A nice thing about moving to Ireland for me was not having to worry about learning a new language. Once in awhile it is a little hard for me to understand someone due to a stronger accent but for the most part that hasn’t really been a problem. What is intriguing is the words we use differently in the U.S. than the words used here. I continue to pick up new phrases and meanings of words since arriving. Before I came I did look up some common things not to say and I am glad that I did. For example, in the U.S. it is fine to ask someone for a ride. Here in Ireland that would not be a polite thing to do. Here, it is called a lift. If you ask someone for a ride you are actually asking for something else which could lead to an embarrassing and awkward conversation. I’ll let you try to figure that one out lest I blush. An elevator is also called a lift. One thing I didn’t know was how to ask for restrooms when I got here. While I was out I asked someone where the nearest restroom was and I could tell she had no idea what I needed. I then asked for a ladies room and she understood enough to point me in the right direction. That same day, one of my kids came home from school and asked me if I knew that bathrooms were called toilets here. Coincidentally he had also asked for restrooms that day only to be told they are called toilets. It seems odd to me to go out and ask for the nearest toilet. I have heard it called the loo but I believe that is more of a British term. Confused yet? Don’t worry, there’s more!
Quite quickly after arrival my kids started correcting me. When I ask if they have math homework I am reminded it is maths not math. When I asked my son to put on his school sweater before the bus came he said, “You mean my jumper?” A sweatshirt is a hoodie and tennis shoes are runners or trainers. Pants are called trousers. If you say pants you could be referring to underwear – which is also called knickers. A phrase you’ll hear in Ireland is “What’s the craic?” or “How’s the craic?” (pronounced like crack) It is used in various ways. Don’t worry. People aren’t asking about drugs, they are just saying, “What’s up?” The craic is like fun. Looking for the craic is looking for fun. If you are knackered it means you are tired. You don’t wait in a line, you wait in the queue. Instead of something being awesome or cool you will instead hear lovely, grand and brilliant. I have heard people say cool here but oftentimes without pronouncing the l at the end. I quite like brilliant and lovely as descriptors. Instead of saying, “I’m fine.” you will hear, “I’m grand.” Instead of saying Thank you it is simply cheers.
A sidewalk here is a footpath. Speaking of sidewalks or um, footpaths, they have no rules here. In the U.S. we walk on the right side of a sidewalk. People passing us are on our left or their right side. There is a certain order to large cities and crowded areas. At first when I arrived in Dublin I tried to stay to the right. This didn’t seem to be the way of things here so I switched to the left side, after all that is the way the cars do it here. Nope! When you are walking down a crowded street or footpath it is every man for himself. You weave in and out where you need to and it isn’t expected that you follow any walking etiquette.
What else? A cookie is a biscuit and a cracker is too. Candies are sweets and what we Americans call potato chips are crisps. French fries are chips. In Ireland you can go out and buy rashers. A streaky rasher is a slice of bacon the way that we Americans usually buy it. A rasher is a sausage. The first time my husband came back from the store with a pack of bacon here he immediately started calling the bacon streaky rashers. He likes this new name so much that I’m not sure it will ever go by the name bacon again for him. The boot is a trunk of a car. Rubbish means trash and what I call a trash can is a bin. While I was in the store someone asked me to please move my trolley and it took me a moment to realize that was my cart. My list keeps growing and I will enjoy the differences while I go explore. I am sure in another few months I will have many more new phrases that make me smile.