THE Irish language is a hard one to grasp for anyone visiting the country, we'll admit.
What's more, even if we're speaking English, our accents are quite challenging to decipher, granted.
And even if you manage to navigate your way through a chat with a local irishman, without running into any language or accent-related troubles, there's a cacophony of slang we all use that might still trip you up.
On the one hand, we're sorry for being so difficult.
On the other, we're not sorry at all. Our slang is fantastic.
Here's some of the best:
Acting the Maggot
Meaning: Fooling and messing around
Example: "Stop acting the maggot"
Black Stuff
Meaning: Guinness
Example: "A pint of the black stuff please"
Boyo
Meaning: Male, Juvenile
Example: "Come on you boyo!"
Craic
Meaning: Fun, Gossip, Goings on
Example: What's/Where's the craic?
Culchie
Meaning: Person from a rural area
Example: "She's a culchie originally"
Eejit
Meaning: Complete fool, idiot
Example: "You are such an eejit"
Earwigging
Meaning: Listening in on a private conversation, eavesdropping
Example: "You were earwigging again, weren't you?"
Feck off
Meaning: ... Go away (I've cleaned that up a bit)
Example: "Feck off man, stop bothering me"
Fierce
Meaning: Very good, great, exellent
Example: "It was a fierce performance"
Fine Thing
Meaning: Good looking man or woman
Example: "She's fine thing, she is"
Gaff
Meaning: Home, house
Example: "I'll swing by your gaff later tonight"
Gas
Meaning: Funny, amusing
Example: "He's gas, that fella"
Grand
Meaning: Good, fine, a positive response
Example: *when asked how you're feeling* "I'm grand, thanks"
How's she cutting'?
Meaning: How are you?, What's up?
Example: "Hey man, how's she cuttin'?"
Langers
Meaning: Drunk
Example: "I was absolutely bangers last night"
Oul Fella
Meaning: Your father, Dad
Example: "My oul fella will love this sweater I bought him"
Savage
Meaning: Great, Brilliant
Example: "It was a savage match this afternoon"
Suckin' Diesel
Meaning: Now you're talking, now you're doing well
Example: "Now you're sucking' diesel, fella"
The Pale
Meaning: Anywhere in and around Dublin
Example: "I'm living just outside The Pale at the moment"
Throw shapes
Meaning: Show off, sometimes aggressivley
Example: "They were all throwing shapes in the pub last night"
Your man
Meaning: That man, man
Example: "I saw your man from U2 on the news last night"
