An Seanfhocal na Seachtaine — Proverb of the Week

Gaeilge sa Bhaile — Irish at Home #2

You're More Irish Than You Think

The words and phrases that give us away every time!

Have you ever been abroad, chatting away, and suddenly the person across from you gets a look of pure confusion on their face.

"Sorry, you were giving out because the young fella was doing what?"

And that's when it hits you. What you thought was perfectly normal English is, in fact, entirely and uniquely Irish. Welcome to Hiberno-English, the wonderfully expressive way that the Irish language shaped the English we speak every day, whether we realise it or not.

Words you're using that actually come from Irish

These words have travelled so far from their roots that even English dictionaries have claimed them, but make no mistake, they're ours!

Word Where it comes from What it means

Smithereens Smidiríní Tiny little fragments

Galore Go leor Enough, plenty

Slew Slua A crowd, a large number

Brogue Bróg (shoe) An Irish accent

Tory Tóraidhe Pursuer, outlaw

Go leor is the one that gets people every time. The next time someone says "craic galore", they're speaking Irish and they don't even know it.

And tóraidhe , outlaw, pursuer — becoming the name of a British political party is, frankly, the most Irish thing that has ever happened.

Hiberno-English — the words we thought everyone used

These aren't slang. They're not lazy English. They're a living record of a language that refused to disappear even when its speakers were forced to stop using it. The structure, the logic, the worldview of Irish is right there underneath every one of these words.

Giving out — complaining or scolding "She was giving out about the weather." Perfectly normal sentence in Ireland. Absolutely baffling everywhere else.

Bold — naughty, especially for children "You've been very bold." Elsewhere bold means brave or daring. In Ireland it means your mammy is not one bit impressed with you.

Grand — fine, okay, acceptable "Sure it'll be grand." The most Irish sentence ever spoken. Contains within it an entire philosophy of life — a gentle acceptance that things are neither brilliant nor terrible, and that's absolutely fine.

Press — a cupboard "The cups are in the press." Said by every Irish mammy since time began. Causes chaos in IKEA.

Messages — groceries or shopping "I'm going into town for the messages." Nobody knows exactly why. Nobody questions it.

Yoke — thing, object, gadget, person, concept, anything at all "Pass me that yoke there." The most versatile word in the Irish language. Can refer to literally anything. A remote control. A mystery vegetable. Your cousin's new boyfriend. A complicated feeling.

Jacks — the toilet "Where's the jacks?" Likely from the name Jack — as in Jack Jones, Cockney rhyming slang for bones, or possibly just a name associated with outdoor privies. Either way, entirely ours now.

Deadly — excellent, brilliant "That's a deadly idea." Causes genuine alarm in other countries. Here it is the highest praise.

Gas — funny, amusing "He's gas altogether.""Altogether" doing a lot of work in that sentence as well, now that we think about it.

Cat — awful, terrible (especially in Munster) "That match was cat." Nothing to do with actual cats. Unless the cat in question has just knocked your good mug off the counter, in which case it is also very much cat.

Phrases that are direct translations from Irish

This is where it gets really interesting. These phrases sound like perfectly normal English to Irish ears — because they are perfectly normal Irish, just wearing an English costume.

"I'm after doing it" Meaning: I've just done it. From the Irish construction tar éis — after. Tá mé tar éis é a dhéanamh. The Irish sense of time bleeding straight through into English.

"He does be working late" The legendary do be — used to describe something that happens habitually, regularly, as a pattern. Irish has a whole separate verb form for this. English doesn't, so we improvised.

"Sure look" Possibly the most untranslatable Irish phrase in existence. It can mean: I accept this situation. I have moved on from this situation. I don't want to talk about this anymore. It is what it is. Let's change the subject. All of the above simultaneously.

"Is it?" Used as a response to new information. "I'm moving house.""Is it?" Not a question. Not disbelief. Just acknowledgement with a slight air of interest. Magnificent.

"The fear of God is on me" Meaning: I am extremely worried or terrified. Direct translation of tá eagla Dé orm. Dramatic, poetic, and very relatable.

Words Irish people don't realise are Irish-only

A special mention for this category — the words that feel so normal, so everyday, that it comes as a genuine shock to discover the rest of the world has no idea what you're on about.

Eejit. Langer. Gowl. Manky. Scuttered. Acting the maggot. Shift. Culchie. Gaff.

Every single one of these has caused an Irish person abroad to stop mid-sentence, watch the confusion spread across a foreign face, and experience a small but profound identity crisis.

"Wait — you don't say gaff for house?""You've never heard of acting the maggot?""How do you not know what scuttered means?"

And in that moment, without even meaning to, you realise just how deeply Irish you are — right down to the words you didn't even know were yours.

Seanfhocal to finish:"Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste ná Béarla cliste." Broken Irish is better than clever English.

Keep going. Every word counts.

Did any of these surprise you? Come tell us on Instagram @croi_co — we'd especially love to know the one that gave you away abroad! And if you want a little piece of the Irish language on your wall every day, you know where to find us.