American Reacts to Irish Slang and Phrases for the FIRST Time!
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- čas přidán 23. 09. 2023
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In this video I react to Irish slang and phrases. I'm actually shocked how few of these I knew. Supposedly, these are some of the more popular slang words, phrases and sayings in Irish culture. So many of these were hilarious and I plan on using some of these when I'm in Ireland.
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👉 Original Video:
• Irish Slang and Phrases
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/ @reactingtomyroots
"I will, yeah" is not really explained correctly here. What a lot of people need to know and those who are not used to "Irish" English is that a lot of the time it depends on how the phrase or word, sentence is delivered. We Irish love the use of sarcasm, so phrases like "I will, yeah" can mean "No I won't" if it's delivered in a sarcastic way, so if it's used amid an argument or a situation where the person delivering it has no intention of being helpful to the person asking the yeah, your not gonna get what you ask for. But if it's used during a normal conversation with someone then you will of course be helped. In Ireland paying attention to how the words are being delivered, pitch and tone etc are or can be in some cases more important that the words themselves 😉👍🏻🇮🇪
Comes from, 'I will in my arse'. And she uses the wrong voice inflections
Came to comments to say exactly this!
Now you need to go and bingewatch all episodes of 'Father Ted'.
I'd love to see his reaction to Fr Ted especially the Fuppin eejit one hahaha
"I will, yeah" has to be said with a tone of sarcasm of derision though. If it has an upbeat tone to it is usually an affirmation of the request.
Yeah... so... usually, there is a tut before starting the phrase, and then you throw your eyes up up tut 🙄... I will, ya!
Grammar and the length of the "yeah" is the defining factor. When it's said "I will yeah" it's more likely affirming but when it's said "I will, yeaahh" it's more likely sarcasm.
Slagging - "basically a form of good natured abuse!!"🤣🤣🤣🤣 I've never heard a better description in my life. A good slagging can easily get spicy too!!
The Garda Síochána (Irish pronunciation meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (Guardians) (I'v heard it pronounced Gard-dee or Gard-da I think it depends on the region); or more commonly just "the Guards".
Garda (gard-da) is singular while garda (gard-dee) is plural, but you can use garda as the collective too,
Gardai is the plural of Garda
The shades
Thank you, was trying to think of a way to describe this, but failed.
Not just "pronounciation" but it is actual Irish language word for police
im irish and yes eejit is the best irish word!
Sure is. Flecking Eejit 😂
Slagging : "basically a form of good natured abuse!!"🤣🤣🤣🤣 I've never heard a better description before in my life. A good slagging can easily get spicy too!!
100% would hear all these on a regular basis, daily, during most conversations for the majority. The "I would, yeah" would normally be said in a slightly more sarcastic tone than the way she said it, with a slight roll of the eyes.
I never hear these phrases and im from the northside of Dublin.
@@traceymarshall5886what? The vast majority of these phrases are used by Dubliners in conversations. "I will, yeah" is like, used in nearly every other sentence.
@@thomasashe9685 i only use "ok". I never reply "I will, yeah". I am from Dublin and i dont use these phrases - nor do my family or friends. It is a generalisation
Irish living in Arizona. When i moved here first i got pulled over by a cop for speeding, when i called him Guard he was NOT impressed!
Ouch! 😂
The crack was 90... comes from the summer of 1990 in Germany when we beat the Englisg in the European football finals. Up Ray Houghton
You were right about in bits. You can be in bits laughing too.
I'm in the Midlands England
We are heavily influenced by Irish sayings
I use most of these sayings
Love Ireland it's people culture and the food is some of the best in Europe
Same here in North West England 😊.
Same, don’t know how much is Irish influence and how much is just shared all over the British Isles.
You mean the West Midlands! Not here in the East Midlands.
Same, we also say "Cop off", "Did you cop off last night?" Meaning: Did you meet a nice girl/boy? Nothing we say makes sense lol😂
I'm from Wales or as Steve says WELLS 80% of these words are common here too
Slagging meaning going out for a one night stand literally made me roar with laughter.
I think Steve was thinking of ‘going pulling’ or ‘out on the pull’, because I’ve heard him talk about that in previous videos.
Or maybe "shagging" and not slagging@@suzielees5227
I did too! 🤣
He probably heard the meaning of what a slag is and worked from there
Bleedin is the Irish version of the British word bloody and used the same way, for example bleedin eejit is the same as bloody idiot. We use most of these in Northern Ireland, we have a few of our own too, for example a serious eejit we say Buck Eejit
Bleedin is more of a dublin thing,its one of those things that really sounds strange in any other accent.
