A guide to cursing in Irish for St. Patrick’s Day - get your Irish up with these phrases ‘as Gaelige’

An Irish curse for every situation - mild exasperation to letting it rip in Gaelige

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An Irish curse for every situation - mild exasperation to letting it rip in Ireland’s native tongue

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This St. Patrick’s Day, we may all be wearing green but that doesn’t mean our language can’t be a little more colourful!

It’s a strange talent to boast of but the Irish people have always been somewhat inventive with their swearing and cursing abilities and none more so than the native Irish speakers who are particularly gifted.

Irish curses lose some vital ingredients when translated into English, so we feel it’s only fair to give everyone the opportunity to sound out a few artistic expressions in the native tongue when doing the usual Paddy’s Day activities such as driving through a sea of lunatic drivers, trying to see the parade through the wall of 7ft giants who have suddenly decided to stand in front of you and shoving yourself into wedged bars full of people who refuse to move out of your way.

Here’s how you handle it:

Shock, or mild exasperation

1. As ucht Dé: For God’s sake! (literally “from the breast of God!”)

2. In ainm Dé: In God’s name! (also works well for “for God’s sake!”)

3. Dia ár sábháil: God save us! (a nice stand in for “WTF” or “you’re f****ng kidding me!”).

Ticked off at someone

1. Imigh leat: Off/away with you!

2. Gread leat: “Beat it/shove off!”

3. Imeacht gan teacht ort: “Go away and don’t come back!” (literally “leaving without returning on you”…the implication being that you’d just as soon the person crawl off somewhere and die.)

4: Go hIfreann leat: “To hell with you!”

5: Go hIfreann leat a shlíomadóir lofa: “To hell with you, you rotten b*****d!”

Let ‘er rip!

1. Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat: “May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat!”

2. Go n-ithe an tochas thú: “May you be eaten by the itch!”

3. Briseadh agus brú ar do chnámha: “Breaking and crushing to your bones!”

4. Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de cnámh do dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn: “May the devil make a ladder of your back bones while picking apples in the garden of hell!”

5. Oinseach (Female fool)  or Amadan ( male fool)

Source: Audrey Nickel at www.bitesizeirishgaelic.com
 

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