around, being obnoxious? Acting the maggot. Phone taking forever to deliver an iMessage? Acting the maggot. Comparing someone or something to a wriggly little white worm means they're behaving like a fool.

9. You son is your son today, but your daughter is your daughter forever.

A man is only a son until he takes a wife. But as a daughter gets older, she will stay near the family, draining it of money and time for years to come. In Irish Gaelic, it's Is é do mhac do mhac inniú, ach is í d’iníon d’iníon go deo.

10. 'Tis only a stepmother would blame you.

There's no need to be embarrassed or feel badly about committing a small offense, if the deed is so insignificant that only a jealous, belittling stepmother could find fault with you.

11. We're sucking diesel now.

When things are going exceptionally well and you've found success, not by luck but by your own merit, pat yourself on the back by saying, "I'm sucking diesel." Or, celebrate that your Oldsmobile Diesel started up for what could be the last time.

12. S‐‐‐‐ in a bucket.

Behold the raunchiest Irish slang used in sports: the English curse word "s---" with an "e" tacked on the end. It's pretty self-explanatory. When the Republic of Ireland's footballer James McCarthy recently tackled the ball into his own net, giving Serbia its first goal of the game, spectators at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin were certainly mumbling this under their breath.

13. That one suffers from a double‐dose of original sin.

The Bible proposes that when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he cast a state of sin on all of mankind. Today, if a child is particularly mischievous, he's said to have been twice-cursed by Adam's slip-up.

The phrase became popular in the 1880s, when proponents of British rule over Ireland attributed the Irishmen's depravity of character (and the famine, some argued) to their second helping of original sin.

14. Christ on a bike!

Considered blasphemous by some Christians, the odd turn of phrase is a way of saying, "I can't believe what I'm seeing." First "#HotJesus," now this.

15. State o'you.

A popular exclamation used in inner Dublin, "Look at the state o'you!" implies that a person's attire, personal hygiene, intoxication level, or general demeanor is worrisome. One might describe his drinking companion as being in a "bleedin' state" if he "gets pissed" or "wrecked" on lager at the pub.

Información extraida de:  

12 Idioms only the Irish understand (http://matadornetwork.com/life/12-idioms-irishunderstand/) 15 Irish Sayings That Everyone In America Should Use (http://www.businessinsider.com/best-irish-sayings-2014-3)