One of the best things about being a writer (aside from the whole you don't have to wear shoes at work thing, plus making stuff up all day long, and you spend your life playing with sentences) is that looking up things like what does fair play to you (which I heard in the lovely play ONCE last week) mean counts as WORK. It's research.
In case you are a writer/need to do some research of your own/need a procrastination moment/just love words, well, fair play to you. Here you go:
Some Irish slang
| Word or phrase | Example | Meaning |
| Acting the maggot | He was just acting the maggot as usual | Behaving foolishly, annoyingly |
| Bags | He made a bags of doing it | Messy inadequate job (see hames) |
| Banjaxed | It was banjaxed beyond all help | Broken, can also mean tired |
| Bold | You are a very bold boy | Naughty |
| Crack, craic | We had great craic that night | Hard to translate, roughly meaning fun |
| Culchies | The culchies were all over the place | Rural people, usually used disparagingly by city people |
| Cute hoor | I always knew he was a cute hoor | Untrustworthy male person, often a politician |
| Desperate | The place is in a desperate state | Bad, needing attention |
| Drawers | Her drawers were the size of Cork | Knickers, panties |
| Eat the head off | I'll eat the head off her | Attack verbally |
| Eejit | You're a right eejit | Idiot, fool |
| Fair play | Fair play to you | Indicates approval of someone's actions or opinions |
| Feck | Feck off, fecking thing, feck-all | Polite(-ish) version of other F word |
| Fella | Come here young fella | Male person, also used for boyfriend |
| Flitters | The dog left the shirt in flitters | Tatters |
| Fluthered | He was fluthered again | Drunk |
| Foostering | Just foostering about | Not getting much done, fussing |
| Full shilling | He's not the full shilling | Mentally competent |
| Gas | We had a bit of gas that day | Fun, enjoyment |
| Giving out | The teacher was always giving out to the class | Scolding. |
| Gob | He never shuts his gob | Mouth |
| Gobdaw | That fella's a right gobdaw | Fool, idiot |
| Gom | You're just acting the gom | Fool, idiot |
| Guff | Don't give me any of your guff | Idle talk or excuses |
| Gur | He's been on gur since Saturday | Staying away from home, usually a child |
| Hames | You made a terrible hames of that | Messy inadequate job (see bags) |
| Header | Keep away from that header | Mentally unstable person |
| Holliers | Two weeks holliers for me | Holidays, vacation time |
| Holy show | You made a holy show of yourself | Spectacle |
| Hop | He's been on the hop since Tuesday | Playing truant from school |
| Horse's hoof | That's a bit of a horse's hoof I think | Spoof, exaggerated story |
| Hump off | Would you ever hump off? | Go away, leave me alone |
| Jackeens | The jackeens think they're smart | Dublin person, usually used disparagingly by culchies |
| Jacks | I'm just off to the jacks | Toilet, restroom |
| Jaded | We're all jaded after it | Tired, exhausted |
| Kibosh | He put the kibosh on it | Added the last straw, completely banjaxed something |
| Langered/Langers | We were all langers | Drunk |
| Letting on | I was just letting on | Pretending |
| Mary Hick | That dress is really Mary Hick | Unfashionable, drab |
| Messages | I have to get the messages | Groceries |
| Mooching | He's mooching again for money | Sponging, almost begging |
| Mot | Have you got a mot? | Girlfriend |
| One | Some oul' one told her | Female person |
| Pictures | Want to come to the pictures? | Movies, Cinema |
| Puck | He got a puck in the gob | Sharp blow |
| Puss | She'd a right puss on her | Face, usually sulky |
| Reddener | She took a reddener when she saw him | Blush (see Scarlet) |
| Reef | I'll reef him when I see him | Attack, non-verbal |
| Scarlet | I'm scarlet for you | Blushing, often in sympathy with a friend's reddener |
| Scratcher | He's always in the scratcher | Bed |
| Scrawbed | Her face was all scrawbed | Scratched by fingernails |
| Shook | He was very shook looking | Pale, ill, scared |
| Slagging | I'm only slagging you | Making fun of someone, generally good-naturedly |
| Sleeveen | She's a bit of a sleeveen | Sly person, calculating |
| Stocious | He was stocious this evening | Drunk |
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