Irish Slang

I wrote before, in the post We're All Speaking English Here, about how we have a difficult time understanding some people and how we find it almost impossible to pronounce some cities, names, and words (all of which have Irish language roots).  Well, these things still are difficult, but we are getting better everyday.

This post is about Irish slang.  In Ireland, there are a lot of similarities to the words, phrases and sayings British use, but some slang is just Irish.

Below are a few of the common Irish slang terms we hear all the time here.

Grand

Pronounced: grand

Used in a sentence: "That's grand", "I'm grand", "He is grand", "It's grand", "They're grand" - you get it - everything is grand over here

Meaning: good

Thoughts: I like it, occasionally someone will say it 5 times in one sentence, which makes me laugh, but I like it.

Your Man

Pronounced: yer man

Used in a sentence: "Did I tell you that your man at the post office was able to get the letters mailed today?", "I asked yer man if there was a cover charge and yer man said it was 5 quid"

Meaning: the/that guy, the/that girl, the/that person

Throughts: It always throws me off, and people say it all the time. I always want to respond, "I don't have a "man" at the post office".  I don't think I'll ever get used to this one, and it certainly wouldn't sound right coming from me.

Craic

Pronounced: crack

Used in a sentence: "That was great craic last night", "What's the craic?"

Meaning: good atmosphere - fun time, good company

Thoughts: so random, kind of fun, we'll certainly enjoy some good craic while we're here.

Spotted this T-shirt at the Mumford & Son's Festival in Galway, he must be a fun guy

Brian and I have been created one of our own too.  When ordering multiple Guinness, we refer to them in the plural tense, Guinni (pronounced "gen - eye").  And can you imagine how many time we order multiple Guinness?  This could be big.