A Dublin Student Doctor (53 page)

So to capture the day-to-day idiom in the book I have here given definitions in this short Irish English/North American English instant translator. I hope they will add to your enjoyment.

a policeman wouldn’t ask you that:
A polite way of saying “Mind your own business.”

acting the lig:
Fooling around.

airing cupboard:
Also known as a hot press. A cupboard with shelves built round and over the hot water cistern. It was a place where clothes and bedclothes could be dried and warmed. On winter days when I was a boy my mother always put my underwear in the airing cupboard so it would be warm to put on in the chill of our pre–central heating home.

all the best people:
Ulster.
Self-deprecatory expression often used when you have done something stupid. “All the best people throw up at cocktail parties.”

amadán:
Irish.
Pronounced “omadawn.” Male idiot. Contrary to popular belief men are not the only idiots in Ireland.
Óinseach,
pronounced “ushick,” is the female equivalent.

anyroad:
Anyway.

at myself, not:
Ulster.
Unwell.

babby:
Baby.

bad bottle:
Ulster.
The putative cause of last night’s inebriation. “I had sixteen pints last night and I’ve got the
horrors
. [
Dublin.
A bad hangover.] I must’ve got a bad bottle.”

banjaxed:
Ulster.
Exhausted or broken.

beat Banagher/Bannagher:
Ulster.
Far exceed realistic expectations or to one’s great surprise.

bee on a hot brick:
Running round distractedly.

bejizzis:
By Jesus. In Ireland, despite the commandment proscribing taking the name of the Lord in vain, mild blasphemy freqently involves doing just that. See also use of
“Jasus; Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”

bevvy:
Alcoholic drink.

black pudding:
Traditional Irish blood sausage.

blether:
To talk excessively about trivia, or an expression of dismay. “What are they doing in the Senate?” “Blethering as usual.” Or: “Your car has a flat tyre.” “Och, blether.” May be accompanied by a genteel stamping of the foot.

bloats:
A disease seen in cattle who have ingested any of a number of foodstuffs which when acted on by the bacteria in the animal’s rumen produce large amounts of gas, causing the animal to swell.

blow out:
End a love affair. “Is Sheilah still seeing Archie?” “Nah. She blew him out.”

blowout:
A big night out. “Yer man put away two whole pizzas and two six-packs. Quite the blowout.”

bog trotter:
Pejorative. Country person (bumpkin implied).

bollix/bollocks:
Testicles (impolite). May be used as an expression of vehement disagreement or to describe a person of whom you disapprove.

bollixed/bolloxed:
Ruined.

bonnet:
Hood (when applied to a car).

boot:
Trunk (when applied to a car).

boozer:
Public house or person who drinks.

both legs the same length:
Standing about uselessly.

bowsey/ie:
Dublin.
Drunkard.

brandy balls:
Hard, boiled, spherical candies.

brass neck:
Chutzpah. Impertinence.

brave:
Ulster.
Large. Or good.

bricking it:
Dublin.
Very nervous or scared.

buck eejit:
Imbecile.

bullock:
Castrated male calf. Steer.

bulls’ eyes:
Hard, boiled, black-and-white candies.

bullshite:
Bullshit.

bumper:
Ulster.
Electric rotatory floor polisher. The code word used to start the PIRA breakout from the Maze Prison in 1983.

bye:
Boy.

capped/cap:
A cap was awarded to athletes selected for important teams. Equivalent to a “letter” at a U.S. university.

casualty:
Department of hospital. Emergency room in USA. Now A&E (accident and emergency) in Ireland and UK.

cat:
Dublin.
Ruined. Useless.

champ:
A dish of potatoes, buttermilk, butter, and chives.

chancer:
Untrustworthy person or one who takes unnecessary risks.

chemist:
Pharmacist.

chipper:
Fish-and-chip shop.

chiseller/chissler:
Dublin.
Child.

chuckin’ it down:
Pouring with rain.

cipher:
Calculate mathematically.

clabber:
Glutinous mess of mud, or mud and cow-clap.

clatter (a brave or a right):
A large quantity.

codding me:
Pulling my leg or deceiving me.

colcannon:
Dish of mashed potatoes with bacon, cabbage, milk and cream, scallions and butter. For recipe see
Country Girl.

confinement:
Delivery of a preganant woman, or incarceration.

constipated greyhound (look like a):
Be depressed and show it on your face.

Continent, the:
Europe.

craic:
Pronounced “crack.” Practically untranslatable, it can mean great conversation and fun (the
craic
was ninety) or “What has happened since I saw you last?” (What’s the
craic
?) Often seen outside pubs in Ireland:
Craic agus ceol
or “fun and music.”

crick:
Painful
s
train.

Dáil Éireann:
Pronounced “Doyle Airann.” Irish House of Commons.

deadner:
Dublin.
A blow to the upper arm muscles, often affectionate, but can be painful.

demob:
Shortened form of demobilize or discharge troops to civilian life.

Denny’s:
Ireland is renowned for her pork butchers. Henry Denny started a bacon-curing plant in Waterford in 1820 and to this day it produces marvellous sausages. Its chief rival is Haffner’s.

desperate:
Ulster.
Immense, or terrible. “He has a desperate thirst.” “That’s desperate, so it is.”

dickie bird:
Rhyming slang. Word.

divil:
Devil.

divil the bit:
None.

domiciliary:
Visit at home by a specialist. GPs made home visits (house calls).

dote (n):
Something adorable. “Her babby’s a wee dote.”

dripping:
Congealed animal fat often spread on bread.

drop of the pure:
A drink—usually
poitín
(see
here
).

drumlin:
Ulster.
From the Irish
dromín
(little ridge). Small rounded hills caused by the last Ice Age. There are so many in County Down that the place has been described as looking like a basket of green eggs.

dudeen:
Short-stemmed clay pipe.

dummy tit:
Baby’s pacifier.

