Two more phrases

"Utterly Knackered." This is a phrase I often hear people using to describe when they were feeling completely exhausted. It's very common, and one I've found myself using.

"She did the dirt." A friend was telling another friend why the relationship between his brother and the girlfriend ended. The explanation was that "she did the dirt." I asked what this meant. It means she cheated on him.

There's two random phrases for ya I encountered and just thought I'd record them here...

Diaries

Imagine yourself at work, and the boss comes in and asks you "What is in your diary for this week?" or the project manager emails the entire team, with the subject line "A date for your diary."

My first intuition was a bit of embarrassment, as this seemed like a very private matter.
In the States, children keep their secrets in a diary under lock and key. An adult might have a journal, which may be less "classified" but nevertheless very personal. So to have people at work referring to an item with "confidential" invisibly written all over it, was a bit unnerving.

However, a diary in Ireland is more like a calendar or planner. So one checks his diary to see if there are any commitments on the schedule and to keep track of appointments.

I confess, even after living here for 6 months, I still cringe about to hear grown men, perhaps from a platform behind a microphone, speaking of their diaries. I think I'll stick with referring to my "planner."

Yo Mon

After hearing a lecture, I joined the conversation among friends at tea who were discussing the talk, "Then yo mon said ... " These words, "yo mon" kept occurring, in reference to some person, which seemed to be the lecturer. At first I thought perhaps it was an Irish name that I wasn't familiar with, but then I realized they were talking about the speaker, and I know that was not his name (he was American).

Then I was among another group of people, and the same "yo mon" is used, but somehow I could tell it was in a general way--perhaps it is a nickname or a title for someone?

Finally, the mystery was opened to me. They are really saying "your man" (but with a Dublin accent), and it is a typical way of referring to whomever is the subject of the conversation. Rather than using the (natural...) pronoun "he," here they say "your man," even when the person is a stranger to you all and there is no obvious possession by anyone to warrant the use of "your." It's kind of like saying "that guy"... just casually spicing up the description a bit, I suppose...

Well, now that my ears are tuned into this expression, I hear it all the time! I can't help but chuckle, as it really is a very common usage in Dublin, and I'm not quite sure why it is better than a simple "he." But I confess, I am starting to be endeared toward its presence in casual story-telling among friends...

Various words

I have various words that have come up in conversation that I'd like to point out...

1) People often say something like "She gave out to me all day," or "There will be no giving out while I'm here."

To "give out" means to ridicule or complain about someone to their face, basically to give them a hard time.

2) A mother might ask her child to do the "hoovering," or one might hear teens complaining about having to "hoover" when they get home.

Hoovering means vacuuming. I guess folks use Hoover vacuum cleaners here, in the same sense folks use Kleenex in the US. :)

3) I've had friends ask if they could "call on" me, or suggest that I "call in" on so-and-so.

This does not mean to ring someone and has nothing to do with phones. It refers to stopping by someone's home, to visit them in person. It's like the old-fashioned speak...makes me think of Andy Griffith and Barney Fife "calling on" their girls.

4) Calling someone "Love" is extremely common--strangers will call you that in the stores or in whatever random interaction. Startled me at first, but now it's kind of cute, makes us all seem like a tight-knit community. In the post office, the person will ask, "What can I do for you, Love?" or "To post that will be 1 euro, Love." Or in a shop when someone needs to squeeze past you, they'll say, "Excuse me, Love."

5) I got the following text on my phone from a girl at work:
"Morning Love, I forgot that I was invigilating today, so I won't be seeing you until tomorrow."

I don't know about you, but I had no idea what it meant to "invigilate." I had to look it up.

It is what we would call in the US to "proctor"--basically, to supervise students taking an exam.

6) This is isn't a word, but a pronunciation: "r" is pronounced by the Irish as "Oh-are." Very obvious. As a mathematician, often using variables including "r," it definitely took me time and effort to interpret some of the talks. I had already anticipated the use of "zed" instead of "z," but "oh-are" was unexpected.

More words explained...

A friend was giving me a ride the other day and she suggested I put my violin in the boot.

Ah-ha! I knew now what this meant (see a previous blog post), so I put the instrument in the trunk of her car.

I remarked on the translation that took place in my head and ask her what the name of the front of the car is (what we in the States would call the "hood"). Do you know what it is?

The bonnet.

Hahaha, I couldn't help but chuckle. Suddenly an aspect of a car that is often associated with masculine activity--working on the engine, etc. "under the hood"--now brings to my mind the image of...well, girls, elderly ladies, or nursery rhymes.

My friend then mentioned needing a new "jumper" and "trousers." I translated these to mean "sweater" and "pants." She responded that I am correct on the first item, but not on the second.

