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Quintessential Irish things?
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My wife and I have been here for nearly a decade and we're still very much outsiders - much of Irish culture remains distanced from our experience, and it shows sometimes in conversation.
This might be a silly question, especially in the fragmented modern world, but what are some common bits about Irish culture I can learn about to better understand the people and the land we now call home?
I have books and Google of course but welcome any suggestions, frivolous or otherwise.. feel free to have a laugh if I'm being an eejit  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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An obsession with the weather
Ditto for "where are you from" and "I know someone from there"
Wanting to know everything about you under the guise of being friendly
You'll have a cup of tea sure
You're not drinking, you must be on antibiotics
Incredulity that you didn't watch the match yesterday |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Red lemonade!
And all crisps are called Tayto - even if they’re not Tayto!!"
I remember on a night out, not long after I'd moved to England, asking for a vodka & white. The barman says "a white what?"  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"In my experience Irish people don't like to say no and can be polite to the point of pain.
Best ask at least 14 times to be sure"
I have a friend from NY who says she believed people initially when she said you should call around sometime and they readily agreed |
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Learn how to make coddle
Start judging weddings, funerals on the last one you have been to and rate them
Check weather everyday most important for any chat of the day
Wave a everyone on the road
Good luck lol
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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We always know someone who knows someone who's related to someone you know.
Just walking into someone else's house through the back door without knocking
Visiting unannounced
The ability to start telling one story and finish an hour later on a completely unrelated subject, having completely forgotten what the original story was about |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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OK bye. Bye, bye bye, bye, b-bye, bye, bye bye, bye now, bye bye, bye, see ya, bye, bye bye |
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By *og-ManMan
over a year ago
somewhere |
Say bye bye bye bye bye bye bye at the end of every phone conversation
Complain when The Brits ( always the Brits ) claim anyone Irish and famous as one of their own even though we claim feckin everyone thats remotely famous but from America |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Slaggin' - nobody does it quite like we do
Wakes - as above
GAA
Wakes?
Nothing like a good session when a loved one passes away."
Funerals on the third day. |
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After 800 years of invasion, plantation, oppression and persecution ours is a very open and welcoming culture.
People have always wanted to come to live in our beautiful country and we have always welcomed them with open arms...and sometimes with other types of arms.
We are well used to being emigrants ourselves as refugees fleeing famine and economic refugees fleeing poverty. Therefore we have a cultural understanding of what it is like to have to leave your birthplace and settle in a new country so we are always willing to accept immigrants as our people were accepted in other countries.
Learning our history will help you to better understand our culture and then hopefully you wont feel like an amadán.
Fáilte go hÉirinn.
Broc
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Any excuse to go to pub
Someone is born pub
Someone dies pub
Someone's birthday pub
Win something pub
Loose something pub
Get engaged pub
Split up pub
Get married pub
Get divorced pub
Get a new job pub
Loose your job pub
Basically for any life event it is totally acceptable to go to pub for that reason. |
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"
Learning our history will help you to better understand our culture and then hopefully you wont feel like an amadán.
Fáilte go hÉirinn.
Broc
"
Also learn the rich history and multiple languages of the Irish Traveling Community |
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By *astelloWoman
over a year ago
Far far away |
Getting the shift ..kissing
Religious ceremonies - albeit not as strong as previously they are a key aspect of Irish culture.
Irish language -Even a few words, not everyone understands but definitely a conversation starter.
Great advice on watching Reeling in the years and don't look back in anger on TV. Good summation of Ireland.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Don’t think they’d appreciate coddle in West Cork, Dublin thing alright. I love it - haven’t had it in years though. Think a few Dublin pubs have started selling it - Gravediggers, Clonsilla Inn |
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"Choose carefully whether you have Lyons of Barry's tea in the press.
You'll be judged if you buy anything else"
Always a rebel....from Cork but drink Robert Robert's Extra Strong. Just one more thing to be judged on....  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"A snug is a small room in a bar where women were not allowed.
Irish ladies drink 'a glass of beer'"
They also cannot possibly go up to the bar either. You have to give your money to a man and get him to go for you. "Noooooo! I'm not going up there!" |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Choose carefully whether you have Lyons of Barry's tea in the press.
You'll be judged if you buy anything else
Always a rebel....from Cork but drink Robert Robert's Extra Strong. Just one more thing to be judged on.... "
Eh, tea is tea, what's wrong with Lidl own brand |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Irish people endlessly scrutinising and judging family and neighbours.
Excessive enmeshment in everyone else's business.
Minimise excessive drinking and the fall out from it.