Dun Laoghaire:
Port near Dublin. Pronounced “Dun Leery,” literally, Leary’s Fort.

duncher:
Ulster.
Cloth cap, usually tweed.

fag:
Cigarette, derived from “faggot,” a very thin sausage.

fair play to you:
Dublin.
To be fair or well done.

feck (and variations):
Dublin corruption of “fuck.” For a full discussion of its usage see the introduction to this glossary. It is not so much sprinkled into Dublin conversations as shovelled in wholesale, and its scatalogical shock value is now so debased that it is no more offensive than “like” larded into teenagers’ chat. Now available at reputable bookstores is the Feckin’ Book series—
The Feckin’ Book of Irish Slang, The Feckin’ Book of Irish Sayings,
etc.—by Murphy and O’Dea.

fist of:
Attempt.

fit:
Dublin.
Of a woman. Well built.

flex:
Electrical plug-in cable.

florin:
Silver two-shilling piece about the size of a silver half-dollar. Worth about forty cents today. In 2010, 120 florins, about $25, would be required to purchase the same amount of goods as 1 florin would have in 1930. This must be interpreted in light of today’s wild currency fluctuations.

foundered:
Very cold.

Garda Síochána:
Pronounced “Garda Sheekana,” State Guards. National police force of the Republic of Ireland. Used to be RUC in the north. The Royal Ulster Constabulary is now PSNI, Police Service of Northern Ireland.

gargle:
Dublin.
Alcoholic drink. “The gargle’s dimmed me brain.” Alternate line to “The drink has dimmed my brain” from the song “Dublin in the Rare Old Times” by Pete St. John.

gas:
Dublin.
Fun.

gas man:
Bit of a wit or fun to be with.

gasper:
Cigarette (archaic, no longer used).

gee-gees:
Horses.

gerroff:
Get off, usually directed at over-affectionate animals.

git:
From “begotten.” Bastard, often expressed, “He’s a right hoor’s [whore’s] git.”

Glengarry:
Scottish fore and aft narrow headress usually adorned with a cockade.

go and call the cows home:
Be given the strength to attend easily to any task. Usually added after a big meal.

go spare:
Totally lose control.

go ’way (out of that):
Dublin.
I don’t believe you, or I know you are trying to fool me.

gobshite:
Dublin.
Literally, dried nasal mucus. Used pejoratively about a person.

gong:
Medal.

good skin:
Dublin.
Decent person.

gossoon:
From the Irish
garsún,
boy.

gub:
Mouth. Also, to “dig in” one’s gub is to punch it in.

gulder:
To roar in anguish.

gullier:
Dublin.
The largest marble in a game of marbles.

gumming for:
Dublin.
Desperately hungry.

gurrier:
Dublin.
Street urchin, but often used pejoratively about anyone.

guttees:
Canvas shoes so called because the rubber soles were made of gutta-percha.

half cut:
Quite drunk. (Or someone might be simply “cut,” really drunk.) Paul Dickson in
Dickson’s Word Treasury
(John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1982) cites 2,660 euphemisms for “drunk.” Many have come from the Emerald Isle.

half-un:
Measure of whiskey. (Also served hot, with cloves, lemon juice, sugar, and boiling water added.)

hames:
Testicles. Used in the sense, “Taylor made a right hames [balls] of explaining ‘hames.’”

ham-fisted:
Very clumsy.

hang about:
Ulster.
Wait a minute.

hat, the:
Foreman, so called because traditionally he wore a bowler hat (derby).

hear him, hear him:
The forerunner of “Hear, hear.” A statement of complete agreement.

heel(s) of the hunt:
When everything has been concluded.

heel tap:
Drink much more slowly than the rest of the company, often to avoid having to pay for a round.

highheejin:
Very important person. Often in the subject’s own mind.

hobby horse shite:
Literally sawdust. Rubbish.

horse into:
Dublin.
Drink up rapidly.

hot as the hobs of hell:
Hobs are fireplace sidecasings with flat surfaces level with the grate. Those in hell would be hot indeed.

house floors:
The first floor in a multistorey house in America would be called the ground floor in Ireland, thus the U.S. second floor is the Irish first floor and so on.

houseman:
Medical or surgical intern. In the 1930s and ’60s, used regardless of the sex of the young doctor.

how’s about ye?:
Ulster.
How are you?

hurler:
One playing the game of
hurling
, a fifteen-a-side ball (
sliotar
) game played with a curved stick, hurley (
camán
) and said to be the fastest team game played on dry land. The women’s version is camogie.

Irish Free State:
In 1922, after the Irish war of independence twenty-six counties were granted Dominion status within the British Empire and were semiautonomous. This entity was the Irish Free State, later to become the independent Republic of Ireland.

Jack/Culchie:
Dublin.
The inhabitants of Ireland are divided between those who live in Dublin, “Jacks” or “Jackeens,” sophisticated city dwellers, and those who live outside the city, “Culchies,” rural rubes. Both terms now are usually applied in jest and “Jack” has been superseded by “Dub.”

jacked:
Dublin.
Exhausted.

jag:
Jab. Usually with the needle of a hypodermic syringe.

jammy:
Ridiculously lucky.

jam piece:
See
“
piece
”
. Slice of bread and jam or jam sandwich.

jar:
Alcoholic drink.