Some examples of Irish Slang and commonly-used Irish language phrases .....
- Acting the Maggot - Fooling and messing around.
- An Lár - (Irish - 'On Larr') - City Centre (An Lar is written on the front of Dublin buses to confuse tourists!)
- Áras an Uachtaráin - (Irish - 'Arr Iss On Ook Tar Awn') - Home of the President i.e. Located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin
- Bad dose - Severe illness
- Bags (To make a bags of something) - a botched job
- Bang on - Correct. Accurate
- Banjaxed - Broken
- Batch Bread - Thick bread, sometimes sliced already
- Biteen - Little bit
- Black Stuff - Guinness
- Bogball - Gaelic Football
- Bogger - A person from the countryside
- Bowsie - A useless good for nothing usually a male
- Boyo - Male juvenile delinquent
- Bazzer -A haircut (Cork)
- Brutal - Terrible or awful
- Bucketing down - Raining
- Bulmers - Legendary Irish cider, called 'Magners' abroad
- Bunk Off - To skip school
- Chancer - Someone who'd try anything i.e. 'chance their arm'
- Chiseler - A child (Dublin slang)
- Ciotóg- A left handed preson (irish- Kithogue)
- Cod/Codding ya - To pull someone's leg
- College - University
- Craic - Fun; gossip i.e. "What's/How's the craic?" means "tell me your news/gossip"
- Crack on -Continue on
- Crocked - Broken
- Croker - Croke Park in Dublin (main GAA stadium)
- Culchie - A person from the countryside (i.e. outside Dublin) from agricultural
- Cute hoor - A sly person, someone who quietly engineers things to his own advantage.
- Dekko- Look at or inspect
- Delira and Excira - 'Delighted and Excited' (Dublin slang)
- Dub - A Dubliner. A 'True Blue Dub' is praise.
- Dubes - Short for Dubarry (A brand of shoe favoured by Rugger Buggers)
- Dublin 4 / D4 - A Dublin postcode, but usually refers to a posh person (even if they're from another Dublin postcode)
- Deadly - Fantastic, Wonderful
- Dense - stupid or thick
- Desperate - terrible (isn't she/he so/just so Desperate) awful (Irish Roscommon etc slang)
- Donkey's years - For a very very long time
- Dosser - Someone who is not working at their job
- Eat the head off - To give out to someone
- Eejit - Complete fool
- Earwiging- Listening in to a private conversation
- Effin' and blindin' - Swearing, cursing
- Eff off - polite swear word
- Fair play! - Well done
- Feck Off - Go away.
- Fella - A guy. Particularly as in 'Me Fella' or 'My boyfriend / husband / partner' (Dublin slang)
- Fierce - Very
- Fine thing - Good looking man or woman
- Floozie - Woman of dubious moral attributes
- Fluthered - Very drunk
- Fool eegit - Idiot (Cork slang)
- Fooster - fiddling about
- Football - Soccer
- GAA - Gaelic Athletics Association (Organisation responsible for Hurling and Gaelic Football). Sometimes referred to as 'Gah' instead of the G.A.A.
- Gaa - same as the GAA pronounced as as a single syllable GAH
- Gaff - Home. 'To have a free gaff' means you're home alone
- Gammy - crooked or funny looking; as in "he has a gammy leg"
- Gander - A quick glance
- Garrison Game - Football / soccer
- Gas - Funny or amusing
- Gawk - To stare rudely
- Gaybo Famous Irish T.V and Radio personality Gay Byrne
- Get Outta That Garden - affectionate phrase generally thrown into a conversation to encourage laughter, example: "ah would ya get outta that garden!"
- Give out - To have a go / chew someone out e.g. I gave out to him
- Glass (A Glass of ) a half pint Beer/Cider/Guinness
- Gobshite - Socially inept person and / or complete fool
- Gouger - aggressive male
- Guff - excuses and lies
- Gurrier - Hooligan
- Hames/Haymes- Complete mess e.g. to make a complete haymes of something
- Hardchaw - Tough Guy
- Harpic - as in "a pint of harpic", reference to Harp, a former brand of lager beer
- Hockeyed - Heavily defeated
- Holy Joe - Self righteous person
- Holy show - Disgrace
- How's she cutting? - 'Hi'
- Howya - 'Hi' or a person from a rough area of Dublin
- Hurl - To play hurling. A hurley stick. To vomit. Or to throw.
- Jackeen - A rural person's name for a Dubliner and it's not nice.
