Great Galway sayings

Fuinseog

churchview wrote: »

Shortened sometimes to "she's bet down looking"

have you actually heard this? i got it in the feckin book of irish slang, but never heard it used.

Steyr

churchview wrote: »

Look back to post 63 on this thread. The poster there writes a kind of a dialogue and one of the conversationalists says that he or she is off to the Claddagh Bank. The other replies that he or she will see him or her there.

Now here's where the misunderstanding arises. In post 71 you imply that they meant they were going to the Claddagh basin, but what they're actually saying is that they'll meet at the Unemployment exchange because, gah help iz! they're both on the dole. You and the poster are talking about two different things.

You, the Claddagh basin. The other poster, the Claddagh Bank = the dole office.




I'd say this is more of an age thing. I'm a few years older than you and I'd hear and have heard loads of oul wans saying "Gah help iz" - I can't write it the way it sounds! There's a distinctly Galway way of saying this in the old Galway accent, not the more modern Westside type Galway accent. "Lord bless us and save us" is more a kind of dramatic statement whereas the other would be more to punctuate, e.g. "He's a grand lad, gah help iz"

Sound :pac:

?Cee?view

Fuinseog wrote: »

have you actually heard this? i got it in the feckin book of irish slang, but never heard it used.

God yeah. I said it myself to my wife just a week or two ago when she asked me what I thought of her brother's new girlfriend. Mind you, he's no oil painting himself

Steyr

Fuinseog wrote: »

apparently there are four different types of accents within the city

shantalla,
mervue
g4
?

Im Westside thru and thru, where the hell is G4? :eek: :eek: :pac:

?Cee?view

Steyr wrote: »

Im Westside thru and thru, where the hell is G4? :eek: :eek: :pac:

It's more a state of mind than a place - kind of like D4 and the "rindabout" types. Those that aspire to be G4 are generally ****

Fuinseog

Steyr wrote: »

Sound :pac:

sound as a bell.

BTW has the term -savage- arrived in the west?

Steyr

churchview wrote: »

It's more a state of mind than a place - kind of like D4 and the "rindabout" types. Those that aspire to be G4 are generally ****

Oh Roysh...:cool:

Steyr

Just made this a minute ago..:D:pac::D

Fuinseog

Steyr wrote: »

Im Westside thru and thru, where the hell is G4? :eek: :eek: :pac:

not necessarily a state of mind. remember when moycullen and Bearna aka Borna were inhabited solely by muck savages, only to be replaced by a kind of high society(perhaps colonists from south dublin wanting to move down the country).
the great thing about galway is that try as it might with venues like buskers it cannot really do posh and upmarket.

Fuinseog

Steyr wrote: »

Just made this a minute ago..:D:pac::D

but it can be attempted. we just need to drive away the hippies from the market on saturday and make it a real formers morket.

there is space for yachts in the harbour.

what else do we need to change.

maybe jack up the price of heino in buskers and the quays to keep away teh scobies.

?Cee?view

Steyr wrote: »

Just made this a minute ago..:D:pac::D

Now that's just pure brilliance Steyr!

THANKS!!!

Dr McManus

You're about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe.

Steyr

Dr McManus wrote: »

You're about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe.

Tits on a bull........Pure useless

?Cee?view

Steyr wrote: »

Tits on a bull........Pure useless

...an ashtray on a motorbike

Lupo_solitario

Happy Out , Not a Bother

Nice topic to start a thread op ,its been a top read

mathepac

Steyr wrote: »

Simply said if people were going "down the Claddagh" or "Down The Arch" ...

Galway people, unless they were reared on Eastenders re-runs wouldn't say "going down the ..." anything - that's very much an English / London thing "Ah'm goin' dahn the boozah, Elsie, aw rhight girl?"

dolphin city

Steyr wrote: »

Im not from The Claddagh but its known as The Claddagh Basin as that is what it is which is what i said.