Another phrase I heard a lot when I lived in Dublin was the scratcher. That meant bed. It was from a time when most beds in poor areas had bed bugs so when you went to bed you would be scratching. So if you say I'm heading to the scratcher it means I'm going to bed
``Stop the lights`` is a saying that came about from an Irish tv quiz show back in the late 70`s called ``QUICKSILVER presented by Bunny Carr. When a contestant was asked a question and they didn`t know the answer to save time they would shout ``Stop the lights``, and so the clock would stop. Ever since that show that saying has become very popular.
They are two videos on yt .Its hilarious
Never heared of the term , stop the lights , the more you know thanks for the clarification❤
That needed to explained more, and it also more a generation thing
Oh my Gaud, I laughed my ass off at your "perfect" pronunciation and accent saying "feckin eejit", you made my day. You got a great grip of the slang, as some of your responses were actually closer to the slang words than hers. One of the last slang words "I will, yeah" is not used as much in my part of the country, we would say "Ya, right!" meaning "you must be joking" or "you can not be serious". Example, will you come to the moon on a trip? "I will, yeah" or "ya, right!" means there's absolutely no way on earth that you would even think of doing such a thing, hence "Ya, right!" (are you out of your mind"?)
Also when talking to someone. " Your like " ya know what I mean as if they know what your talking about 🤣🤣🤣🤣" good luck. Now craic , that means ( ,crack cocaine now adays lol ,,). You get it too !!! Enjoy more slang ❤❤❤ E 🇮🇪🇮🇪
The Irish police are called Garda Síochána / the Gardaí but often just referred to as the Guards
re "the craic was 90" look up the song associated with it: The Craic Was Ninety In The Isle Of Man by The Dubliners
Feck is shortened version of an feic or to 'see'.
It's not the F word. It means to use your eyes. It is an inward insult for one to use one's eyes and not be so blind to things.
'Most' of these would be used, or at least understood in the UK. In fact quite a few of these originate in Scotland and England and vice versa.
As one person here said the phrase "I will yeah" in Ireland can mean two different things depending on how it is stressed and said in a conversation. If the conversation is of a sarcastic nature when people are not being polite with one another, it means, " never I won't be doing that. But if the conversation is between neighbours or friends, it means " yes definitely I will do that for you, it's all in the tone, it's all in the tone. That's why it could sound confusing to people outside Ireland.
Maybe I should stress more correctly the phrase "I will yeah' in a conversation where the conversation is definitely not very polite, it is a way of saying, as I said, no never, in your dreams. Because you are not going to do something good for a person being nasty to you. But as I said if it's friends and neighbors, it means as you said yourself, yes definitely I will do that for you. As I said a bit confusing to people outside Ireland.
Stop the lights comes from an irish tv show that ran from 1965 to 1981.Basically it was held in a different town every week,the contestants were drawn out of the audience at random.There was a series of lights and when a contestant got a question wrong some of the lights would go out however the contestant had two chances to pass on a question and say stop the lights.There is videos of it on yt ,as i was fearly young at the time my memories of it are fuzzy so i had to look it up.
Bunny Car !!
Yes waving to strangers is definitely an important part of rural life in Ireland. Another important thing to know is if you're driving in Ireland, especially rural Ireland, if someone flashes their lights it's to warn you of cops up ahead on the road or an obstruction, (rtc) collision, cattle or sheep up a head on the road. Though sometimes someone might flash the lights and wave if they know you just to say hello, they may even beep the horn. But they may also beep the horn loud and flash the lights if they feel you've made an error whilst driving. 😂
A guard or more correctly called garda is a police officer in Ireland🇮🇪. Officially they are "gardai siochana" which is the gaelic for "protectors of the peace ". Our gardai (plural) are unarmed. Best wishes to all in America 🇺🇸
'Bout you wee lad. Any craic?'
'I'll knock your bollox ya dozy eejit'
Hearing you say "Feckin' eejit" was a beaut 😂You have to listen to a song called "Cig in the Breeze" by The Scratch (A fantastic Irish band) and just listen out for the part from about 2:45 in the song, fully encapsulates the feeling of being called a "Fuckin' eejit".
“Stop the lights” first heard on an old quiz show on Irish tv. Contestant asked host to “stop the lights” to allow him/her answer question ….to maximise cash opportunity available!
Most of these words are used here too in the UK
Quite a few of these you will hear in England
half of these is NORTHERN ENGLAND everyday useage for me
Yes and said in her Irish accent doesn't make them Irish phrases
Common in the English speaking world.
