They Talk Funny Here
It’s been tough to blog consistently because I’m with my wife and my two dancing daughters in Dublin, Ireland for the World Irish Dance Championships. But I figured I could at least make a quick note of the vocabulary differences here. In case you travel to Ireland or the U.K. sometime soon, you might want to note that…
an elevator is a lift,
a line of people is a queue,
the bathroom is the toilet or the loo,
the hood of the car is the bonnet and the trunk is the boot,
French fries are chips and chips are crisps (or you can call them potato chips and they’ll understand),
a favorite positive description is brilliant. As in, “You danced brilliantly!”
you are more likely to hear cheers from a waitress or hotel employee than thanks,
a trip or vacation is a holiday,
and pudding is not what we call pudding in the States. It’s a type of sausage. Blood pudding, in fact, is sausage made with, well, cooked blood. And, yes, I’ve had it several times for breakfast. Yum. When my dad asked what it was, the server said, “Oh, you don’t want to know, sir, just try some.”
Also, we’ve yet to hear it, but we understand that fun or good times is referred to as craic (pronounced crack), as in, “we’re going into town for the craic.”
I’m sure there is more I’ve forgotten, but learning the lingo has been part of the craic we’ve been having!
More:
Parking lots are called “car parks.”
When referring to thirty minutes past the hour, the expression is “half eight,” “half nine,” etc.
Take out food is referred to as “take away.”
Policemen here are called “garda.”
Here’s a few more:
9:30 is referred to as “half-nine.”
Gas is only 1.5 euros per liter. But that works out to about $10 a gallon.
Profanity is way more common and socially accepted around here.
They drive on the left side of the road, which I am only starting to get used to.
When they announce the winners of the competitions they do the old “hip-hip…hooray!” cheer.
They use the word “dear” instead of “expensive.” As in, “A taxi ride into town is dear.”