Not rubbish, Again i never said it didnt exist but i have heard that more in Dublin than in Galway, i have heard more "oh lord bless us and save us" in Galway more than the other but this is most likely a Nationwide saying.

ah its okay steyr - just keep believing that Galway was only built and functioning since you were born - :D:D:D:D Anyone living before 1983 weren't really Galway at all. As I say, before "your time" the spanish arch and the claddagh were not automatically associated with buckfast and drink. It used to be quite a classy place, before the booze brains took it over

?Cee?view

dolphin city wrote: »

ah its okay steyr - just keep believing that Galway was only built and functioning since you were born - :D:D:D:D Anyone living before 1983 weren't really Galway at all. As I say, before "your time" the spanish arch and the claddagh were not automatically associated with buckfast and drink. It used to be quite a classy place, before the booze brains took it over

Ah for Gods sake, will you move on? Steyr has. Read the posts above.

?Cee?view

mathepac wrote: »

Galway people, unless they were reared on Eastenders re-runs wouldn't say "going down the ..." anything - that's very much an English / London thing "Ah'm goin' dahn the boozah, Elsie, aw rhight girl?"

Completely disagree. Very common to hear "I'm goin down" whether it's up, down, across or wherever. Thinking about it, it probably comes about as a direct translation from Irish as do many speech patterns on Galway.
Many families moved in from Connemara and set up business or kept fishing e.g. mcdonaghs on quay street, mcdonoghs on merchants road, and idiomatic expressions passed from Irish to English.

threeleggedhors

Not from Galway but living here for years. Galwegians have funny grammar, they say "I'm going doing something this evening" instead of "I'm going to do something this evening". Anybody else notice this ? "Shtop the lights" is one I hear alot too

mathepac

threeleggedhors wrote: »

... they say "I'm going doing something this evening" ...

Not specifically a Galway saying. My grandparents used this. term; neither had any Galway connections

threeleggedhors wrote: »

... "Shtop the lights" is one I hear alot too

Not a Galway saying. It comes from the old Quicksilver quiz programme on the B&W telly.

Starie1975

Alright a Mhac.

Greaney

I'm suprised only one person has posted 'on the shift'!!

Are ya on the shift tonight? or 'She shifted yer man last night', basically, it ment kissing/snogging and to be 'on the shift' was to be looking for an oul kiss when clubbing.

Here's one heard on the castlepark bus back in the mid eighties by a mate of mine... 'I'll split yer head and use ya as a trocaire box!!', another term used during that tirade was 'I'll put yer head in me pocket!', I haven't heard it since ... except when my mates and I are messing.

My young fella says 'yer alright' when declining ...eg. 'Would you like a cup of tea?', 'yer alright', translation... 'I'm fine and I'll decline your offer'

Does anyone remember when we called Goths 'Pookies'.?

inisboffin

Colloquialisms are so fluid now, we'd have to be specific in how long ago something originated in an area.

Shift is a great one Greaney! But shift is heard in Dublin too, the Dublin 'shift' usually meant going a bit further than the Galway shift!:p

All the words with 'een' are from the Irish, and although loveen is heard in other places, you'd hear it most in Galway.

Fuinseog

Starie1975 wrote: »

Alright a Mhac.

the Connies say this this alll the time, although gramtically speaking it should be a mhic. not necessarily unique to galway. the americans adopted it as mack.

Fuinseog

[. As I say, before "your time" the spanish arch and the claddagh were not automatically associated with buckfast and drink. It used to be quite a classy place, before the booze brains took it over [/QUOTE]


the claddagh and the poirse caoch area were slums. the claddagh vilage posed a major health risk and TB was rife around the spannish arch

Starie1975

Fuinseog wrote: »

the Connies say this this alll the time, although gramtically speaking it should be a mhic. not necessarily unique to galway. the americans adopted it as mack.

Connies don't say "this this" and are you correcting my Irish :rolleyes:

?Cee?view

Fuinseog wrote: »

[. As I say, before "your time" the spanish arch and the claddagh were not automatically associated with buckfast and drink. It used to be quite a classy place, before the booze brains took it over

the claddagh and the poirse caoch area were slums. the claddagh vilage posed a major health risk and TB was rife around the spannish arch[/QUOTE]

Classy; I missed that - that's Gas!

There were tenements in behind the Spanish Arch, along much of Flood Street, and on the lower part of Middle Street. Claddagh of course was flattened in the 30s or 40s - dunno which off hand.

