Archaic phrases

[Baron von Biffo]

We use something similar but it's more like;
"There's near a job around Mullingar"
"Any news?"-"Near a bit"
Seems to be used as isn't or not. Maybe it's something to do with there being no formal no in Irish.

Possibly from "ne'er" an archaic contraction of 'never.' "A ne'er do well."

[Baron von Biffo]

That's a funny one!

How about "My stomach thinks my throat's been cut."

Yeah, we have that in Offaly too.

A former colleague of mine used to credit John B. with, "She wasn't known for the exuberance of her table." but I can't find a reference to it anywhere.

[Baron von Biffo]

"Four-eyes" - anyone who wore glasses. I was one of only two children in my class who wore glasses and they called us "four-eyes". It was quite derogatory and upsetting back then.

Do children today still use the term? I haven't heard it in years.

Oh yes they do. I was called a four-eyed oul bollocks in the past fortnight. (Long story)

[femmefatale]

On the domestic front, in the North, if one's house isn't quite clean and in order, you might say, "The place is meetin' me" or "It's a midden." In which case, you need to "get red up."

[femmefatale]

Oh yes they do. I was called a four-eyed oul bollocks in the past fortnight. (Long story)

That's despert'.

[Lazarus]

Rozzers were cops and if you only got a cup of tea offered, it was referred to as "A naked cup of tae".

Not a phrase but holding on to a corner of your collar and saying the hail mary if an ambulance passed you was a "must". To stave off any bad luck!

She's always "poor-mouthing", that one. Someone who was always saying she was low on funds.

The memories this thread brings back. "The nit-nurse", Something bad you ate, "went through me like a dose of salt"/


Thanks FM

[IvoShandor]

How about

[COLOR="Red"]Langered
Scuttered
Fluthered[/COLOR]

..and 'mouldy','
'polluted',
'stocious',
'three sheets in the wind'

[scratchnsniff]

Just to show how far people have progressed, no one would think of saying.
"come on, play the white man" anymore or condoning it.
We may think that things never change, but the droping or disaprovel of phrases such as this by the population shows otherwise. Everyone pat themselves on the back.

[MsAnneThrope]

Knock-n-Dolly - a game of dare where you had to knock on someone's door and then leg it before they came out

"I bags" - to lay claim to something. "I bags the butt" = "I want the butt of the cigarette"

"The skin" - the last one or two millimetres of a cigarette before you were actually smoking the filter itself. A shout of "I bags the butt!" was always followed by "I bags the skin then!"

"A fag 'n' a match" - a single cigarette and one red match that you could light by striking off nearly anything. You'd get them for between 5 to 10 old pence usually. I think those red matches are now banned in Ireland? "I'll get you a fag 'n' a match if you do a knock-n-dolly on old Mr. Hegarty"

"There's a wind out there that'd smoke yer fag" - a very windy day during which it was foolish to try smoke outside. The wind would literally smoke your cigarette on you.

[realist]

"A penny for the black babies"
The slogan used during the aid for Biafra campaign.