Irish-English vs. American-English

After living in Ireland for a few years, we seamlessly switch between Irish-English and
American-English. OK, it’s almost seamless. Despite accompanying many of our guests, we’ve encountered a few times when they ask for one thing and get another, and listening to the interaction, we only realized the potential misunderstanding after the fact. At the risk of taking away some of the Irish language encounters that would add to your vacation memories, I will attempt to give you a minimal guide to Irish English ... Definitely different from American English. There are famous quotes attributed to Winston Churchill and Oscar Wilde that apply here that go something like: “Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language”. This is also definitely true for the Irish and the Americans. These differences add to your foreign country experience, but can also be a little frustrating, especially during the first couple of days before you have become used to the Irish accent and still have jet lag.
BTW, the accent thing goes both directions. You also have an accent! The Irish (at least in the Republic) are much better at understanding your accent because of American TV shows, but you still have an accent. You do not have the advantage of watching Irish TV, or at least not much Irish TV. You don’t necessarily need to speak slow and loud as you may have seen in many sitcom TV episodes, but you need to keep your speaking pace at your normal-slow speed and not your double-espresso speed.
Some of the issues Americans have with immediately understanding the Irish Accent is actually the structure of the sentences. It's not what an American would "expect" to hear. At least in the West of Ireland the sentence structure tends to mimic the sentence structure of the Irish language. Remember the Irish language, a dialect of Gaelic, is the official language of Ireland. Irish is a required subject in school and many of the schools teach in Irish. That said, every Irishman speaks English, but some with a very heavy accent compared to Americans. Below are a list of American English words and some Irish phrases. Some are words that have a different meaning in Irish English and some are words that are not commonly used in American English but are commonly used in Irish English. I’ve grouped the list by category. Using these words can help the Irish to understand you and being familiar with the list can help you understand the Irish ... but just a little bit.
After your first couple of days, don't get too cocky about acquiring an ear for the Irish accent. There are several distinctive Irish accents and you WILL encounter a new distinctive accent at your next stop. Many town and city names are anglicized versions of the Irish name and are quite a challenge for North Americans to pronounce. My town of Athenry is a good example. Many from North America would start with the "Athen" (like a city in Greece) and add the "ry", probably pronounced ree ... WRONG! The proper pronunciation is Athen (as in the city) + rye (as in the grain or whiskey). Another proper variation is close to At+hen+rye with a very muted "t" sound and "hen" pronounced more like "hn"(For the english teachers out there, no I don't remember the dictionary symbols that show pronunciation 🤔). Another interesting city name is Ballina. My best way of explaining the pronunciation is Bal + i + naw, with the accent on the first syllable. I will leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out how to pronounce Oughterard. Good Luck, you'll need it! An Irishman suggested I would have a better chance of pronouncing the city and town names correctly if I just dropped the vowels and put the accent on the first syllable. Try it! It mostly works.
Despite this blog and possibly doing some additional prep, like watching a few Irish movies (see the Pre-trip Homework blog), you will at times still have a hard time understanding someone along the way. If you are near my age, close to or in retirement, play the “my hearing is going” card. If you are younger, you might try “the truck passing outside kept me from hearing you” line, otherwise you young people are out of luck. If you travel to the North (Northern Ireland), this prep and these tricks won’t be close to enough for a Belfast taxi driver. Remember the language misunderstandings are adding to the tapestry of your trip experience 😀 If you've visited Ireland, please let us all know the word or phrase that added to your Irish experience by posting at the comments section below.
FOOD and RESTAURANT
Cream - Whipped Cream; if you order cream with your coffee, whipped cream will arrive. You want milk with the "l" pronounced. It will be full fat milk which is close enough to cream.
Chips - French Fries or Steak Fries
Crisps - potato chips, the default flavor is cheese and onion
Jug - pitcher; you would ask for a jug of water in a restaurant if you want tap water
Brown bread - whole wheat bread or Irish brown bread, it depends on the context. For toast it usually mean whole wheat bread.
Soda bread - Irish Brown bread
Irish brown bread - Soda bread
Biscuit - Cookie
Digestive - Cookie
Savory Scone - Biscuit
Bacon - A cut of pork that is salted but not necessarily smoked
Rasher - A thinly cut slice of Irish bacon served at breakfast. American bacon is referred to as streaky bacon is very rarely available.