- Jacks - toilet
- Jo Maxi - Taxi. Shortened to simply 'Joer' (pronounced: jo-er)
- Joy (The) - Mountjoy Prison in Dublin
- Kip - a dump. e.g.: "The hotel was a complete kip." Or to have a sleep.
- Knacker Drinking - To drink outside illegaly
- Knackered - Very tired or broken beyond repair
- Langer - A cork name for an unliked person (male)
- Langers- Very drunk
- Lash - To rain. e.g.: "It lashed out of the heavens the whole time." Also verb : 'give it a lash - to make an attempt at something or 'to go on the lash' - to out drinking
- Leg it - To run away quickly
- Locked - Very drunk
- Manky - Filthy dirty or disgusting
- Mi Daza (Cork) Means excellent, brilliant, fantastic. Pronounced (mee-dah-za)
- Mineral- a soft drink
- Mitch - To skip school
- Moran - A fool
- Mortified (or morto, e.g. I was morto!) - Highly embarrassed
- Mot - Girlfriend (Dublin slang). From 'maith', Gaelic for 'good'.
- Murder - Very difficult. e.g.: "Trying to find a taxi was murder." Or else to really want to do something e.g. 'I could murder a pint.'
- Naggin - A small bottle of alcohol, particularly vodka
- Nip (in the) - nude
- Nixer - job done for cash to avoid tax
- Norn Iron - Northern Ireland
- Not the full shilling - not fully sane
-
Now your sucking diesel You have solved or understand a problem
- On the tear - To go out drinking
- Ossified - Very drunk
- Oul Fella - Your Father (Dublin slang)
- Oul Dear / Oul Wan - Your Mother (Dublin slang)
- Oul Doll - Girlfriend (Pronounced: Owl-Doll)
- Paralytic - Very drunk
- Pictures - To go to the movies i.e. I went to the pictures last night
- Plain - Guinness, as in Flann O'Brien's "a pint of plain is your only man", or similar black stout
- Plastered - Very drunk
- Puss (To have a puss on you) - Sulky face
- Rugger Bugger - Person who's posh loud and likes rugby (usually from Dublin)
- Rugger Hugger - Girl who's posh and goes out with rugby players (usually from Dublin). Can also be called a 'Rugger Bugger'.
- Savage - brilliant, great e.g I went to see a savage match yesterday
- Scarlet - To be very embarrassed e.g. 'I was scarlet'
- School - Primary or Secondary School / Elementary, Junior High or Senior High School
- Senior Cup - Major schools rugby trophy played for by schools mainly in Dublin.
- Shattered - Very tired
- Sheila - a pet name for a promiscuous girl.
- Shinner - Someone who supports Sinn Fein
- Shite - something that's bad quality, as in "the car was a pile of shite"
- Shower of savages - Ignorant group of people
- Slag - To make fun of someone in a nice way ,nb to be used as a verb, if not has the same meaning as elsewhere ie 'a common prostitute'.
- Sleeveen - Devious and sly person, usually referring to someone from outside Dublin
- Sliced Pan - Bread bought already cut into thinnish slices
- Sorry- means Sorry, also used instead of excuse me or pardon me. If you want to get to the bar say Sorry !
- Story? (What's the) - 'Hi'
- Suckin' diesel (Now you're) - Now you're talking. Now you're doing well
- Tánaiste - (Irish - 'Tawn Ish Teh') - Deputy Prime Minister
- Taoiseach - (Irish - 'Tee Shock') - Prime Minister
- Tayto - Legendary Irish brand of crisps (US 'chips')
- The Pale - Anywhere inside the Dublin region
- Thick - Extremely stupid
- Throw shapes - To show off, sometimes aggressively
- Touched - Someone who hasn't their full mental capacities i.e. He's touched
- Town - City Centre or even the local town!
- Tricolour - Irish flag
- Trinners - Trinity College Dublin
- Uachtarán na hÉireann - (Irish - 'Ook Tar Awn Na Hair In') - President (Of Ireland)
- Weak as a kitten - Very tired
- Waster - Someone who's completely useless i.e. 'Yer man's an awful waster altogether'
- Work away - Continue what you are doing
- Yoke - An object or thing i.e. 'That's a strange looking yoke, what is it?'
- Young Fella (male) or Young One (female) - Young man or Young woman (Dublin slang)
- Your Man (male) or Your Woman (female) - referring to someone you are talking about (not boy or girl friend/wife etc.)
- Your only man - Something that you can rely on e.g. If you're hungry, a burger's your only man (a burger will alleviate your hunger), see Plain above