Culture: Home to literary greats such as, Yeats, Heaney and Wilde the Irish have a way with language and words that are full of the deadly Irish sense of humour.
If you find yourself celebrating St Patrick’s Day over a pint of the black stuff, this list of Irish sayings may prove useful.
- What’s the craic? Probably the most well used and loved terms throughout Ireland which can cause a lot of potential misunderstandings, because craic is pronounced like “crack”. Craic means fun or enjoyment and the phrase can be substituted for “How are you?”
- We’re sucking diesel now. Refers to something moving forward. Whether it’s a situation or a vehicle, if it’s moving smoothly or at great speed then “you’re suckin’ diesel, boyo”.
- Acting the maggot. Fooling and messing around. As in: “Would you ever stop acting the maggot and peel those spuds, like?”
- Fierce weather: All weather is "fierce." It can be fierce wet, fierce cold, fierce mild, fierce dry, fierce windy, fierce drizzly, fierce warm, fierce frosty, fierce breezy, fierce damp, fierce humid, fierce dead. Fierce everything, basically.
- Grand: Meaning fine or ok. “Do you want a cuppa? Be grand, thanks.” Also a valid response to allay any minor worries which can be dealt with later: “What if we can’t get a taxi home tonight? Be grand.”
- Sláinte: Meaning '’Good Health,’' is an ancient Irish expression that derives from the word slán, meaning safe. For example, when downing a pint of Guinness, you say 'Sláinte'.
