Traveling seeker in British Isles

April 18, 2006

There is such a different way of speaking in Ireland.  Yes it’s the accent, but it is so much more, it’s some of the words. I started just making a list of the words as they came up- but it was quite boring when I had it all typed. I wanted to give you a bit of the story on some of them.  So let’s see if I can pull this off.
 
Before I arrived in Ireland, I talked on the phone with Noeline (who is mentioned in earlier blogs).  I told her that I would work my fanny off. She said that I better not say that in Ireland, for it means VAGINA. So unless I MEAN to work my vagina off, I should avoid the term!
  
I find that the references to the male penis are pretty much worldwide. The usual are used and I don’t think that I will mention them here, even though Anthony was more then willing to give me EACH and EVERYONE of them – it really is an AMAZING list to describe or reference one LITTLE THING! (Sorry Anthony!)
  
Of COURSE, Guinness is the national drink in these parts, but there are a few other types of alcohol references that I have come across.  A Bud Shandy.  This is a glass of ½ Lemonade and ½ Budweiser beer!  It’s of course lower alcohol and it is said to be quite refreshing! Dermot and Geralyn are avid Salsa Dancer’s.  They go twice a week and Dermot drinks this when he dances. (Sounds yucky!). 
  
One day in the shop Mary was talking to a customer and she asked him how he spent his weekend- was he working (he apparently runs a local pub)?  He said No, he stayed home and had a “Bottle of Plunk” and relaxed!  It means a cheap bottle of wine.
  
Food – on this is where the strangest names are.  Being American (and an overweight one at that) I have always loved my bacon.  But in Ireland they call what we eat “Streaky Bacon” it is the cheapest meat because it is laden with all the fat! (My mouth is watering!) And no one eats it!  What they serve instead is Rashers – which is NOTHING like bacon.  It is more like ham – no fat, but a thin ham piece that is served in EVERY restaurant and can be served for EVERY meal.  (I’m not much of a ham lover, so I could pass on this)  Give me Streaky bacon ANYDAY! (I’ve yet to get any!)
  
Like I mentioned in an earlier blog – NO CORN BEEF, as we know it.  The only thing they have that is close is a piece of spiced beef that is served as a tradition on the Christmas table- but is so disliked, no one eats it (like Fruit cake in our country) – BUT they serve it because: IT’S TRADITION! (And it is ONLY available in the Christmas season!) First thing I eat on my return is a Huge Corn Beef Sandwich!
  
What is the hors d’oeuvre that you eat at the beginning of meals?  It come in a class dish (usually) and has them hanging off the side and there is a piece of lettuce in the glass and a red sauce is in the center for dipping? 
 
PRAWNS!  – You thought I meant SHRIMP!  Yes they are one in the same. When I was in Dublin and even in Westport, they have the menu’s hanging in the windows so you can see the prices and the offerings.  I would see Prawns on the menu in assorted dishes – I had no idea what the hell it was!  It didn’t sound very appetizing.  Finally I was in the grocery store in Westport and was looking of something easy to eat while living in the Hostel and low and behold I find shrimp cocktail!  But it doesn’t SAY Shrimp –its Prawns in sauce and it is EXPENSIVE!  We are right on the water in Westport and the seafood is still expensive! (And STILL haven’t had any!)

 
One day my cousin Sean’s son was over for the day.  He is about 3 years old and his name is Stephen.  He’s a cute little boy and I was playing with him, I was really missing my two nieces (Raeley 5, Tessa 3).  But as with my nieces he was starting to wear me down with his wanting more and more sweets.  I finally said that he couldn’t have anymore, that he had to eat dinner soon.  He turned on his heal and walked out of the room.  I didn’t realize that he was upset and he went down the hall to the room his dad was in, where he was installing a Pergo floor. 
 
 Grandmother (Teresa) was in there checking out the work and Steven puts his hands on his hips and says, “that Lady is Bold!”  THAT Lady is ME and I’m Bold, which means that I’m rude or mean!  Boy, he got my number!
  
When I was in Dublin and I was walking around Temple Bar I was just out side Trinity Collage and there was a newspaper stand in the middle of the sidewalk.  Held up on the side by stretch bands was a paper that announced the headline “STEWARD THACTHER IS CHEEKY!”  I had no idea what that meant? And it was so odd that it would be the huge headline on the front of the paper.  Not until I worked in the newsagents shop did I remember this term when I saw it on the front of a few papers one day.  One had a picture of a woman that had VERY short hot pants (showing my age) on and she ACTUALLY had her butt cheeks hanging out and it said “ASHLEY IS CHEEKY TODAY!”  But on another paper it said that in “Court today Emmett Handover was cheeky to the high court in his testimony” So WHAT THE HELL DID IT MEAN?  I asked Mary, who laughed at my question to the two different headlines and said it USUALLY meant that someone is being a bit of a smart mouth, or smart-ass.  Which could of COURSE be the reference in BOTH of the newspapers!
 
One day my Aunt has said, “Isn’t she a Cheeky American!” – but I’m not sure what she meant, I can’t remember IF I was wearing my hot pants that day or not?
  
I had put an ad in the local newspaper.  It was saying that I was looking for a job living with an older woman or man, I would take care of cleaning, doing errands and such for exchange for room and board.  I got one response from a man.  He was not in need of me to take care of him; he was in his early 60’s. His name was Billy and when I mentioned him and the situation to my family they said that he was not short of a bob.  It meant that he was had money!  Too bad it didn’t work out!  I would LOVE to not be Short of A Bob myself!
  
A word that I have referred to many times before in the blog is the word CRAIC.  It means: good fun, good conversation- it is used all the time!  I have been very confused by the use because they use it for EVERYTHING!  It could be used for saying “Let’s go out and have some Craic tonight”, “What’s the Craic?” which means, what’s the story or gossip?  In American way it’s similar to as the old Budweiser commercial “WHAT’S UP!!”
  
The other thing about the word CRAIC is the spelling- depending on who you talk to, you get a different spelling!  It’s annoying – all these people use the word all the time and they can’t seem to agree on how to spell it. That’s why I have spelled it so many different ways in my blog!
  
This word I really thought was a joke! I heard it on TV and said – there is NO WAY that is a word and not a week later I heard two different people use it in conversation! The word is Gobsmacked meaning shocked or surprised!  And I was SHOCKED it was a word!
  On night Anthony came home and was telling us one of his funny “little” stories and he was going on and on and taking it a bit over the top.  We saw that he was pulling our leg and his sweet mother said, “Anthony, you are a Gobshite!” which means he is talking bullshit!
  
 
Well, this is my list of some of the words that I have learned, FYI!



Kym