Pants to them mean "knickers." What are knickers? Underwear.

Okay, so a the trunk of a car is a boot, trousers are not pants, pants are knickers, knickers are underwear, and a bonnet is the hood of a car.

There's the Irish for you.

Hot Press

I was at a friend's house and passed a door with a sign "hot press."

Hmm...I first think of a printing press, such as publications being "hot off the press," but obviously that's not the context here.
Then I recall being in Japan and the hotel providing a hot press in each room. This was a ironing contraption to press one's pants. So perhaps this room was the ironing room. Nope.

My friend explained that a "hot press" is an "airing cabinet."

One needs to understand the living habits here in Ireland. Many people do not use a dryer for their clothes. They will use a washing machine and then air dry their clothes. But the climate outside is often too wet, so they need to hang inside.

So the closet with the hot water heater (not the same as the kind in the States) is where the clothes hang. Some may also be hung over the radiators in each room (houses are heated via radiators not via heaters that blow hot air as those in Texas).

In fact, the Wikipedia entry for "hot press" reads:

"A large cupboard or small room in a home where clothes, towels, bed linen etc. are placed for airing, that usually contains the hot water immersion heater. In most English speaking countries, the hot press is known as an airing cupboard; the term hot press is peculiar to Scotland and Ireland."

Note the word "peculiar." :)

Another related novelty I encountered was in a hotel on the southern coast of England last weekend. In the bathroom was a special towel rack that one turns on and it heats up to dry the towels. Brilliant.

More Imperial vs. Metric vs. ... Geological?

I was in the health clinic this afternoon and the doctor asked me to step on the scales. She read off "58" and returned to her desk to write it down. Obviously that's in kilograms, not pounds, so I asked if she could convert that measurement for me (I haven't weighed myself in at least 6 months, so I was curious what Ireland has done to me).

Her reply: "Oh of course. That's between 9 and 9 1/2 stones."

I chuckled. "Um, and a stone is...?"

She then laughed and said, "Oh dear, you want me to really convert it, like, into pounds, mathematically??"

So she got out her pen and paper and announced that I weighed 155 pounds.
Whoa, I was certain that was NOT correct. She had no concept of what an average girl of my size would weigh in pounds, hence did not realize that was out of the ballpark for me. I questioned her about this calculation, and her reply was:

"Are you disputing my mathematics??"

I innocently smiled. She recalculated and found that in fact, I weigh 128 pounds. Much more reasonable.

She then asked me what my height is. I replied with 5'8''.
She then stared and said, "Oh dear, you're going to make me do another conversion??"
I then realized that of course, they don't speak of height in terms of feet and inches either, but rather centimeters.

She needed to get my BMI, which turned out to be 20. (Good, acceptable range is somewhere between 19-25.)

She took my blood pressure and then looked at me: "Are you a runner?" Yes. "Your pulse is 51, so I knew you must be fit." Little did she know that I also just briskly walked at least mile in the chilling winter cold and wind...

I got my prescription, took it to the local chemist (pharmacy), and literally within 20 seconds (I timed it), I was out the door with my meds. Gotta love this local community style!

"Gorgeous"

I repeatedly hear the word "gorgeous" used not to describe the attractive *appearance* of something, but rather, the appealing *taste* of something.

"Oh my, this coffee is gorgeous!"

"Aren't those scones just gorgeous?"

"I love lollipops, they're gorgeous."

The first time I heard such a combination of object and adjective, I was startled and thought the person just choose her words poorly, but in fact, this is a standard choice, I know notice it all the time.

So I looked it up on Dictionary.com, and here's what I found:

1.	splendid or sumptuous in appearance, coloring, etc.; magnificent

2.	Informal. extremely good, enjoyable, or pleasant.

Okay, though it is *informal*, I'll grant them legitimate usage.

Bank Holiday and Dublin Marathon

Today was a bank holiday. Not really celebrating anything in particular, just a reason for a break. (I guess when the US needs these, they tack on some meaning, such as Labor Day, President's Day, etc...but the Irish don't need a reason for good "Craic"!)*
It always falls on the last Monday of October. Actually, it's become sort of a Halloween holiday, not officially, but the timing is so near. Students (or "pupils" as they call them here) get the entire week off for mid-term break.
It's also the day that the adidas Dublin City Marathon is always held. Since I haven't trained for the race but wanted to be involved, I volunteered to "marshal" the spectators near the finish line. (I also got an awesome adidas running jacket and cap.) I've never been at the finish line of a race like this in time to see the winners. I'm either running in it, or watching a friend run somewhere else. So it was fun to see the elite runners cruise across the finish line, the first man at 2:09:07, first lady at 2:29:20. (Both were Russians...I could create a pun with that, but I won't...) It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky, and about 50 degrees.
Anyhow, seeing the look on the runners faces, looking into their eyes, was a powerful experience--there was a gradual change in the demeanor of the persons crossing as the time passed. I saw victory, focus, pride, amazement, weariness, pain, fear, laughter at the absurdity of what they've done, misery, sickness, weeping, dazed and confused, delirious, more pain. Regardless, each person who crossed that finish line is undoubtedly a transformed person after the training and accomplishment fulfilled today.

