17 Divided by a Common Language | The View From Here
When Michael O Brien was guiding Agnes Scott students around Ireland, we would occasionally come upon an English word that one of us didn t understand, or that had multiple meanings depending on context, or that was simply unfamiliar, or that didn t exist in American English or in Irish English. Michael portion cups would give a look of mock despair and exclaim, Divided by a common language!
While Irish English is perfectly understandable most of the time in both vocabulary and accent, such moments do arise. One of the most appealing portion cups characteristics of English is its regional portion cups variations that define not only parts of the world and countries, but regions within countries, states, and even cities. For a long time I ve collected interesting and fun examples of Irish English, and now that I m here for an extended stay, my list is growing rapidly. From time to time, I ll show off my collection here. Warning! If you are easily offended, read no further.
There is one word that I ve learned not to use here in Ireland: portion cups pitcher . Yes, the word meaning that thing you use to pour milk into coffee or water into glasses. The more common word here is jug , and when I say pitcher, I always get confused looks. People hear picture, it seems. When questioned, they know what a pitcher is, but the word is archaic to them: Something from ancient Greece in a museum, someone explained to me. I ve now trained myself to say jug : Can we have a jug of water for the table, please?
Feck off! What s your feckin problem? portion cups For feck s sake! Don t be offended. I haven t sunk to a new vulgar low. Fec k is a very common word here in Ireland. You hear it every day, and you hear it on television. In most (but not all) cases it is considered a family friendly version of the f-word, to use that most euphemistic of all euphemisms. There are debates about its origin, but one argument suggests that it comes from the Irish word feic , which means see. I have to tell you that there are loads of words in Irish that sound a lot like the f-word when pronounced emphatically, including the word for word itself, focal , pronounced to rhyme with buckle . What this means about Ireland, I don t pretend to know. The culture surrounding feck and the f-word is just very different here the words are used more often and more casually than in American culture. Watch any modern Irish made film for further examples, but see especially The Commitments (directed by Alan Parker 1991 from the novel by Roddy Doyle). For a great discussion of the word, see Sentence First : An Irishman s blog about the English language. For a definitive display of how the word feck is used in context, see any episode of Father portion cups Ted featuring Father Jack Hackett, but especially the famous Feck off cup! scene.
The other day I was stumped by a word while having coffee with the ladies from my local gym s exercise class. Quite a few of them are committed play goers, and we got to talking about a fabulous play I had also seen called Ballyturk by Enda Walsh (starring Stephen Rea and Cillian Murphy Yes! Both of them live on stage!). We all loved it, but one of the ladies said You know it was slated in London. After some thought, I realized that slated must be the equivalent of panned, and sure enough, when I looked it up I found it is British English for criticize severely.”
A very common phrase here is Fair play to him ; you say it when you want to acknowledge that someone you would normally criticize or dismiss did at least one thing right. For example, you might say Napoleon may have been a dictator, but fair play to him, he set up a modern system of education in France. portion cups Or Nicholas Sparks is rather a hack, but fair play to him, he has written a lot of books that have been made into movies. In other words, he s laughing portion cups all the way to the bank ; I m not sure if that expression works here, but it s obvious enough to cross cultures.
Ar mhaith leat uachtar ar on gcíste? Ba mhaith! Ar mhaith leat uachtar ar on gcíste? (Do you want cream on the cake?) Ba mhaith! (I would!) An bhfuil portion cups aon rud eile uait? (Do you want anything else?) Tá aon rud eile uaim. (I want something else.) An mbeidh deoch agat? (Will you have a drink?) Ní bheidh. (I will not.)
This pattern influences the way the Irish speak English. And both Ron and I have picked it up without trying. Is she going swimming today? She is. She is not. Will you have a cup of tea? I will. I will not, but thank you. Can you give me some help? I can. Do you think I ll do this same thing when I m back in the USA? I do!
