Top ten words the Irish use that never fail to confuse Americans

[Rashers]

From an Irish American website:

Can you make sense of the Irish lingo or are you as confused as everyone else?

“You’re a gas man standing there in your runners, not a bother on ye!” If you understand this sentence then you’re well on your way to understanding how the Irish use the English language and make a version of it entirely their own.

We were inspired by an article featured in TheJournal.ie recently to put together a list of words that are uniquely Irish. Mores the point, words that the writer (relatively new Irish immigrant in New York) uses regularly and never fails to stump people in New York.

Here’s my pick of the top ten random Irish/English words:

1. Runners
This one seems like Irish logic to me. What do you do when you put on your sports shoes?...You run! Therefore your sneakers shall be known as runners.

2. Hotpress
Again this seems totally logical to the Irish mind. The hotpress is the airing cupboard where you might store sheets and towel, next to the boiler. So therefore it is a press (cupboard) which is hot.

3. Gum boil/Mouth ulcer
Now, here’s where the office staff start to wince. The American name for this painful little spot on your tongue or gums is a canker sore. We’ve all decided that that sounds far worse that a gum boil so we’re going to stick with the Irish terminology on this one.

4. Yoke
To use this in a sentence it would be “Do you know the yoke you use to make coffee." See, it’s simple. The Irish appear to be noun deficient and have many words that can be used to replace nouns. For example “Where did I put that thingamabob."

5. Jumper
No, this is not someone who has hurled themselves off a building. It’s simply a sweater, not to be confused by a jumpsuit. Made famous by the Irish song “Where’s my Jumper” by The Sultans of Ping FC.

6. Chipper
Mostly frequented after a night of gargle (alcohol), a chipper is a take-away that sells chips (French fries), fish, battered sausages and other fried foods.

7. Footpath
Americans call it a sidewalk, but in Ireland it’s called a footpath. This is quite simply a path for your feet.

8. Boot
Not the variety of shoes that go on our feet. A boot is the trunk of your car. The place where your spare tire, groceries and other bulky items go. A common command as an Irish child was to “pop the boot."

9. Ride
In Ireland, a ride usually refers to an attractive person, male or female. It is not when your friend offers you a lift to the shop.

10. Stuffed
Perhaps referring to taxidermy, when an Irish person says they are ‘stuffed’ it means they have had their fill of food.

(Can you add to the list above?)

Read more interesting writings: HERE

[jeangenie]

I was looking at that myself the other night. If you think about it we do speak a different language sometimes.
Here's one. " There's a bang of that bloke at the bar" = That fella smells.

[quinner]

I was looking at that myself the other night. If you think about it we do speak a different language sometimes.
Here's one. " There's a bang of that bloke at the bar" = That fella smells.

and i thought they were paying me a compliment......shoite...

[tolka1]

From an Irish American website:

Can you make sense of the Irish lingo or are you as confused as everyone else?

“You’re a gas man standing there in your runners, not a bother on ye!” If you understand this sentence then you’re well on your way to understanding how the Irish use the English language and make a version of it entirely their own.

We were inspired by an article featured in TheJournal.ie recently to put together a list of words that are uniquely Irish. Mores the point, words that the writer (relatively new Irish immigrant in New York) uses regularly and never fails to stump people in New York.

Here’s my pick of the top ten random Irish/English words:

1. Runners
This one seems like Irish logic to me. What do you do when you put on your sports shoes?...You run! Therefore your sneakers shall be known as runners.

2. Hotpress
Again this seems totally logical to the Irish mind. The hotpress is the airing cupboard where you might store sheets and towel, next to the boiler. So therefore it is a press (cupboard) which is hot.

3. Gum boil/Mouth ulcer
Now, here’s where the office staff start to wince. The American name for this painful little spot on your tongue or gums is a canker sore. We’ve all decided that that sounds far worse that a gum boil so we’re going to stick with the Irish terminology on this one.

4. Yoke
To use this in a sentence it would be “Do you know the yoke you use to make coffee." See, it’s simple. The Irish appear to be noun deficient and have many words that can be used to replace nouns. For example “Where did I put that thingamabob."

5. Jumper
No, this is not someone who has hurled themselves off a building. It’s simply a sweater, not to be confused by a jumpsuit. Made famous by the Irish song “Where’s my Jumper” by The Sultans of Ping FC.

6. Chipper
Mostly frequented after a night of gargle (alcohol), a chipper is a take-away that sells chips (French fries), fish, battered sausages and other fried foods.

7. Footpath
Americans call it a sidewalk, but in Ireland it’s called a footpath. This is quite simply a path for your feet.