My dad used to say “he’s a dirty lookin’ eejit”. By the way my father was a policeman so he was a member of An Garda Síochána (which means guardians of the peace in the Irish language) which is abbreviated to the Guards.
This video made me laugh 😂 I think 'sham' should have an honorable mention 🇮🇪👌
Buck eejit is how I like to use eejit, and I'd use thick as 'thick as two short planks' typically
Sound is used that way pretty much everywhere that speaks English. UK and Australia would both say "hes really sound".
Sound as a pound.
Presumably it's a pretty old as it's a nautical term in English?
Sound as a pound in a penny jar.
Slagging😂😂 i think you were thinking of the word...shagging
You also get thick as a double ditch (hedge) or thick as 2 short planks.
Or thick as two planks
The police in Ireland are called An Garda Síochána (Guardians of the Peace) and are addressed as garda (singular) or gardaí (plural).
I will, yeah needs to be said in a sarcastic tone and almost a look to go with it. Its generally used for when someone is asking for something so ridiculous or out of the question that sarcasm is needed.
These are either used in Scotland or there's an alternative that means the same thing.
You called them garda for police 🚨 love this content ❤❤ 😂😂😂 e 🇮🇪🇮🇪🤣🤣
We say stop the lights when something is funny. Like state of your man over there. Ah stop the lights will ya state of your wan. 😄
That was bleedin brilliant! Broke my shites laughing at your reaction to 'Feckin eegit' 😃
Alot of these are common all over Britain and Ireland but obviously some things would be exclusively Irish.
"I will, yeah", only means the opposite, if it's said sardonically. With an obvious, unmistakable, facial expression. If someone tells you, they will do something for you, they will usually do it.😊
A but like when I would say yeah sure in a sarcastic tone.
I'm Irish I was over in the states Ohio I've family there and my family's friends kept getting me to repeat stuff I was saying they couldn't get enough of my slang and I found it so odd they didn't get what I was saying 😊
Having some "Cop on" also means having common sense or general understanding of how life works. So that might explain the phrase better. I'd often say, someone didn't "cop" what was just said, which would mean that they didn't understand. Usually if a joke or insult didn't land with a person, you'd say to your friend "he hasn't copped on yet".
Also "Up to 90" comes from before we had our road signs in metric. So 90 is 90mph. So it is used to exaggerate things by hinting they are going really fast and well.
Stop the lights came from a irish tv program with bunny carr in they 70s 😂
All of these were the clean ones 😂.... and no we don't say officer...Garda or aah now gard come on ! I was only messin......
I just realised people on the internet must not know what I'm saying half the time. I didn't realise so many of these words were unknown outside Ireland.
Great reaction. I will, ya
It wasn't mentioned in the video but the phrase "donkeys years" is often shortened to "donkeys".
hey im new i have subbed and liked the video greetings from ireland
Its Garda we use its irish qnd the pural is Gardai(pronunced guard ee thats how we address a cop. If we are stopped for speeding say we say hello garda. I Love yoir reaction to fecking eejit 😂 another one is Amadán (pronunced Am, a, don that also means idiot or fool... used a lot here in ireland.
I reckon wise up would be the American version of cop on. Hope that helps.
I will, yeah. That's really saying no but saving face. They know you won't. You know you won't..but you can pretend to yourself you might😂
Guard is the short version of Garda Síochána (guardians of the peace) Garda (single) Gardai (plural), most towns everyone know the local gardai so we normally greet them by there actual name :)
On "eejit" there are many slang words for this of varying levels of insult... Gobshite, tool, langer, knob... and even more words for drunk... Pissed, off his box, out of his tree, hammered, gatered, smashed, four sheets, paraletic...
I will, yeah - (I am Irish on my Mothers side and Scottish on my fathers side) Friends and family members of mine have used that so many times on Americans and Brits when they visit Dublin (so nasty, but so funny)
I was in Altnegavin? hospital in the '60's and an old lady was in the bed opposite me to me, she heard my English accent, and we got talking, she said with a twinkle in her eye, that in Dublin, when Americans would be coming down the road, the women wold say (for give if wrong spelling) "pog ma hone?" to them, the old lady told me it actually meant "kiss me ****"
In Scotland "cop on" means to get something or figure something out. "I copped on to Joes scheme"
Same in Ireland too. She just didn’t elaborate enough with it.
Bleedin hell i use that often 😅 a lot of these i use and im in south east England 😊.
Some of the phrases we use in N Ireland but we have our own too.
You should listen to The Craic Was 90 In The Isle Of Man sung by The Dubliners - a great tune!
