One of the most important aspects of studying abroad is learning the language of your host county. I thought I had it easy, going to an English-speaking country like Ireland, but there’s still plenty to learn! A few weeks ago, this sentence would have sounded like total gibberish to me: “Last night was great craic—we were so lushed, and your man Sean got the shift with some hot bird!” But if you go out, and mingle with the natives, you’ll find yourself picking up their slang without even thinking about it. Here is some of the Irish slang that I’ve picked up over the past few weeks:
Bird—girl
Example sentence: “Check out that fine bird over there.”
Class—good, great
Example sentence: “Have you been to that new restaurant? The food there is class.”
Craic—fun (pronounced “crack”)
Example sentence: “There’s going to be a new DJ tonight at the pub. You should come, it’s going to be good craic.”
“What’s the craic?” means “What’s up?”/ “What’s happening?”
Feen—young man
Example sentence: “A couple of feens showed up and invited us to go into town with them.”
Grand—good, well; this is usually the response to “How are you?”
Examples sentence: “How are you?” “Oh, I’m grand!”
Lushed, Langers, Scuttered—very drunk
Example sentence: “We went out to town last night and got totally scuttered.”
Shift—make out
Example sentences: “Did you get the shift?”“I shifted this cute Irish boy in the pub last night.”
Your man—used to refer to a person being talked about, does not suggest any relation to the listener (You can also say “your woman” or “your one”)Example sentence: “That new movie has your man, DiCaprio in it.”
Photo credit: flicker/sludgegulper