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
9 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.pilib04 | Mar 15, 2013, 08:47 PM EDT
Wounded, nice sentiment, but don't hold your breathe.
Maggie47 | Mar 15, 2013, 06:37 PM EDT
9am tomorrow will have read in Gaeilge. I'm in Atlanta
Seanmor | Mar 15, 2013, 05:46 PM EDT
I'm grateful to Irish Central for printing most of the Gaeilge phrases and sentences I post, but I wish this fair and balanced website would publish several articles emphasizing the beauty and exprssiveness of teanga na nGael. An Ghaeilge is noted for it PRAYERS, not for its curses. A perfect example of this is that the world for "greeting" or "salute" i nGaeilge is "beannacht", which really means "blesasing". The commmon greeting in Irish is "Dia dhuit" (God bless you). Another very popular expbession is "Bail o Dhia ort" (God prosper you). "Beannacht Dé oraibh". (Blessings of God on you all). Surprisingly, many of the R.C. clergy are largely indifferent to the Gaeilge, and some are openly hostile to that God-conscious language.
katiemac | Mar 15, 2013, 04:16 PM EDT
It seems pretty low, even by Irish Central standards, to perpetuate the very worst of negative Irish stereotypes. News flash! We are not all pie-faced, pug-nosed, red-headed, pugnacious, blasphemous drunks.
Maggie47 | Mar 15, 2013, 04:15 PM EDT
We do not have phrases like that in Connemara.
Searlit | Mar 15, 2013, 03:20 PM EDT
I like that idea WoundedKnee!
WoundedKnee | Mar 15, 2013, 01:45 PM EDT
Wouldn't it be a much better use of Irish Central if the site put on a regular Irish lesson instead of the nonsense printed above?
Searlit | Mar 15, 2013, 01:00 PM EDT
Dia ár sábháil from that stereotypical caricature of an Irishman!
ruaripadraig | Mar 15, 2013, 10:41 AM EDT
Let's not forget the ever popular "Póg mo thóin!"