Comments on: Janey Mac!

Janey Mac!

DarlingBri — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 04:58:29 -0800

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.)

By: drugstorefrog

drugstorefrog — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:05:02 -0800

I'm pretty sure I've had entire conversations using only the words in that video.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:11:30 -0800

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.

By: psoas

psoas — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:22:10 -0800

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.

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:22:35 -0800

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.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:28:29 -0800

the beardyman was hilarious. "crips!"

By: LN

LN — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:28:47 -0800

This is making me terribly homesick.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:31:21 -0800

Telling comment: "i love how we can make these up on the fly and we still understand them."

By: drugstorefrog

drugstorefrog — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:40:29 -0800

I know this was posted before but it has some more great Dublin slang

By: 3.2.3

3.2.3 — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 05:50:11 -0800

I'm slow. I need most of these spelled out forr me.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:08:43 -0800

"As sick as the plane to Lourdes" is a good one.

By: fuzzypantalones

fuzzypantalones — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:11:18 -0800

now turn on the closed captions. extra confusing!

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:53:01 -0800

Ok, now do the rated R version!

By: jquinby

jquinby — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 07:30:26 -0800

I will use "steal the eyes from your head and come back for the lashes" some time very soon.

By: The 10th Regiment of Foot

The 10th Regiment of Foot — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 07:48:07 -0800

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

By: Liquidwolf

Liquidwolf — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 08:09:22 -0800

Wow, so folks really do talk like the way Finnegan's Wake is written.

By: Diablevert

Diablevert — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:42:28 -0800

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.

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:43:43 -0800

Related is an older video - 101 things Irish parents say (I can confirm that it is also scarily accurate)

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:48:39 -0800

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.

By: bongo_x

bongo_x — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:08:37 -0800

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.

By: asnider

asnider — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:25:37 -0800

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.

By: jamesonandwater

jamesonandwater — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:48:21 -0800

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.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:08:47 -0800

And no, nobody speaks this way continuously Except in every other episode of Mrs Brown's Boys.

By: benito.strauss

benito.strauss — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:01:04 -0800

Your man sure does use a lot of slang.

By: fshgrl

fshgrl — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:07:47 -0800

Bus drivers in Dublin speak this way continuously. I'm a native and I can't understand them.

By: LN

LN — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:21:48 -0800

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!

By: ostro

ostro — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:42:40 -0800

No, I do not want a package of Crips.

By: The 10th Regiment of Foot

The 10th Regiment of Foot — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:49:00 -0800

No, I do not want a package of Crips. Just think about the good craic you'll be missing out on!

By: Diablevert

Diablevert — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:24:08 -0800

No, I do not want a package of Crips. What are your feelings on Taytos?

By: benito.strauss

benito.strauss — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:03:19 -0800

What are your feelings on Taytos? Based on my Irish co-workers, Taytos = Irish craic, pun intended.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:05:02 -0800

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 ...

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:07:22 -0800

although they forgot "i'll take me shillaleigh after ye"

By: rollick

rollick — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:46:03 -0800

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.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 14:47:40 -0800

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.

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:05:41 -0800

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.

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 05:03:22 -0800

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.

By: jamesonandwater

jamesonandwater — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:42:21 -0800

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.