Everyone must know their place and if they don't they get well and truly slapped down. Begrudgery is a national sport. Be prepared for the false poor mouth, execerised by financially comfortable people to try to stave off the Begrudgers. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"You have family that
Fought in The GPO
Have a bit of Nelsons Pillar
Saw U2 in The Dandelion market
"
Or a family member who took the Queen's shilling but nobody mentions him now |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I will in me hole....means I won't
Sure why wouldn't I....means I will
Sure you never know....means I might but probably won't
I will sometime...usually means not a chance lol
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By *og-ManMan
over a year ago
somewhere |
Culchies are people from outside Dublin
Cork people think they live in the real capital for some reason
Galway people complain about traffic all the time and think they live in the arts capital of Ireland
Donegal people complain complain that they dont have any railway track
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Culchies are people from outside Dublin
Cork people think they live in the real capital for some reason
Galway people complain about traffic all the time and think they live in the arts capital of Ireland
Donegal people complain complain that they dont have any railway track
"
You forgot Jackeens are people from Dublin |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Going to the Gaeltacht is a largely middle-class rite of passage where teenagers spend 3 weeks at Irish college in the Irish speaking parts of the country, while living in the homes of local people |
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"Going to the Gaeltacht is a largely middle-class rite of passage where teenagers spend 3 weeks at Irish college in the Irish speaking parts of the country, while living in the homes of local people"
This is where you go to get your first shift and maybe a feel |
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By *oghunter33Woman
over a year ago
on the hill NordWest of |
On the countryside it's all about the land, which is displayed as plain as possible: dormer bungalow set in a lawn which is cut religiously, no shrub or flower in sight.
Always come in/knock at the back door (still don't understand why but I'm doing it now too).
If you're offered a cup of tea, remember it's just a rhetorical offer.
Always offer a cup of tea to visitor/neighbours.
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"Calling cupboards "presses"
This confused the shite out of me when I came here. Also hot press instead of airing cupboard.
Also "the shift" is Ireland only I think "
You need to put the messages in the press or you won't get the shift. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Calling cupboards "presses"
This confused the shite out of me when I came here. Also hot press instead of airing cupboard.
Also "the shift" is Ireland only I think
You need to put the messages in the press or you won't get the shift. "
Messages = groceries |
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"Learn the culture and history just be yourselves were welcoming to other cultures each county really has there own culture but the one thing we have in common is were welcoming ppl.."
I'd like to think that's true, but my experience is that people are a bit suspicious of other cultures here. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Learn the culture and history just be yourselves were welcoming to other cultures each county really has there own culture but the one thing we have in common is were welcoming ppl..
I'd like to think that's true, but my experience is that people are a bit suspicious of other cultures here."
I agree with you, it's an illusion the Irish have about how nice we are. |
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"Learn the culture and history just be yourselves were welcoming to other cultures each county really has there own culture but the one thing we have in common is were welcoming ppl.."
To their faces yes. |
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I think Ireland didn't really have the multicultural revolution that happened across the water. Until v recently Ireland was very much a net exporter of people rather than importers. Irish cultures spread elsewhere but they aren't used to dealing with it here. Things will change but it will take time and a willingness to adapt. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I think Ireland didn't really have the multicultural revolution that happened across the water. Until v recently Ireland was very much a net exporter of people rather than importers. Irish cultures spread elsewhere but they aren't used to dealing with it here. Things will change but it will take time and a willingness to adapt."
Very true, it only takes a small downturn in the country's fortunes for people to start looking for the outsider to blame. |
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"Poitin is a magical drink that you can get from a friend of a friend of a friend
Having only been here 15 years, we are only blowins so aren't trusted with the Poitin"
I'm from Limerick but because I'm not from Galway my 17yrs here count for nowt. Also I'm under 50 so too young for the inner circle |
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By *affa31Woman
over a year ago
Galway |
People are fiercely protective of where they’re from. They can bitch about the place but outsiders can’t. And god forbid you mistake them as being from the neighbouring village 
Irish mammies threaten their children with the wooden spoon and most families have a story about a wooden spoon being broken over someone’s arse. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Bob Geldof is Irish
Bono is Irish
Conor Mcgregor is British
Really oh thank god
They can have the other two as well as far as I'm concerned. "
Jesus don’t they’ll try sending him back |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Bob Geldof is Irish
Bono is Irish
Conor Mcgregor is British
Really oh thank god
They can have the other two as well as far as I'm concerned.
Jesus don’t they’ll try sending him back "
We can give the other two too the Americans they love politics |
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The hot press might not be hot,
Cold water comes out of both hot and cold taps,
The front door is just for show, and maybe the postman,
The postman knows what's in your post,
Your neighbours know everything about you, especially if you're a blow in.
You're a blow in for several generations,
If you want any information, befriend the oldest woman in the community.. She knows where the skeletons are buried.
Always read planning notices, and rip, ie,
Be careful buying land as a foreigner.. There's 800 years of history just waiting to be dumped on you.
Become a swinger, your neighbours well presume you are one anyway, dont dissapoint them.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"There's a few historical events that split whole families and they've never spoken since
( bit like lidl and Aldi )
One was the civil war
The other is simply called Saipan "
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Well I'm a taxi driver and picked up this French lady and she told me ireland and its people helped her to settle here cos they stop and talk and make you feel welcome . Where as in France they look after their selves |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"
Irish twins - siblings born within 12months of each other "
I'm one..10 mths 2 wks older than my brother..caused ructions for the 6 weeks we were twins each year |
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By *ollypop9Woman
over a year ago
wouldn't you like to know |
Your mother lighting a candle will help you pass your driving test, leaving cert and most other things...
