Best Donegal Slang

IfUSeekAmy

deman wrote: »

Brave(n)

That's a braven big farm.

or

He has a brave wee bit o' money.



Very unique to the NW.

My nan uses that all the time. Far reaches of WestKerry.

muffler

IfUSeekAmy wrote: »

My nan uses that all the time. Far reaches of WestKerry.

bjaysus, thats a brave reach

Madam

deman wrote: »

Absolutely not. The Laggan accent ends around Manor and then continues up around Ramelton a bit.

So what 'district'(?) is L'Kenny in then

deman

Just because a place might be in a district doesn't mean it uses the local slang. Letterkenny's accent has a lot of outside influence as people moved there for work, education, whatever...

Madam

deman wrote: »

Just because a place might be in a district doesn't mean it uses the local slang. Letterkenny's accent has a lot of outside influence as people moved there for work, education, whatever...

As would most of the Laggan and the Finn Valley - mostly people from down the county in Gweedore and The Rosses before the 1950 and to a certain extent afterwards would have had an influence in slang words:) Not to mention Scots wans over on holiday with their own slang words to add to the mix;)

deman

The Scots would fit in very well with the Laggan accent.

And I don't really think you can compare the amount of people that moved to Letterkenny with those who moved to the Finn Valley/Laggan area. The Letterkenny accent is an accent on its own and is not a Laggan accent. I've never heard a Letterkenny person saying that they were scunnered because their wee cutty wudnae sleep last night.

Madam

deman wrote: »

The Scots would fit in very well with the Laggan accent.

And I don't really think you can compare the amount of people that moved to Letterkenny with those who moved to the Finn Valley/Laggan area. The Letterkenny accent is an accent on its own and is not a Laggan accent. I've never heard a Letterkenny person saying that they were scunnered because their wee cutty wudnae sleep last night.

Lol - So what your saying the L'kenny folk are somehow 'posher' than the rest of Donegal?

deman

Madam wrote: »

Lol - So what your saying the L'kenny folk are somehow 'posher' than the rest of Donegal?

Where did I say that??

Madam

deman wrote: »

Where did I say that??

Of course you did'nt, I was being a wee bit facetious but the folk I know from L'Kenny, you would'nt know if they came from Manor or even as far out as Newtoncunningham, they just seem(to my ear)to speak that little bit faster than those.

Noreen1

In fairness, I think Letterkenny is a bit of a melting pot of accents, because people from all over the county go there to shop, or study at LYIT.

Then again, maybe I formed that impression through talking to staff in various outlets, who may not actually be from Letterkenny in the first place?

Does it really matter, anyway?
People "down the country" can't differentiate - then again, half the people down the Country seem to think we live in Northern Ireland.:D

lovebud

just to change it a bit there was a program on bbc last night about the outer hebrides an old lady was interviewed her accent was almost identical to the gweedore or west donegal accent anyone see it

Noreen1

I missed the programme, though I remember watching a sketch on another programme where people were speaking Scots "Gallic".

I was surprised to find that I could actually understand the odd word. Some of the pronunciations were identical to Donegal Irish. Mind you, other words were unfathomable...:D

Not so surprising, really - Columbcille was a busy wee man:p:D:D.

Madam

lovebud wrote: »

just to change it a bit there was a program on bbc last night about the outer hebrides an old lady was interviewed her accent was almost identical to the gweedore or west donegal accent anyone see it

Did'nt see it, but we used to have a lovely wee bar/restaurant near us in Glasgow with two two waitresses, one from The Hebrides and the other from Donegal (The Rosses) - you'd have thought they were sisters. with the sing songy accents:)

boxer.fan

Gawn doon tae the deak abeen thon now an tik a ganner at them beece

= Go down to the hedge behind that hill and have a look at those cattle.

mugbags

boxer.fan wrote: »

Gawn doon tae the deak abeen thon now an tik a ganner at them beece

= Go down to the hedge behind that hill and have a look at those cattle.

lol! that's mare liker the sort a chat am used te! thems quare beece doon thonder fenenst thon deak our abeen thon now! I have ancestry around Carrigans/Killea area and the 'language' seems to have migrated with them to Kilmacrenan! Also did anyone ever hear of a 'dag' meaning a heavy downpour of rain? or a 'plash' again meaning a wile downpour of rain or too much gravy on your dinner?!:D

Dr. Fell

God's Scust to it! A Glencolmcillese exclamation of frustration.

Noreen1

Dr. Fell wrote: »

God's Scust to it! A Glencolmcillese exclamation of frustration.

It's been a while since I heard that one, lol.

Madam

Dr. Fell wrote: »

God's Scust to it! A Glencolmcillese exclamation of frustration.

It's a long time since I heard that, but my family from just outside Raphoe have been known to use it, granted their all in their 70s and 80s so maybe it's a generations thing with the slang - not that I regard it as slang more of a dialect don't you think?

muffler

I heard that a good few times also but I always thought it was "God's curse on it"

Noreen1

I think it's "Gods cuss", but it ends up being rolled into "Gods scusst".

I don't know where the "t" at the end came from.:D

Dr. Fell

Madam wrote: »

It's a long time since I heard that, but my family from just outside Raphoe have been known to use it, granted their all in their 70s and 80s so maybe it's a generations thing with the slang - not that I regard it as slang more of a dialect don't you think?

Perhaps. I called it Gleneese because i never heard anyone else using it. Glad its as far east as Raphoe. Perhaps farther.....?

Burnt

What about,

Snahwee: derogatory, a conniving/slippery etc... person
Covey: man/boy
Stachai: boy
Glar: muck
snoke/snokin': search for something surreptitiously
a wee baul of tea: bowl of tea
coped: turned over or capsized
shower: collection or bunch
grape: a hay fork with more than two prongs

bobby14

I was out planting a few daffodils in my estate a few years ago and a little girl who went to the gaelscoil was helping. It started to rain and one of the men asked the girl what was the irish for rain. She replied "pishin"

mugbags

Gleestered: Plastered with, usually in relation to a messy eater's face for example when he was finished eating his face was gleestered with gravy/jam/grease etc!

Sludered: Plastered with, usually in relation to a messy paint job for example he sludered the paint on the chair (and it went everywhere!)

weefarmer

Curse a jesus on it!

Die dog, or ****e the licence!

Things are getting tight when you hear that.

I'd say ive heard nearly all of these and used most of them too.