1. Bog (from bogach, a bog, or bog, soft) a piece of wet spongy ground
2. Brogues (from bróig, a shoe) a type of shoe (or accent)
2. Brogues (from bróig, a shoe) a type of shoe (or accent)
3. Galore - (from go leor, many) plenty, a lot
4. Slab - (from slaba, mud, itself likely derived from Scandinavian, perhaps via English slab muddy place) piece or slice
5. Whiskey - (from uisce beatha, water of life) distilled alcoholic beverage
6. Leprechaun - (from leipreachán) elf, sprite
7. Slogan - (from sluagh-ghairm) troop-cry/war-cry
8. Spree - (from the Irish word spraoi, meaning fun) as in shopping spree
9. Twig - (from tuig, understand or realise) catch on, realise
9. Twig - (from tuig, understand or realise) catch on, realise
10. Craic - Fun, kicks
3 comments:
Good stuff, Gary, or should I say 'fair play te ye'?
A few expressions/idioms I've picked up as a town boy moving to the countryside in Armagh are:
1. 'Proper order': used to express approbation at an action or outcome. 'There's a no smoking ban in effect in this restaurant...' 'Proper order!'.
2. 'You didn't lick that off the grass': used to denote a behaviour inherited from parents or family members. In Belfast they say 'You didn't pick that up off the street'.
3. 'You're not as slow as you walk easy': this is one of my favourites. It means that someone may give the appearance of stupidity or ignorance, but in actual fact is quietly intelligent or shrewd. A more way out version is 'you're not as green as you're cabbage lookin'
4. 'Suckin' diesel': unfortunately this has been popularised on the mainland by one of our worst exports, DJ Colin Murray. It's a County Armagh phrase denoting pleasure that things are going as one has planned. It has fallen out of favour a little since the Radio 1 presenter made it his very own...
Anyway, enough Ulsterisms, which bear only a tentative (and problematic) relationship to your post about Irish words.
I'll plough on.
Take her handy!
Ulster, Ireland - all the same to me. I knew you'd enjoy those Andrew (and the Keats too). My favourite Ulsterism is the way you use whenever to mean when.
Someone once told me that smashin' as a term of approbation comes from the Irish tongue.
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