Darn - Fillet, as in a salmon darn
Goujon - Fingers, as in chicken fingers
Filtered Coffee - Drip Coffee, what you usually get in the US
Coffee - Americano, espresso thinned with hot water, now my favorite
Minced Beef - Ground Beef
Minced Lamb - Ground Lamb
Fillet - same as in US English but with all the l's and t's pronounced
Chipper - Restaurant that serves deep fried food like Fish & Chips
Booking - reservation
Till - cash register
Quid - slang for euros, pound sterling
Toilet - place to pee (not the bathroom, the place where you bathe)
Take Away - I'll have a take away coffee versus I'll have a coffee to go.
SPORTS
Pitch - playing field
Fixture - schedule
Football - Gaelic football
Match - Game
Fair Play - Congratulations
Up Galway - Used to urge on your favorite team instead of Go Galway
Equalizer - tying goal or point
GAA - Gaelic Athletic Association
Kit - Uniform or Clothing that supports a team
CARS/TRANSPORTATION
Petrol - gasoline
Boot - trunk
Livery - fixed price taxi
Coach - Bus
Car hire - car rental
Excess - Insurance deductible
Cover - Insurance
Motorway - freeway
Slip road - Entrance ramp or road that bypasses a round about when making a left.
Round About - traffic circle
Signaled Junction - intersection with a traffic light
LEGAL/GOVERNMENT
Garda/Guards - Police
Solicitor - Lawyer
Oireachtas Éireann - Equivalent of Congress or Parliament
Taoiseach - Prime Minister
Dáil Éireann - Equivalent to House of Representatives
Seanad Éireann - Senate , closer to house of Lords
TD - Deputy or Member of Dáil Éireann
Republican - Someone whose political leanings call for reunification of Ireland
Scheme - Road Scheme, Insurance Scheme, and Tax Scheme versus Road Layout, Insurance Plan, and Tax Plan.
HOUSE/HOME
Lift - elevator or ride
Semi-detached - House with single shared wall
Terraced House - House with shared walls on both sides
Detached - House with no shared walls
Auctioneer - Real Estate Agent
Garden - yard (front or back) or garden
Residential Estate - Housing Development
Press - closet
Bath - tub
Hoover - vacuum cleaner
Immersion - electric water heater versus the boiler associated with the heating of the house
Hot Press - Closet with Electric water heater that tends to be hot and where towels and sheets are usually stored
Footpath - sidewalk or other walking path
CLOTHING
Jumper - sweater
Pants - underpants
Trousers - pants
Runners - tennis shoes
MEDICAL
999 - 911
A&E - emergency room (Accident and Emergency)
GP - General Practitioner Doctor, not a specialist
Consultants - Specialist Doctor
Surgery - Doctor’s Office
Plaster - Form of Band-aid
Tablets - Pills
MISC
Perfect - Great
Grand - Great or Fantastic
Brilliant - Awesome or Excellent
Film - movie
The Craic - The general Vibe in a pub or entertainment venue
Halfpast/Half (for time) - A very common Irish way of saying 7:30 is half-seven or halfpast seven
Holiday - Vacation
Bank Holiday - Holiday
Queue - Line
Quay - Pronounced “key”, A place where a boat can/did dock
DIY - Do It Yourself, DIY Store is similar to a US hardware store
Single ticket - One way ticket
Return ticket - Round Trip ticket
How are ya? - General greeting like Hi or Hello, a response is not necessarily expected, other than a return of the same.
How are ye? - Plural of How are ya?
Your man - This phrase is hard to explain. Maybe the closest in American English is “that guy”
Give Out - Yell at or harass or generally give someone a hard time
Soft Day - Nice Day
Close Day - Hot and Sticky, but probably not hot by American standards
Eijet - idiot
Culchie - Country bumpkin
Lad- any male
Lass - female version of lad, not used as much as lad and definitely not lassy
Hamper - basket
Lough - A lake, pronounced like "lock"
Traveller - An Irish Gypsy, usually not a good reference
Blow In - Similar to transplant in North America but extends multiple generations
Custom - As in thank you for your custom or business
Diary - Similar to calendar. I'll put you in my diary (or calendar)
PHRASES
As sure as there's a God - Many times in response to a "Can I have" question in a restaurant
God Bless - A general goodbye
God Willing - Many times in response to "I'll see you tomorrow/next week/next month"
Cheers, bye-bye - Telephone goodby, even in a professional setting
Thanks a Million - Preferred way to say Thank You. Mimics a Gaelic phrase a míle buíochais, a thousand thanks
See You In The Pub!
Jet Lag Jack