Janey Mac!

February 14, 2013 4:58 AM

Curious about contemporary Dublin slang? C'mere to me and have a look at this YouTube video yoke. It's only massive!

[Discussion, with more].

And no, nobody speaks this way continuously but most of these terms can indeed be heard in Dublin, and a handful are in very common usage throughout the country.)

posted by DarlingBri (36 comments total)

I'm pretty sure I've had entire conversations using only the words in that video.
posted by drugstorefrog at 5:05 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

This is very timely as I have a trip planned to Dublin soon from the US. My preparations will definitely involve repeated viewing of this video.
posted by exogenous at 5:11 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

OK, guess I was wrong, but I thought Dublin was part of an English-speaking country.

Everything else aside, "What planet is she from?" and "Are you for real?" are totally standard Americanisms too.
posted by psoas at 5:22 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Exogenous, I'm an American who's lived here for 7 years (which explains why I fail where drugstorefrog excels) but I promise you that you can pick up the meaning of slang contextually. Mostly.

You might also enjoy Sminky Shorts if you've not seen them.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:22 AM on February 14 [2 favorites]

the beardyman was hilarious. "crips!"
posted by mwhybark at 5:28 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

This is making me terribly homesick.
posted by LN at 5:28 AM on February 14 [2 favorites]

Telling comment: "i love how we can make these up on the fly and we still understand them."
posted by mwhybark at 5:31 AM on February 14

I know this was posted before but it has some more great Dublin slang
posted by drugstorefrog at 5:40 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

I'm slow. I need most of these spelled out forr me.
posted by 3.2.3 at 5:50 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

"As sick as the plane to Lourdes" is a good one.
posted by ShutterBun at 6:08 AM on February 14 [7 favorites]

now turn on the closed captions. extra confusing!
posted by fuzzypantalones at 6:11 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Ok, now do the rated R version!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:53 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

I will use "steal the eyes from your head and come back for the lashes" some time very soon.
posted by jquinby at 7:30 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Everything else aside, "What planet is she from?" and "Are you for real?" are totally standard Americanisms too.

More standard "Americanisms".
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:48 AM on February 14 [2 favorites]

Wow, so folks really do talk like the way Finnegan's Wake is written.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:09 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Exogenous, I'm an American who's lived here for 7 years (which explains why I fail where drugstorefrog excels) but I promise you that you can pick up the meaning of slang contextually. Mostly.

Since when did you turn jackeen? I thought you were in Cork.
posted by Diablevert at 9:42 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Related is an older video - 101 things Irish parents say (I can confirm that it is also scarily accurate)
posted by TwoWordReview at 9:43 AM on February 14 [4 favorites]

I just shared this with my hockey team actually, as there is one other Irish guy (a fellow Dub) on the team, and we recently had an email thread that apparently only the two of us could understand - to the amazement of the rest of the team.
posted by TwoWordReview at 9:48 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Years ago I worked with some young Irish musicians, most of who grew up together, in their first time in the States. It was like this only the extra slangy version. We just stared at them at first when they talked to us. They had to make a real effort to remember to use words we could understand.
posted by bongo_x at 10:08 AM on February 14

While a lot of these sounded totally foreign, a fair number are common slang in Canada (even in Alberta, where you're more likely to run into someone of Ukrainian decent than Irish). A few more are common in Newfoundland, which is basically New Ireland in many respects.
posted by asnider at 10:25 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

There was a critical mass of six or seven of us Dubs at one of the offices I worked in (in Canada) a couple years ago, along with several people from other parts of Ireland, and after about six months we had the Canucks saying some of these things without even recognizing they were doing it. Pretty funny.
posted by jamesonandwater at 10:48 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

And no, nobody speaks this way continuously

Except in every other episode of Mrs Brown's Boys.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:08 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Your man sure does use a lot of slang.
posted by benito.strauss at 12:01 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Bus drivers in Dublin speak this way continuously. I'm a native and I can't understand them.
posted by fshgrl at 12:07 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Years ago, when I lived in Dublin, I had some dear friends who were lifelong Northsiders, who were traditional singers. They could slide in and out of the thickest slang, depending on who they were talking to, and who they didn't want to listening in on their conversations!
posted by LN at 12:21 PM on February 14

No, I do not want a package of Crips.
posted by ostro at 12:42 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

No, I do not want a package of Crips.

Just think about the good craic you'll be missing out on!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:49 PM on February 14 [3 favorites]

No, I do not want a package of Crips.

What are your feelings on Taytos?
posted by Diablevert at 2:24 PM on February 14

What are your feelings on Taytos?

Based on my Irish co-workers, Taytos = Irish craic, pun intended.
posted by benito.strauss at 4:03 PM on February 14

101 things Irish parents say

i remember my father saying some of these, without the accent - and my grandfather and grandmother said a LOT of them, my grandfather with a brogue ...
posted by pyramid termite at 5:05 PM on February 14

although they forgot "i'll take me shillaleigh after ye"
posted by pyramid termite at 5:07 PM on February 14

I'd say a lot more than a handful are heard in the rest of the country, but considering I've met people from Dublin who had to ask what county Galway City is in and thought it was on the east coast, I'll let them off.
posted by rollick at 1:46 PM on February 15

Okay, I'm a bit embarrassed to ask this....is there a marked accent difference between Dublin and West Cork? I hadn't thought so, but -- I have no trouble understanding my friend from West Cork (the first time we spoke in person, she'd rattled on for a full five minutes before suddenly stopping and asking "can you understand what i'm saying with my accent?" and I told her yeah, I was good), but this....not so much. And I'm not talking about the vocabulary.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:47 PM on February 17

The short answer is 'yes most definitely'. In fact there can be a marked difference between the accents from West Dublin and say the inner city or for sure the southside (known as the D4 accent named after the post code of the richer part of the city).

Someone can probably give you the lowdown on the technical differences but the Cork accent is known for its lilt or sing-songiness, so the Dublin accent is quite a bit rougher by comparison.

The comedian Billy Connolly (being a Scot himself a difficult man to understand if you're not used to the accent) once said that you could probably go 20 miles in any direction in Ireland and hear a different accent in that area.
posted by TwoWordReview at 12:05 AM on February 18

is there a marked accent difference between Dublin and West Cork?

A radical difference, in the same way there is a difference between accents from the north and accents from the south in the US. Additionally, there can be a distinct difference between accents from the north and south sides of the same city, and both Dublin and Cork are well known for this distinctness of local accents.

When it's pronounced, it's pronounced. I virtually never have an issue but over the course of seven years here, I have acquired one friend, one contractor and one neighbour whom I understand about 20%, 10% and 0% of the time, respectively. My neighbour genuinely might as well be speaking German or Irish - I have literally never understood a single word he's ever said.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:03 AM on February 18

I have acquired one friend, one contractor and one neighbour whom I understand about 20%, 10% and 0% of the time, respectively.

When I first moved to NYC one of my classmates moved out with me. He's from Donegal and me Dublin. The only person in the office (including the Irish people) who could understand him consistently was Russian. Go figure.
posted by jamesonandwater at 4:42 PM on February 18 [1 favorite]