There are alot more like bolixed , banjaxed , fine , gobshite, langer and thick could be used like dont be getting thick with me, which means dont be getting difficult
We call them Garda as in Garda Smith, as in plural we call them the dardai.
Some of those are kinda familiar here in Australia, but we have more than a few Irish folk here
northern Irish slang with Jamie dornan is a good one to check out
morning Steve, I also really doing the same as you checking out my ancestors hence my surname Donovan very Irish name, again instead of moving to America mine came to England, here in Dorset so keep up the good work you are doing my job for me.
A lot of these phrases has already found it way across the Irish sea, we use some them, now if you start using them they has found their way across the pond lol.
Sound is also commonly used in Liverpool (Scousers).
I’m from Northern Ireland and I use all of these slangs
Still Ireland ....Not on another planet. 🙄
The phase "I will yeah" is said more scarcastilcy. Roller your eyes too might get the point across.
You've actually copped on to something with eejit. Some of these terms are Hiberno-English a form of English that was used here in Ireland to get away with saying things in front of the English without getting in trouble for it or to use an indirect way of answering thighs in a round about way. Others are anglicizations of Irish words which the English, for the most part didnt understand or care to understand.
Gardai are the Guards, just Irish police force. Northern Ireland uses the word Police as they are a part of the UK
A lot of these are also used in England
In my area the saying is 'I will, aye'.
Guard is a colloquial way to say police officer in Hiberno-English (the police is the guards); It comes from Garda (officer), An Garda or An Garda Síochána (the police service) and gardaí (plural of Garda/officers). Guard is not disrespectful or too informal to use when talking to a Garda (cop would be disrespectful in Ireland).
Yes one would refer to a member of An Garda as 'Gard' as in... Good evening Guard.
Pubs and Bars are one of the same. Not all pubs/bars serve food. Those that do, a lot of them serve "pub grub"... basic food, like burgers with chips (french fries), chicken goujons/tenders, roast dinners etc...
Interesting vid, your problem now is remember them for when you visit / move over this way.
haha, no promises but I'll do my best!
You should do belfast slang it’s completely different to the rest of Ireland it’s unique to belfast or certain parts of belfast like people can tell if your from say east belfast or west belfast depending were your from
I’ve heard headwrecker everywhere, not wreck-the-head. Idk what part of Ireland that’s common. 🤷🏻♂️
A fair number of these are fairly common across the British Isles.
Ireland is not the British isles
@@traceymarshall5886 Geographically it's part of the British Isles, it's not part of either Britain or the UK but that doesn't make my original statement wrong. A great many of those words are common in all parts of the UK.
Now do you want a nice battered haddock to go with the chip on your shoulder😉
@@vinnyganzano1930 Ireland is not British. Would you like the 1916 rising to explain that any clearer to you?
@@vinnyganzano1930It's a contested term.
Take a walk down history lane not written by msm soon be a nation once again.
Gardai, we say either there's the guards or garda
Half of these are used in England
wonder why
These are common in Wales too.
We call the cops the shades or the pigs. Or the garda shicaloni cos siochana is hard to pronounce.
Story bud!😂
THE GUARDS
check out Shane mcgowans funeral the man was a legend fairytale of new york
It also depends on what county you come from.
It' the irish accent that makes Jesu sound different,same as a few others
After 200 years of the Irish working in England , typically in the building industry that I have been in for 40 years , these are common across UK . All the profanities from A - F sound better with " the brogue " and Ive heard them all especially " cnag " !A few interesting plays . Jesus has dropped the B prefix , it was B'Jesus or even B'Jabbers (which is actually Irish brogue ) as it is blasphemous and really not for good Catholics . "Bleedin" is bleeding and is also blasphemous as it relates to the blood of Christ . In England we used to say " Zounds " which means "Gods Wounds " , the last bit of both God's and wounds . " Kip " is from the phrase ' Whore-a-kipper ' from British soldier slang during the India occupation in the19th C relating to sleeping with prostitutes at a whore house , so it means both sleeping and a dirty place . The bed roll in the British Army remains a " Kip mat " . Yer man has been shortened from " I'm yer man " , not really slang but a common response with the Irish builders who volunteer for any job on site , basically " I'm your man ".
Craic = Crack as in cracking a joke , wise-crack . Sound comes from " Sound as a pound " , rhyming when the pound Sterling was THE international currency . Gas is hippy talk " Its a gas , man " , probably WW2 American.
Slagging is really bad mouthing and was fighting talk , Im amazed our man has heard of " Dogging "😅
A couple of corrections. Craic is an Irish Gaelic word which has several meanings, among them fun. It has nothing at all to do with cracking a joke.
