You say potato, I say pototo...

I started thinking about all the goofy things they say over here, the way they talk and what Americans get made fun of for saying. So I decided to keep a little running tally for those of you (Rachel) who may be interested in imitating an Irish accent, or having a clue what people mean if you plan on ever coming here.

-As they see it, Americans say "a zillion" and "awesome" and "you guys" way too much.

- As I mentioned in one post, they constantly say, "What's the craic?" (different spelling I found out, sounds like crack though) meaning what have you been up to, do you have any good stories, what's the news, etc. You can also have craic, (Kelsey I know what you're thinking here) meaning that you have a great story or something really funny happened. Ex: "Living at 39 North 25th was great craic."

-The Irish use the word "like" even more than we do, but it's always at the end of a sentence. It's not a ditzy sounding thing like it is in the states. Ex: "He's very athletic like."

-A common way to say "Hello" or "How are you?" is "Howya now" or "Hiya!"

-If they're not using "like" at the end of a sentence, it's "so" instead. Ex: "Howya gettin' on so?"

-Their T is not a hard sound like ours. They almost roll their tongues a little with it. This sounds like a load of BS because I've only been here a week but I've actually started doing it a little without even noticing.

-They describe everything with the word grand, lovely, mighty, or brilliant.

-There are countless words for drunk: locked, pissed, snookered, and about 100 more that are suddenly slipping my mind.

-Yes they do say "arse" and "shite" and if you go to Ireland never under any circumstances say "fanny"- trust me it does not mean "butt" like it does in the states.

-When drinking a toast or cheers they sometimes say "slainte" (like it says on the Bennigans coasters) but I've heard so many people pronounce it wrong at home... it's pronounced sloncha with stress on the short o sound.

-People refer to weight sometimes, often their own weight, in terms of "stones". A "stone" is about 14 lbs. I was reading the paper and there was an ad that said, "Ladies! Lose half a stone!"

-So far I've not heard one Irish person make a "th" sound. It's always a "t" sound.

......."If ye could loose tree stone by ta turd o March tad be just grand like."

- I've been making the mistake of talking about my "roommates," who are both guys. Apparently "roommate" in Ireland means you are literally staying in one room together, and most likely the same bed... Oops! I've been desperately trying to replace the word with "housemate" or "flatmate" like everyone else says. But I can tell by the raised eyebrows when I've used the wrong word...