Confusing Colloquilisms
Although I share the name of the Bantry estates agents, I am not actually related to them – something that I keep having to point out to people, I’m finding. I was in their offices in Bantry just the other day, in fact, when a friend of mine (who’d bought a house in Durrus from them a couple of months ago and whom I’d got to know through our mutual habit of having a Sunday afternoon pint of stout in the Sheep’s Head and with whom I’d spent many minutes and hours of persuasion to counter the fact that I was supposed to be related to Denis himself) popped in and found me there sitting on the comfortable settee, gassing along with the folks there.
“Ahah!” He says, pointing the finger with a smile on his face like he’d just found the Queen Mum’s special golden jubilee commemorative medal that he’d been looking for for 10 years or something, “It’s obvious to me from the comfortable way that you’re sitting that you are related to this man.”
Bit of a damp squid really, after such a dramatic entrance. I don’t know – some people are just suspicious by nature, I suppose.
Anyways, the reason for my contribution here today was that I have been asked to list a few of the phrases that an old bloke from Old Blighty like me finds a little confusing and strange coming to the so-called “land of saints and scholars” (an old bloke in Durrus told me this one the other night, but as I said to him, I’ve been here quite a while now and I ain’t never met either!). So, having enlisted the help of my missus, I’ve compiled a list of colloquial Irish-isms that didn’t make sense to me on first hearing or else that I found amusing or intriguing or both, or, indeed, all three.
- “The Crack”; although I had actually heard this one before I set foot in Ireland, I still found it funny the way everyone kept saying it. It just means fun – usually involving drink.
- “Feck off!”; another one I’d heard before – it was funny in Father Ted, and even funnier to hear all kinds of people of different shapes and sizes saying it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
- “Cross”; West Cork is the only place in the world (although I admit that I haven’t seen that much of it) where a road that joins a junction of some sort is known as a “cross”. Hence, a crossroads is known around here as “a place with four crosses”. Sounds a bit religious, doesn’t it? That’s what I thought.
- One-fingered salute; Not the rude kind, but the kind kind, if you get my meaning. It seems quite unique to West Cork, where people salute you from their cars or tractors by raising the index finger on the steering wheel. A good way to stay friendly, conserve energy and keep both hands on the wheel.
- “Savage”; An interesting one that still confuses me and seems to be used particularly often around Glengarriff. Sometimes it means awful or terrible (e.g. “That meal was savage!”), sometimes it means wonderful (e.g. “That meal was only savage!”). I’m really not sure myself. I’ll let you decide.
- “Graanart”; heard it in a pub the other night, but when I mention to others, only older generation people seem to understand it. It means “bad”, as far as I can see.
- “I’m after…” This starts any sentence in the past tense. For example “I’m after spilling your pint” means “I’ve spilled your pint.”
That’s all for now.
Chester Harrington. 05/10/06
