This’ll surely make you sound like a Dubliner! In Dublin slang, “Jax” refers to the toilet. Keep this in your arsenal for bonus points from the locals.
6. TAKE THE PISS
Nothing to do with peeing. When someone takes the piss at someone, it means to subject them to ridicule or suffering. It can also mean being unreasonable. For example, when someone says, “These friends of mine are taking the piss! I’ve been waiting for two hours!” you know they’re being made to wait at their expense.
7. ARSEWAYS
Easily mistaken to mean backward, raceways means to do something incorrectly or to have something go wrong. “We did as the cookbook told us, but the souffle always went!”
8. THE BOOT
When someone tells you to throw everything into the boot, don’t take it out to the trash! A boot is the car’s trunk. And you may need to give your friend a hand packing everything into the car before you go on that road trip!
9. A JUMPER
A jumper in Ireland is either a pullover or a sweater (not those one-piece denim overalls that take forever to piss with). Irish moms always insist you wear a jumper… so please oblige the lovely ladies. They love you, and they mean well!
10. MINERALS
“Take a mineral! You’re driving!” means you may want soft drinks or soda instead of alcohol. Visiting old folks? Expect to be served 7Up. They’ll assume this to be your favorite “mineral.”
11. DIESEL AND PETROL
If you rent a car when you’re visiting Ireland and need to refuel, you needn’t go looking for “gas,” which is something else entirely unrelated to driving or flatulence!
You must determine whether the car is “diesel” or “petrol” and fill it with that. Not with green diesel, mind you. The last thing you want is to get dipped by the guards.
In use: “Give me €20 worth of petrol, please.”
12. CHIPS
In Ireland, chips are crisps, and French fries are chips. Be warned; you will fall in love with a delicacy called “curry cheese chips” some night when you’re ossified.
13. BEYONT
Beyont is an all-encompassing word for any place that isn’t the place you’re in at the moment. It can refer to the other end of the room or the other side of the world.
Expect to hear many country people question you about stuff you have at home, and they’ll use the word beyond when doing it.
In use: “Would you have much rain beyond?”
14. THE “MESSAGES”
You will hear people going out to do the messages or going to town for the letters. Alas, middle-aged Irish women are not part of some secret government organization; they’re just referring to shopping.
The messages are what some Irish people call the groceries.
In use: “Anyone wants anything? I’m heading into town to do the messages.”
15. FECK OFF
Quite possibly Ireland’s most outstanding linguistic achievement, this phrase is the perfect way to curse without technically cursing. Replace the e with a u, and you know what this slang means.
16. DO THE WASHING
If you’re planning an extended stay in Ireland, your clothes must be washed at some stage. Note that instead of “laundry,” we do “the washing.”
This is all weather related too, and if you’re staying with an Irish mammy, she’ll constantly talk about doing the washing.
In use: “There’s great drying today, so I got up at half six to wash it and get it out on the line nice and early.”
17. “I WILL, YEA.”
This needs to be clarified. “I will, yea” means “I definitely won’t,” it’s just an easier way of saying it. We’re big into our sarcasm here, and if you get flustered by it, don’t worry. You won’t be the first and definitely won’t be the last.
Ever encountered Irish slang that stumped you? How about Irish phrases that you couldn’t get enough of? There are still a bunch of Irish words and vocabulary that we missed. Let us know in the comments section below so we can update our list!
We’d love to hear from you.
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