Poirse Caoch - funny how some translate the Spanish Arch as that, whereas others would recognise the Blind Arch as the blocked one to the right.

ciaranmac

Can't believe this thread has gone 9 pages and nobody mentioned well wear, buckled/twishted/warped, or sick as a small hospital. Or were they all on a page I missed by mistake?

mathepac

ciaranmac wrote: »

... well wear, buckled/twishted/warped, or sick as a small hospital. ...

Not unique to Galwah IME a mhaceen

threeleggedhors

mathepac wrote: »

Not unique to Galwah IME a mhaceen

mathepac, you keep saying all these quotes are not unique to Galway, that may be true but neither me nor the mrs. ever heard them until we came to Galway so as far as we're concerned they're Galway sayings

nuac

most of sayings quoted are heard all over Ireland.

some are travellers' cant.

civis_liberalis

Starie1975 wrote: »

Alright a Mhac.

That's Conamara a mhac

Bazzo

Pretty much all of these aren't unique to Galway, I'm fairly sure that nowadays you'll hear a hodge podge of sayings from all around the country in Galway. Probably to do with the big student population.

mrsdewinter

threeleggedhors wrote: »

mathepac, you keep saying all these quotes are not unique to Galway, that may be true but neither me nor the mrs. ever heard them until we came to Galway so as far as we're concerned they're Galway sayings

Really? You never heard "I'm going doing that job tonight"? I'm pretty sure it's not confined to Galway.
And "Stop the lights" is a generational one. If your parents were around in the 70s, they definitely will have heard it in the context of a phrase popularised by Bunny Carr, was it? By the early 80s, schoolchildren were still saying it - and I know that because I was a schoolgirl.
I think this thread is becoming a catalogue of "phrases I never heard until I left home and had to live with people outside my socio-economic class /family circle".

Andrea B.

"givusyurodds! "

inisboffin

Andrea B. wrote: »

"givusyurodds! "

Old Dublin afaik

thesandeman

I and many other locals still call the Q bridge 'the new bridge'. I know its not technicaly a saying but its definitely unique to Galway.

Andrea B.

Old Dublin afaik

Very prevalent in Galway in 80's and said in parelle with n****r tapping your pockets.

evil_seed

10 pages in and not one mention of "Ya won't feel it til the races". Followed by "Sure once the races are over you're ****ed"

Others: Gomie, beure, goin for a bottle.

Thats all for now off th etop of my head

dolphin city

thesandeman wrote: »

I and many other locals still call the Q bridge 'the new bridge'. I know its not technicaly a saying but its definitely unique to Galway.

very true.

yeehaw

A thread full to the brim of absolute nonsense.

Jamey

evil_seed wrote: »

10 pages in and not one mention of "Ya won't feel it til the races". Followed by "Sure once the races are over you're ****ed"

Others: Gomie, beure, goin for a bottle.

Thats all for now off th etop of my head

Gomie, beure, as said before are primarily Tuam words.

How can 'goin for a bottle' be a Galway saying?
Seems just like a general phrase to describe drinking a bottle of alcohol in the future tense, which I'm sure would be used by all who speak the English language.

gazza99

gomie. lol brings back memories.lol

Starie1975

Heard this one at lunch time today, one fella was describing the small stature of a hurler he saw playing yesterday.

"You'd find bigger legs in a snack box!"

Mrs OBumble

Jamey wrote: »

How can 'goin for a bottle' be a Galway saying?
Seems just like a general phrase to describe drinking a bottle of alcohol in the future tense, which I'm sure would be used by all who speak the English language.

Perhaps only in the more alcohol-infused cultures ...

Tomebagel

Jamey wrote: »

Gomie, beure, as said before are primarily Tuam words.

How can 'goin for a bottle' be a Galway saying?
Seems just like a general phrase to describe drinking a bottle of alcohol in the future tense, which I'm sure would be used by all who speak the English language.

The thread says 'Great Galway sayings'.

Tuam is in Galway.

goin for a bottle o' b

inisboffin

Andrea B. wrote: »

Very prevalent in Galway in 80's and said in parelle with n****r tapping your pockets.

Yep, definitely heard in Dublin decades before that, and regularly used there by kids asking for money from a parent or older sibling. I actually suspect it may be Victorian.

Jamey

Tomebagel wrote: »

The thread says 'Great Galway sayings'.

In the 'Galway City' board...... :rolleyes: