English vs English

[deanb]

The school system is so completely different between the two that'd need it's own dedicated post than a casual high school=secondary school, grades=years. thing. I can maybe do it tomorrow. I think I've got it figured out quite well.

 

Also it means fun? I'm aware of the phrase "What's the craic" as in, "what's up". And I use eejit myselfy from time to time. It's much nicer sounding word to use than idiot. Or I'll go the occasional I.D.Ten.Tee.

 

Aa, Bee, see, dee, ee, eff, jee, hach, eye, jay, kay, ell, emm, enn, oo, pee. kew, arr, tee, ess, you, vee, double-you, ecks, why, and zed.

(now I know my ABCs, will you come now sing with me)

[MasterDex]

Also it means fun? I'm aware of the phrase "What's the craic" as in, "what's up".

 

Yeah, it basically means fun or entertainment. The phrase "What's the craic" is used in place of "What's up" but taken literally, it would mean "Anything fun/interesting happen you?" so if I was to say "Well man, what's the craic?", I'd be asking if you got up to anything fun since the last time we spoke or if you were up to anything fun at the moment. Other common ways it's used would be "That was great craic!" or "We had some craic last night, didn't we?" or "Joe is some craic, isn't he?"

 

Eejit is a great word though. I like the true Irish word for Idiot as well, it's also often used when speaking in English here. It's Amadán (Aw-ma-dawn).

 

No-one butchers the English language (or can turn a phrase) quite like the Irish can (Sorry America! ): http://www.slang.ie/

[Mr W Phallus]

Yeh I use crack (craic) as synonymous with the word banter which is a much more southern thing and also subject to ridicule since the infamous

video (which will probably mean nothing to those of you in the US, I'm sure you'll enjoy the accent though). But yeh 'that was good/bad crack', 'he's got good crack' etc.

 

Also in that video, to chunder = to throw up.

 

As for the aitch/haitch thing I always used to pronounce it with a 'huh' sound at the beginning as well, it's quite common. I use neither runners nor sneakers, they're trainers. Chips are chunks of potato deep fat fried whereas fries are made out of a sort of mash potato mix that is shaped into a long chip shape (presumably from the French method since they're French Fries). I'm guessing debs is short for débutante ball?

[MasterDex]

I use neither runners nor sneakers, they're trainers.

 

Ahh yeah! Forgot about trainers!.

 

Chips are chunks of potato deep fat fried whereas fries are made out of a sort of mash potato mix that is shaped into a long chip shape (presumably from the French method since they're French Fries).

 

That's completely logical. We don't make that distinction here in Ireland, we tend to use both chips and fries interchangeably.

 

I'm guessing debs is short for débutante ball?

 

Yeah, It seems here in Ireland that we use Debs and Prom in the opposite way the US does where, I believe (though I'm probably wrong), a debs is an adults ball rather than a graduation ball.

 

Also in that 'Gap Yah' video: On the lash=Out getting drunk. Lashed=Drunk.

[Battra92]

Aa, Bee, see, dee, ee, eff, jee, hach, eye, jay, kay, ell, emm, enn, oo, pee. kew, arr, tee, ess, you, vee, double-you, ecks, why, and zed.

(now I know my ABCs, will you come now sing with me)

 

AY, Bee. See. Dee, Ee, Eff, Gee, Aytch, eye, Jay, Kay, Ell, Emm, Enn, Oh, Pee, Kew, Arr, Ess, Tea, You, Vee, Double-You, Ecks, Why and Zee

 

Seriously, what the heck is Zed? It sounds like a stupid nickname for someone. :-P

[Hot Heart]

Aytch,

 

Seriously, anyone who does not pronounce it this way should die.

[deanb]

Zed Pee Emm

 

And only one guy on the show pronounces it right.

 

Also Tea/Tee, same difference.

And H has a H in it. It wouldn't be H without it.

[Mr W Phallus]

Zed's dead baby.

[Hot Heart]

And H has a H in it. It wouldn't be H without it.

 

That doesn't even make sense.

[MasterDex]

I think the Zee/Zed thing is another British English vs American English thing. Both pronounciations are used here in Ireland.

 

As for Haitch vs Aitch, this is what wikipedia has to say about it:

 

 

In almost all dialects of English, the name for the letter is pronounced /ˈeɪtʃ/ and spelled ‹aitch›[1] or occasionally ‹eitch›. The pronunciation /ˈheɪtʃ/ and hence a spelling of ‹haitch› is often considered to be h-adding and hence nonstandard. It is, however, a feature of Hiberno-English and other varieties of English, such as those of Malaysia and Singapore. In Northern Ireland it is a shibboleth as Protestant schools teach aitch and Catholics haitch. In Australia, this has also been attributed to Catholic school teaching and is estimated to be in use by 60% of the population. The perceived name of the letter affects the choice of indefinite article before initialisms beginning with H: for example "an HTML page" or "a HTML page". The pronunciation /ˈheɪtʃ/ may be a hypercorrection formed by analogy with the names of the other letters of the alphabet, most of which include the sound they represent.

 

The non-standard haitch pronunciation of h has spread in England, being used by approximately 24% of English people born since 1982 and polls continue to show this pronunciation becoming more common among younger native speakers. Despite this increasing number, careful speakers of English continue to pronounce aitch in the standard way, as the non-standard pronunciation is still a mark of the uneducated, at least in most of the United Kingdom. The pronunciation haitch followed the introduction of Phonics and was designed to help prevent working class children from dropping the initial H in words such as hospital (otherwise pronounced as 'ospital).[citation needed] The letter has also been said to be the letter of the devil just like 666 is considered the number of the devil; religious fanatics have also said that HHH is the "letter of the Devil."[citation needed]

 

Authorities disagree about the history of the letter's name. The Oxford English Dictionary says the original name of the letter was [ˈaha]; this became [ˈaka] in Latin, passed into English via Old French [ˈatʃ], and by Middle English was pronounced [ˈaːtʃ]. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language derives it from French hache from Latin haca or hic.

 

 

Here's some more Irish-English I thought of since last night:

 

Banjaxed/Knackered=Broken or tired - "Me car's banjaxed from all the potholes" "I'm knackered after all the drinking last night"

Cod=A Joke - "Your man is some cod, so he is."

Footpath=Pavement/Sidewalk

Hot Press=Airing Cupboard

Strand=Beach

Yoke=Used as a placeholder in the same way thing is - "Grab that yoke there, will ya.". It's also slang for ecstasy pills - "Any yokes, lad?"

Jacks/Bog=Toilet

Blagard/Blaggarding=A messer/messing.

 

We also use a few brand names to refer to general objects. Most off-road 4x4s are called jeeps, even if they're not actual Jeeps. Hoover is commonly used to refer to vacuum cleaners and tayto (The biggest Irish brand of crisps) is often used to describe any crisps/potato chips.

 

I think we have some great swearwords too. Here are a few examples:

 

Feck=The equivalent of Fuck but both are used commonly. Feck tends to be used in a more mild manner. For example, if I made a mistake playing TF2 and died because of it, I'd say "Feck it!" but if my PC got infected with a virus I couldn't remove, I'd say "Fuck it!". Feck is treated so mildly relative to fuck that many parents will have no problem with their teenage child using the word but would scold them for using 'Fuck'.

Gobshite=Like Eejit and Amadán, it means fool. We have a lot of gobshites, eejits and amadáns in Ireland.

Shite=Shit

Gombeen=Corrupt, dubious person "Bertie Ahern is a Gombeen".

 

I'll end by adding some more terms for drunk:

Fluthered (Flu-Turd)

Locked

Paralytic

Plastered

Scuttered

 

I thought of one more thing that might be of use to any single people looking to hook up in Ireland. As a youngster, this was probably the most embarrasingly confusing to learn. If you want to french kiss (or as they'd say in the UK: A snog) someone you might say you want to shift them. More common to say nowadays however would be to meet them. So someone might ask if ya shifted anyone when you were out drinking or more confusingly ask if you met anyone. Replying with something like "Yeah, I met my friend Jim last night" as a pronounced straight man will more than likely lead to some funny looks.

Edited February 9, 2011 by MasterDex

[Battra92]

Wow, here a cod is a fish or Cape Cod.

[Hot Heart]

A cod is the same here. Doesn't stop words having different meanings.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Hot Heart

[MasterDex]

Wow, here a cod is a fish or Cape Cod.

 

Yeah, it's still a fish here too. Best fish there is! Shame most of the 'Cod' you buy in the store now is only like 20% Atlantic Cod and 80% Whiting/Haddock. It's going extinct from overfishing.

 

...Too tasty to stop fishing it though.

 

 

And a yoke is still the yellow bit of an egg. Doesn't stop words having different meanings.

 

Indeed, yoke is still yoke. Can be confusing if all the meanings are used together. "Last night, I was eating an egg and was about to drop a yoke when the yoke dropped into the yoke. The yoke ended up covered in yoke but luckily I had a yoke handy that I could use for cleaning the yoke off the yoke."

 

Hot_Heart is a ninja!

Edited February 9, 2011 by MasterDex

[deanb]

Yoke is a wooden structure thing you hang over your shoulders for carrying heavy weight.

A yolk is the yellow of an egg.

 

That's not an English-English thing, that's all you lot spelling it wrong.

 

 

Also I have "FECK: Irish Connection" T-shirt. (as in FCUK). I use Feck n Shite quite a bit too. In fact that'd be mostly on TF2 as well, folks may have heard me use it.

Don't use Gombeen though. Never heard of it actually.

[MasterDex]

A yolk is the yellow of an egg.

That's not an English-English thing, that's all you lot spelling it wrong.

 

Ha! Yeah, you're right. I blame Hot_Heart. He spelled it wrong first!

 

 

Also I have "FECK: Irish Connection" T-shirt. (as in FCUK). I use Feck n Shite quite a bit too. In fact that'd be mostly on TF2 as well, folks may have heard me use it.

Don't use Gombeen though. Never heard of it actually.

 

I'm not surprised you haven't heard gombeen, it's not used much here these days and is drifting into obscurity even here. Gobshite is alive and well though. Oh and did you know FCUK threatened to sue the company that produced those Feck T-shirts?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article393415.ece

Edited February 9, 2011 by MasterDex

[TheMightyEthan]

Asking for a Magnum is going to end up with substantially different results than in the UK.

Yeah, you're gonna get either a large condom or a gun.

 

Also, salmon is the best fish, not cod, and cod is also slang for penis.

[deanb]

That'd be why it's a cod piece.

 

Salmon is also shit loads more expensive than cod. Also not so good when battered.

[Battra92]

Wow, here a cod is a fish or Cape Cod.

 

Yeah, it's still a fish here too. Best fish there is! Shame most of the 'Cod' you buy in the store now is only like 20% Atlantic Cod and 80% Whiting/Haddock. It's going extinct from overfishing.

 

...Too tasty to stop fishing it though.

 

It's also got elevated levels of Hg so it's probably a good idea to not eat it much. Alaskan Pollock or Cusk are both good white fish substitutes for cod.

 

I tried smelt (candlefish) last year. Very weird to eat a whole fish: bones and all.

[deanb]

Hg?

Also we're deviating off course to something maybe worthy of a different thread

[TheMightyEthan]

Hg

I feel like such a nerd, I actually read this as the word "mercury". I didn't even notice that you'd used the atomic symbol until I reread it.

[Sindo]

I did the same thing Ethan.

[Battra92]

Hg

I feel like such a nerd, I actually read this as the word "mercury". I didn't even notice that you'd used the atomic symbol until I reread it.

 

That's because you're awesome. I'm so used to writing silver as Ag, gold as Au, Mercury as Hg etc. I'm such a geek my Kosher Salt at home has a label of NaCl on it.

[Hot Heart]

Hot_Heart is a ninja!

 

A yolk is the yellow of an egg.

 

That's why I edited it. I looked at it afterwards and thought 'No, that isn't right...'

 

Guess I was not ninja enough!

[Mr W Phallus]

Knackers is also slang for testicles (although you don't hear it used that way very often). I'm not sure why though since the knackers yard is where you send animals to be slaughtered if they're unfit for human consumption (hence knackered = tired/spent).

[deanb]

Family Feud = Family Fortunes

 

 

The current version is "All-Stars Family Fortunes" which involves on-screen families or celeb families.

Also not as much funny stuff if you search youtube for Family Fortunes. (but that's mostly do do with the recent revamp, the good stuff will of been in the days of VHS)