8. Boot
Not the variety of shoes that go on our feet. A boot is the trunk of your car. The place where your spare tire, groceries and other bulky items go. A common command as an Irish child was to “pop the boot."

9. Ride
In Ireland, a ride usually refers to an attractive person, male or female. It is not when your friend offers you a lift to the shop.

10. Stuffed
Perhaps referring to taxidermy, when an Irish person says they are ‘stuffed’ it means they have had their fill of food.

(Can you add to the list above?)

Read more interesting writings: HERE

Agree with most rasher but i think you got #9 sorta mixed up?Didnt mean that to anyone i knew lol.
Heres one...........Me fella wouldnt go to work without his "piece"?............sandwich in belfast but totally different over here.

[jeangenie]

we say Tap they say Faucet

[jeangenie]

What would an american think if you told them you where going to go to the pub and get locked or stocious or end up in a jocker at the end of the night

[Curious Girl]

Between going to college & working for the same college here in US, I have heard quite a bit of this. Some of the Queen's English formal spelling is what the norm is around universities in the US.

The thing is, there's just words from Ireland/UK area of the world that we maybe we have heard them, and they just do not get picked up here at all. Or, we have heard them, they have no bad meaning here, and the words are not used. I notice among university international students or employees from UK or Oz, etc, they must have dropped a list of words for US words because they never use them, although whatever accent they have just is.

I'm not sure, but the slang word "bloody" just might the the least likely word in US English. We've all heard it on TV, and beyond that.....never happens here.

Or, there's words like "trainers" & "track suits" that we used to use....in the mid 70's, and they were long since dropped. A divergence of the English.

I would guess that given enough time and some blank stares, I probably have a list of words that I would drop given spending enough time over there.

Thing is, English also varies considerable from one area of the US to the other, and at times when traveling, say, to the SE even I end up giving some very blank looks to what was said. My ex-brother-in-law had such an accent....and I've given him many deer-caught-in-headlights wtf looks like what did you just say.

[maire]

the gotchee. whinging.roaring.a chancer.nancy boy. come all ya.mary hick. moryah. codding.

[jeangenie]

A gobshite---- Asshole

[Mykidsmom]

I think over the years my english has changed..but i still remember two incidents when i arrived in toronto....

picking someone up at the go-station (train)...there were several entrances and i almost crashed into a wall when i noticed the name on one "kiss & ride"
it was the fast drop off point...you kiss your passenger and drop them off and drive off........Darn it..and i thought the canadians were doing it in public.

and the word "fanny" i almost slipped down 12 icy steps heading into the dr and this one coming down goes........jesus be careful you dont fall on your fanny! i couldnt imagine a stranger saying that to me...jes.....she meant my bum..

[maire]

Forgot the fanny Helen,lol, the yanks are aghast when asked for a fag !

[Mykidsmom]

we were looking to buy a new house marie and were scouring thro advertizements when we had some visitors from ireland and they loved coming to the open houses with us.....you know nosey irish people lol...anyways all was fine till their 12 year old son asks the realestate agent "wheres the FAG in the basement i didnt see him..and why do all canadian houses have a FAG in their basement?"

almost dropped my drawers lol.. The basement fag is....Forced Air Gas unit. bloomin kid

[jeangenie]

I think over the years my english has changed..but i still remember two incidents when i arrived in toronto....

picking someone up at the go-station (train)...there were several entrances and i almost crashed into a wall when i noticed the name on one "kiss & ride"
it was the fast drop off point...you kiss your passenger and drop them off and drive off........Darn it..and i thought the canadians were doing it in public.

and the word "fanny" i almost slipped down 12 icy steps heading into the dr and this one coming down goes........jesus be careful you dont fall on your fanny! i couldnt imagine a stranger saying that to me...jes.....she meant my bum..

when I was in secondary school we had a teacher who was Canadian. We where always taking the piss with him as he was highly strung. One day a fella was acting the goat and this teacher let a roar down the class that if he didn't stop he would give him such a kick in the fanny. Well the class of fourteen year olds went into hysterical laughter as it meant something completly different to them.

[Mykidsmom]

lol....i can imagine, thats how i felt when i slipped down the steps.....it also is used like the teacher said to me one day reminding me of stuff my daughter needed for a school trip.."make sure she has her fanny pack with her." the fanny pack is one of those round the waist wallets on a belt lol...bloomin canadians

[jeangenie]

lol....i can imagine, thats how i felt when i slipped down the steps.....it also is used like the teacher said to me one day reminding me of stuff my daughter needed for a school trip.."make sure she has her fanny pack with her." the fanny pack is one of those round the waist wallets on a belt lol...bloomin canadians

A money belt in any other language