Putting out the statue of the child of Prague the night before, means we are sure to get good weather the next day.
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"Your mother lighting a candle will help you pass your driving test, leaving cert and most other things...
Putting out the statue of the child of Prague the night before, means we are sure to get good weather the next day.
"
I'm impressed Lolly |
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By *panishRebelMan
over a year ago
Alicante Spain, and Cork City Ireland |
"Slaggin' - nobody does it quite like we do
Wakes - as above
GAA
Wakes? "
A wake is a party held for a dead person traditionaly before burial with the body present in the coffin.
Nowadays it's morphed mostly, into a soup sandwich tea and beer thing as afters at the local pub, with a section reserved for the afters of a funeral. |
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"Your mother lighting a candle will help you pass your driving test, leaving cert and most other things...
Putting out the statue of the child of Prague the night before, means we are sure to get good weather the next day.
"
Where was the f*cking Child of Prague in July and August. If I ever catch hold of it I'll knock its head off! |
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"Your mother lighting a candle will help you pass your driving test, leaving cert and most other things...
Putting out the statue of the child of Prague the night before, means we are sure to get good weather the next day.
"
And people say St Anthony helps you find stuff.
Irish people can be cryptically vague, often saying things like yer man, your woman or yer wan (these people do not actually belong to you!)
Up the road and down the road is another one. The road may be flat. |
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"Your mother lighting a candle will help you pass your driving test, leaving cert and most other things...
Putting out the statue of the child of Prague the night before, means we are sure to get good weather the next day.
And people say St Anthony helps you find stuff.
Irish people can be cryptically vague, often saying things like yer man, your woman or yer wan (these people do not actually belong to you!)
Up the road and down the road is another one. The road may be flat. "
You go over the road first and then down the road. If you pass the telephone pole you've gone too far. |
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And places that are called after some shop that was there 60 years ago lol.
Like the sign may say Centra but locally it's still called Burke's or something!!
Oh I'm feeling so sorry for blowin's now lol |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I wouldn't take being an outsider personally. If you're born in one place here and move to another place, you'll always be an outsider, and that's with their own Ask anyone and you'll see the county and town rivalries. Dublin/Cork, Killavullen/Kildorrery!
Just be yourselves. Diversity is better  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"You may meet people with names like Dan jim Dan or Connie Mike sean. So his name is Sean, his father was Mike and his grandfather was Connie. Its disappearing now tho"
Ya we are more like you’re country folk now it’s shakira Beyoncé Rihanna come in for your dinner |
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- A mug of tae with a pig sandwich (a dying tradition) 
- Knowing that you've been to Coppers doesn't mean you're in trouble with the law
- Saying "Sure he's only a bollox" as a term of endearment, affection and respect for a friend and fellow countryman 
- Sarcasm (what we fully introduced to the world)
- To slag off your best friend (as a test of the robustness of your relationship)
- The god given right to feel like royalty with the expectation of awe and admiration when you're abroad as you impress people with "I'M FROM IRELAND" 
- Not being able to speak a word of Irish (10 years after secondary school) beyond "Conas a tá tú?" "uachtar reoite" and that old gem "An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?"
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By *ollypop9Woman
over a year ago
wouldn't you like to know |
Half the nation sitting down in front of their TV at the end of November, watching a Toy show.
Tayto Sandwich
Breakfast Roll
Stew
Boxty at Halloween
Kilnaskully is another program which gives great examples
And we definitely need to discuss that there was good drying out.
Delectable, still impressed ? Lol |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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It will be 'grand' can ve a question or a statement depending in the inflection on the end either way it still means it's completely fucked.
I will yea = No fucking way in hell will I do that
You insult (slang off) only your good friends, if your not being slagged off by your mates they ain't your friends
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"Half the nation sitting down in front of their TV at the end of November, watching a Toy show.
Tayto Sandwich
Breakfast Roll
Stew
Boxty at Halloween
Kilnaskully is another program which gives great examples
And we definitely need to discuss that there was good drying out.
Delectable, still impressed ? Lol"
Oh there was great drying out today so there was. Long may it last. |
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By *om TangoMan
over a year ago
aughnacloy monaghan area |
The word fuck has many meanings in Ireland
Will I fuck means I’m not doing that
Go ta fuck means go away from about me
Fuck that means that’s not good
Fuck me means that’s shocking
Fuck this means I hate this
What the fuck means what did u just say or do
The days are gone to fuck means we have less daylight hours.
We have spuds for breakfast and dinner. Spuds not potatoes. Crisp sandwiches with brown chef sauce is our favourite sandwich. We want people to do well for themselves but once the start doing well for themselves we want them to fail. There is no alcoholics in Ireland. Just a few that are fond of a drink. We’re not racist, we’re only joking about someone culture or skin colour. |
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"Half the nation sitting down in front of their TV at the end of November, watching a Toy show.
Tayto Sandwich
Breakfast Roll
Stew
Boxty at Halloween
Kilnaskully is another program which gives great examples
And we definitely need to discuss that there was good drying out.
Delectable, still impressed ? Lol"
Boxty all year round
potatoes? It's spuds |
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