Also gas is not a hippy word although they might have pinched it from us. It was first used as a term to mean fun or entertaining in James Joyce’s The Dubliners in 1914, over 50 years before those hippy people. Maybe they all liked Joyce.
Sound as a pound is a particularly English expression that isn’t where Irish usage comes from. Sound as a description of a person free from injury, or who is decent, dependable or reliable has been in use in the UK going back to the 1200s, and in Ireland from when the British arrived. 😊
@@Punchgirl4 Craic and Crack is pronounced the same , means the same and has the same route . Northern England and Scotland ' gossip , chatter a shortening of the word wisecrack , probably the origin of craic '.
Gas meaning ' wild, crazy , mixed up ' is much older than Joyce I'm afraid as it is derived from the Greek ' chaos ' and first used in the 16th C .
Of course sound means ' whole, well , free from infirmity ' as it is used to describe anything that is wholesome and appears frequently in extant cook books from the medieval and remains the same today , but in modern usage usually associated with slang . 😃 😀 😉
@@georgerobartes2008 I’m not sure it’s worth arguing with a British person who feels the need to Britsplain IRISH slang to an IRISH person based on a video about IRISH slang, but here goes. Several parts of your original post were incorrect but I was trying to be polite by not pointing all of it out. Kip was correct, and bleedin but that’s about it.
1. Craic and crack although sounding the same are not used in the same way. Craic is a Gaelic word, it does not derive from crack. I lived in England for a long time and never once heard someone say “what’s the crack?” or “yer wan is great crack” or “the crack was mighty” it doesn’t make sense and has nothing to do with wise crack, it just means fun or good times.
2. Gas in Irish slang does not mean wild or crazy or mixed up. In Ireland it means fun or entertaining as in “That’s gas” or “He’s a gas man”. Your English version may well be Greek, but the Irish use of gas is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as originating with Joyce.
3. The English may say sound as a pound, but the Irish slang “sound” is basically the very old meaning of a good bloke.
4. Yer man does not come from I’m your man. Your version implies possession of some sort, whereas in Irish slang there is no possession at all, it just means that man, or the man. As in “yer man over there just spilled his drink”, or “tell yer man down the front to move, I can’t see.” The feminine of yer man is yer wan.
I could go on….. England has loads of slang, perhaps check that out. If you visit Ireland you’d soon see how our slang is used. Also brogue means accent, not pronunciation or language. I don’t normally get cross in my replies, but when English people presume that they know more about Ireland than we do, it does tend to get the hackles raised.
@@Punchgirl4 My knowledge of the " brogue " and the Irish people comes from over 60 years spent in an Irish community and working with them in the building trade and fully understand how language sits still with those away from home as much as it develops in one's native land . My best friends are O" Neill's and Fitzpatricks from Cork and the pubs around there are a gas . I have shared many a pop bottle of pochin with your fellow country folk . All I can say is they are a sound bunch , a great crack at a ceilidh , and if you need someone to make a right ' fechin asal ' of himself " I'm yer man " !
@@georgerobartes2008 Well it sounds like you’re enjoying the craic with a good bunch of lads. Maybe you could arrange a trip over here with some of them, to experience Ireland in the flesh, so to speak. I think you’d have a grand time with maybe a pint or two of the black stuff. I’m told it tastes much better here, but I can’t stand the taste so I wouldn’t know. Sláinte
Hiya, yep the Cops are called The Gardai in Ireland, that plural and its a Gaelach (Irish language name.
If you called the guards, if two came, you woukd say….yes two Gardai arrived.
Then with one, you would say The Garda, asked me some questions. It’s complicated as it’s in the Irish Language!,
As far as I am aware, 'feck' meant to steal? Not sure about that but it was the word we used. But then, it also meant extremely, as in, ' fecking stupid'. Nothing to do with the f word, as far as I know.
Yer man yeah I remember 1st time someone said that to me in Dublin. At the time I was dating my now husband..one of our friends was telling me a story, funny enough he's from Poland, but had been in Ireland longer than me. So at some point in his story, talking about another guy he says "yer man.." I was like "hum, that's not my man.." 😂😂😂😂. Garda I believe it's the Gaelic form of police..I'll butcher the full Gaelic word, I apologise in advance : an garda siochana or siachana...sorry if I wrote it wrong
I will yeah......is said in a sarcastic tone and sometimes and smirk!so U do get the sarcasm.
Garda Síochána is the irish words for Garda.
One thing about Irish/Gaelic words. They are almost never pronounced the way they are spelled.