* Craic is Irish for "fun, enjoyment, light-hearted mischief".

Have a spanner?

I am borrowing a bike from a friend, and when he gave it to me, he said I might need a spanner to adjust the height of the seat. A "spanner?" The context made me know it must be a wrench, and sure enough that is correct. So add that one to your vocabulary.

Also, I was telling a lady that I ran to Dalkey, pronouncing it exactly as it's spelled. Her reply was,

"Oh no, we don't pronounce the 'L.' Dalkey is just like 'walk', you don't hear the 'L'."

Can you imagine my confusion? I don't know about you, but I find 'walk' to be a poor example of silencing the 'L.'

Car Boot Sale

I keep seeing signs for Car Boot Sales--often as fundraisers for schools, churches, charities, etc. What in the world is a car boot?? I keep picturing the brake shoes on my car, but know this can't be it...

Well...a car boot is the trunk of a car! So these car boot sales are basically the combination of a yard sale and a tailgate party! A person will pay 10 euro to get a parking space for their car, and the trunk will be full of odds and ends--items similar to those in a garage sale or flea market. All the cars will open their trunks so that the persons from the community coming through can bartar and buy things and great prices. Other cars will have coffee/tea/treats and be a center for chatting with your neighbors. Brilliant. Someone should try this at a tailgate party of the next UT football game...?

Stones

In a store for runners, the assistant selling the shoes indicates that a certain one is for persons of 12 stones or more. Huh? Yes, a person of 12 stones or more.

Evidently, a "stone" is a unit of weight--part of the Imperial system (along with pounds instead of kilograms, feet instead of meters, etc.)--equaling 14 pounds. So those shoes were for persons weighing more than 168 pounds.

A few days later I was conversing with an elderly woman who told me she lost a stone in the park. At first I thought she dropped a piece of jewelry, but then I recalled the educational experience in the shoe store. Indeed, her point was that by walking around the park every morning, she lost weight!

This is good...one's weight can fluctuate a few pounds here and there but one remains approximately the same stone...

"Soft" Weather

What does it mean for weather to be "soft?" It's not an adjective I think of to use for describing the weather; I reserve it for pillows and cheese.

"Soft" is referred to days that are cloudy and with a light mist in the air.
What about "fresh" weather? This seems to be used with sort of a negative connotation. When the temperatures are a bit too cold, it is described as "fresh."

City Centre

Dublin is divided into various postal code regions, and within each little area, there is it's own sort of center--the center of the community, a crossroads where the local pub, shops, chemist and church are located.

Now, I've been instructed that to tell someone I am going into the city centre, I should say I'm going "in to town." However, if I'm just going to my local area centre, I should say "down to town." Okay, got it. Also, one never calls the proper Dublin city centre "downtown," I blunder I was in the habit of saying due to the way in the US.

Note: You may have noticed some different spellings in my posts...for example in this entry, I use "center" and "centre." The latter is a more common British way, as is using "ou" instead of simply "o," such as in "colour" and "harbour."

Pronunciation

I haven't quite mastered the ability to read an Irish word and know whether it is a person, place thing, adjective, much less how to correctly pronounce it. I received an email that ended with "Eoin, Customer Service Helpdesk." I needed to reply, but I wasn't quite sure to whom I should address it--is Eoin the author's name or is it an Irish word for something like "sincerely"? If I wrote, "Dear Eoin," is that saying "Dear Regards" or is it properly addressing the person I'm communicating with by name?

So I Googled it. Eoin is a name, pronounced like "Owen." Ahh.

Then I met someone named (as it sounds) "Locklin." But when I was to write his name down, I discovered it was spelled "Laughlin." Ah, yes, my second grade teacher's name was Ms. McGlaughlin, I can remember this one.

Meanwhile, I was listening to a talk by an Irish person today and he kept saying "na-ee-a". What is that?? He was saying "Make the most of na-ee-a." Then he'd refer to the "pa-ee-a-a" in something. Hmm...

Eventually I used context clues to discover that na-ee-a is "now" and pa-ee-a-a is "power."

Wow. Or should I say wa-ee-a?

