QuoteOn the continent you half to be careful with telling the time. Half-five, for them, is 4.30. They don't do quarters either, which got me a kick from an old lady in Wiesbaden one night trying to get a train home.
I was told, while in Canada, that saying "half six" when asked the time was odd. "Half six is three," I was told. Obviously, people just starting leaving out the 'past' at some point.
On the continent you half to be careful with telling the time. Half-five, for them, is 4.30. They don't do quarters either, which got me a kick from an old lady in Wiesbaden one night trying to get a train home.
Craic
Laxadaisey
"Do you come here often?"
Not sure this is an Irish example but one thing I have noticed loads of people saying in more frequency over the last few years is in response to something in conversation they start with " Yeah no......."
A contradiction in itself
Yeah, my Australian cousin couldn't get his head around 'half six' either. I couldn't understand how it was difficult to understand.Originally Posted by brianw82
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
In line with what SF said, this is fairly common in Australia.
I used to get bagged for saying sorry too often in conversation when I first got here. Also, 'gobsh!te' is pretty unknown outside of Ireland I think.
irish ma's are great with their sayings like:
if ya fall off that wall and break your legs dont come running to me.
and doesnt matter what you say to them she will reply with
i'll _____________ you, which doesnt make sense
Last edited by danthesaint; 09/01/2010 at 4:05 PM.
"No, I always have this look on my face..."
Did you ever notice that in every painting of Adam & Eve, they have belly buttons. Think about that...take as long as you want.
My mum would always say 'shut your mouth and speak to everyone'. It was always clear what she meant in terms of respecting people but it always caused us to retort with the obvious. I think she would also say 'shut your mouth and eat your dinner' but the former was the more amusing.
Adding the words "grand", "like" and "you know" to pretty much everything you have to say.
Last edited by ifk101; 09/01/2010 at 5:22 PM.
My wife does that, it drives me demented!
That bugs me, and I do it myself; we've replaced "excuse me" with "sorry" for some strange reason.
It's very Irish though, very catholic guilt: it's my fault you're in my way.
My dutch uncle gets a great kick out of the colloquisims and has adopted the refrain "the best" to questions such as "how are you" "how was your food" and "how are you feeling". He has also infected the UN Courts of Law in the Hague with this were French, Italians and Swiss are now responding in Tyrone accents when asked how they are.
One that may be more peculiar to this neck of the woods is the word "wee". Every shop, restaurant, office you go into people will offer you a wee drink, a wee seat, your wee receipt etc. It drives me mad. I want to say, no I would like a big coffee and a sofa please.
This.
Never used to notice it that much but my girlfriend is from Athlone and finds it amazing how often we say it at home in relation to everything. She likes it and thinks it makes everything sound friendlier but it's almost got to the stage in my family where people say things like, "She had a wee stroke," "He got his wee degree," "He had to get a wee operation." People take the p!ss at work when I say it too.
When you tell a friend that somebody died, the response is mostly, ''Really, I saw him/her the other day !''
Irish talk more about the weather than any other nation of people. Many other European countries get extreme heat and cold in a space of 12 months but would never discuss it with a stranger.
We have a national emergency with the temperature goes above 30 Celcius or below zero for more than 48 hours.
When we go abroad, we talk about the weather at home and in the place we are visiting.
we hope the weather is crapier at home when we are on holidays.
Many Irish people boast about sunburn. It is like a trophy.
Nobody knows us, we don't care
If anybody is really interested they can go and buy this once it is available -
Corpus of Irish-English
I think a lot of visitors are surprised at the way we thank bus drivers at the end of the journey.
Le monde est a nous
When I was in college the Czech exchange student was fascinated by the way we had that soft T in pronouncing words
Nobody knows what a "yoke" is
I find foreigners who have learned to speak English in Ireland hysterically funny to listen to.
I used to work with a Czech guy who had the thick Eastern European accent but would call people feckin ejits in an accent straight out of South Tipp. I know a German bird who lives in Ireland and everything is grand, “datz grand” I chuckle every time I hear it
"Your guilty conscience may move you to vote Democratic, but deep down you long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king"
Sideshow Bob
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