Irish Words

I was talking on Facebook to a couple of people back in the United States and I realized that a couple of words that I have learned here have already been integrated into my vocabulary.

Before I left, I joked with my girlfriend that I need to find new words to replace ‘interesting’ because I abuse that word so much that, at times, things don’t appear interesting anymore.

Therefore, I was fortunate to come here and realize that there are a couple of words that I have learned that I can’t fathom not using anymore.

So many people use the word ‘grand’ and it’s a wonderful word to use. For example, instead of saying ‘I’m doing fine’, the typical response is ‘I’m doing grand’. Honestly, just saying that sounds more pleasant than the American response and I love using it from time to time.

Another word is ‘brilliant’. In America, we typically ‘That sounds great.’,’That’s great’,’Great’, etc. Here, you just replace great with brilliant and I feel it adds some excitement to any conversation.

One expression that I learned that I probably will never use in the United States is ‘what the crack?’. This typically means ‘What’s going on?’, ‘How’s everything?’. The problem with this expression is that I even find myself having to backtrack when I hear it because I think someone is openly asking about where the drug ‘crack’ is located. However, it was a grand experience last week when an Irish man asked me ‘What the crack?’ and I instinctively said ‘Nothing much man’ and left him smiling because I knew what he said.

Finally, the last expressions that I have enjoyed learning is ‘Thanks a million’ or ‘Thanks a mil’ and ‘Cheers’.

I have talked to other Americans and people from other European countries on how to respond to ‘Thanks a million’ and it has befuddled us because my response would be ‘Your welcome… a mil’ haha. Anyway, I talked to an Irish woman in our program the other day and she said that the response is typically ‘No worries’ or you could say ‘No problem’.

As for cheers, I have found it is used to toast for drinks and to wish people to have a great day before departing.

Therefore, I hope that you had a grand time reading through the Irish words that I heave learned thus far. It’s brilliant that words in different places are used more beautifully than in other parts of the world. Thanks a million for reading this update and I hope you have a brilliant time today. Cheers!