Politeness Protocol

I met a lady today and when she found out I was from Texas, she said, "Oh, do you say 'mum'?" I was a bit confused, I certainly don't say "mum"...I call my mother "mom." I asked what she meant, and she replied that she know another girl from Texas in Ireland who would always say "Yes, mum" or "No, mum."
Ahhh, the lady I was talking to meant "Ma'am," she just wasn't able to remember or pronounce it correctly!
Anyhow, she continued to explain how she thought it was so strange that this girl would say something like that, to have this habit of putting that word/title at the end of yes, no, or sometimes thank you.

How interesting--this a mandatory protocol for politeness in the South of the US caused a bewildered and confused reaction from the Irish. (Actually, I've encountered this startled reaction to such politeness in the north of the US as well.) I didn't bother to tell her how my parents trained me to always say "Yes Ma'am, yes Sir," and that whenever I didn't I was made to write 100 times on a piece of paper "I will say Yes Ma'am" or whatever the appropriate statement was. (I even found some of those papers a few months back when I was cleaning out boxes as I prepared to moved to Dublin!) Once the writing discipline lost its effectiveness, I was made to pay a few cents in a jar every time I neglected to say "ma'am" or "sir." Then my parents decided to try positive reinforcement and I was given a few cents out of the jar each time I remembered.

I wonder what a parallel politeness protocol for kids might exist here in Ireland...?

Cheers!

"Cheers." This is a word I will soon become accustomed to saying in place of "thanks" or "have a nice day." In the past, I've only used "cheers" when raising a glass with others, but here it is said at the grocery store when saying good-bye/thanks to the cashier, or when getting of the phone with a customer service representative, or to the bus driver, or the waitress at your table, it pops up everywhere. I think when this starts rolling off my tongue, we'll know I've become a true European.
Other words and their synonyms:
"trolly"=grocery cart/basket
"post"= mail (noun, verb, or adjective). For example, "will you post this for me?" "where is the post box?" "has the post arrived yet?"
"tip"=dump (where all the refuse/garbage/trash is taken)
"lodgment"=deposit. This sounds to me like something related to housing/accomodation, like a cabin I'd stay at in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Here one lodges money in the bank and can use a lodgment slip to deposit money in a bank other than their own.

Brilliant

The Irish use various words and phrases I'm not so accustomed to using, but I am enjoying the chuckles it arouses within me, and I'm unknowingly incorporating them into my speech.
"Brilliant" is one. I think whenever we usually say "great," as a filler or something, they are using "brilliant."
"Grande" is another, used interchangeably with brilliant.
"Ghastly."
"Simply horrid."
"Dreadful."
"Fortnight." Now this is the one that appears everywhere--newsletters come fortnightly, groups meet fortnightly, paychecks come fortnightly, rent is due fortnightly. What length of time is this referring to? It is the unit of time for 14 nights. Evidently it is only used in Great Britain and some Commonwealth countries. I guess "bi-weekly" is the closest we come to such in the US?
"Carriageway"=main road, like our "highway."
"Ring me"=call me on the phone.
"Half-nine" (or whatever number applicable) = 9:30. Someone tells me to meet at half-seven, and I'm not sure whether it means half an hour until 7 or half after 7...I have learned that it always means half after, 7:30. Now that certainly doesn't mean the person will arrive at half after, for the Irish are quite laid back...

(I realize this blog will contain generalizations and stereotypes that are not applicable to all Irish...but in mathematical terms, perhaps we can say the set does not have measure zero...)

There are many more words, I'll try to keep a list...

Hash

My first exposure to the word "hash" was in a the context of foods--either describing a pile of potatoes that are browned in a frying pan, or a mashed, pasty mixture of corned beef, which I run away from. My next exposure to the word was in mathematics, as one makes a hash mark on a line on an axis or to denote a unit when counting. Then I learned of hash being a plant one smokes, appearing right along with the words marijuana and hemp. Then I found the word in the cryptographic setting, as one uses a hash function to convert a long string into a (shorter) fixed-length string. Then the word appeared when I was checking into running groups in Dublin and found the Hash Harriers, who go for runs and end a pub for a drink. But my most recent encounter with the word was when I was trying to set up my voicemail on the mobile phone I finally acquired.

The instructions were to enter your pin number, followed by the hash key. What's a hash key? I stared at my phone for awhile, and was prompted again, so I pressed the * button. This didn't work. So I pressed the -- button, as that looks like a hash mark to me. No good. So I continued pressing buttons, trying all my options, but this just made things worse. I got on the phone company's website to find help, but their instructions simply say to press the hash key, with no explanation of what it is. After a bit of research, I discovered...the "hash" key is the # key, otherwise known to an American as the "pound" key!