Whether sitting at a restaurant table or walking up to a shop counter to buy a newspaper, portion cups you are likely to be asked Are you all right? or Are ye all right, there? Either way, this means Can I help you? But I sometimes forget and answer Oh I m fine, and you? eliciting a puzzled expression from the waitress o
When Michael O Brien was guiding Agnes Scott students around Ireland, we would occasionally come upon an English word that one of us didn t understand, or that had multiple meanings depending on context, or that was simply unfamiliar, or that didn t exist in American English or in Irish English. Michael portion cups would give a look of mock despair and exclaim, Divided by a common language!
While Irish English is perfectly understandable most of the time in both vocabulary and accent, such moments do arise. One of the most appealing portion cups characteristics of English is its regional portion cups variations that define not only parts of the world and countries, but regions within countries, states, and even cities. For a long time I ve collected interesting and fun examples of Irish English, and now that I m here for an extended stay, my list is growing rapidly. From time to time, I ll show off my collection here. Warning! If you are easily offended, read no further.
There is one word that I ve learned not to use here in Ireland: portion cups pitcher . Yes, the word meaning that thing you use to pour milk into coffee or water into glasses. The more common word here is jug , and when I say pitcher, I always get confused looks. People hear picture, it seems. When questioned, they know what a pitcher is, but the word is archaic to them: Something from ancient Greece in a museum, someone explained to me. I ve now trained myself to say jug : Can we have a jug of water for the table, please?
Feck off! What s your feckin problem? portion cups For feck s sake! Don t be offended. I haven t sunk to a new vulgar low. Fec k is a very common word here in Ireland. You hear it every day, and you hear it on television. In most (but not all) cases it is considered a family friendly version of the f-word, to use that most euphemistic of all euphemisms. There are debates about its origin, but one argument suggests that it comes from the Irish word feic , which means see. I have to tell you that there are loads of words in Irish that sound a lot like the f-word when pronounced emphatically, including the word for word itself, focal , pronounced to rhyme with buckle . What this means about Ireland, I don t pretend to know. The culture surrounding feck and the f-word is just very different here the words are used more often and more casually than in American culture. Watch any modern Irish made film for further examples, but see especially The Commitments (directed by Alan Parker 1991 from the novel by Roddy Doyle). For a great discussion of the word, see Sentence First : An Irishman s blog about the English language. For a definitive display of how the word feck is used in context, see any episode of Father portion cups Ted featuring Father Jack Hackett, but especially the famous Feck off cup! scene.
The other day I was stumped by a word while having coffee with the ladies from my local gym s exercise class. Quite a few of them are committed play goers, and we got to talking about a fabulous play I had also seen called Ballyturk by Enda Walsh (starring Stephen Rea and Cillian Murphy Yes! Both of them live on stage!). We all loved it, but one of the ladies said You know it was slated in London. After some thought, I realized that slated must be the equivalent of panned, and sure enough, when I looked it up I found it is British English for criticize severely.”
A very common phrase here is Fair play to him ; you say it when you want to acknowledge that someone you would normally criticize or dismiss did at least one thing right. For example, you might say Napoleon may have been a dictator, but fair play to him, he set up a modern system of education in France. portion cups Or Nicholas Sparks is rather a hack, but fair play to him, he has written a lot of books that have been made into movies. In other words, he s laughing portion cups all the way to the bank ; I m not sure if that expression works here, but it s obvious enough to cross cultures.
Ar mhaith leat uachtar ar on gcíste? Ba mhaith! Ar mhaith leat uachtar ar on gcíste? (Do you want cream on the cake?) Ba mhaith! (I would!) An bhfuil portion cups aon rud eile uait? (Do you want anything else?) Tá aon rud eile uaim. (I want something else.) An mbeidh deoch agat? (Will you have a drink?) Ní bheidh. (I will not.)
This pattern influences the way the Irish speak English. And both Ron and I have picked it up without trying. Is she going swimming today? She is. She is not. Will you have a cup of tea? I will. I will not, but thank you. Can you give me some help? I can. Do you think I ll do this same thing when I m back in the USA? I do!
Whether sitting at a restaurant table or walking up to a shop counter to buy a newspaper, portion cups you are likely to be asked Are you all right? or Are ye all right, there? Either way, this means Can I help you? But I sometimes forget and answer Oh I m fine, and you? eliciting a puzzled expression from the waitress o
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