Glossary

Finding yourself a little lost in the local dialect in Big Girl, Small Town? Can’t tell your tae from your tae? Here’s a glossary of the Aghybogeyisms for international audiences, with pronunciations by wonderful voice-actor Tina Lynch.

Ach - Exclamation, often used at the start of a sentence to express empathy, unhappiness, sympathy, disappointment etc.

Aghybogey - (placename); a fictional village in rural Northern Ireland (from the Irish Achadh Bogaigh meaning 'boggy/swampy field'). 

Alkie - Slang for alcoholic or binge drinker

Ah - I

ah'm - I'm  

anna - And a

ann - And

arse - Buttocks or irritating person

Aye - Yes

Babby - Baby. Plural ‘babbies’.

baste - Literal meaning is beast. Hateful, loathsome, scary thing or person; “That was a baste of a day” referring to a bad day at work. Used at times as a strong condemnation or insult for a person.

Bate - Beat or beaten. Also means to hurriedly complete an action: “I bate my lunch into as me I was due on a conference call at 12.45pm”.

Blether - Mindless talking, often a near monologue.

Bogging - Dirty, filthy

Bogger - Insulting name for a person from the country.

Boke - Vomit

Bokey - Nauseous 

Boking - Vomiting

Bout ye - Shortened version of ‘what about you?’ - a friendly enquiry into someone’s mental and physical health that is often only answered by saying ‘Bout ye?’ in return.

childern - Colloquial pronunciation of children.

cleastered - Plastered with a sticky or greasy substance.

clabber - Muck (often farmyard mud mixed with animal faeces)

clart - A dirty, unhygienic female.

Clonbogey - (placename) a fictional townland (from the Irish Cluin Bogaigh meaning Swampy Meadow). 

Coul - Cold; feeling cold; extreme low temperatures; the common cold

Cowped - Toppled over

Craic - Great fun; the latest news; the status of any subject. 

Croil - A very small person, a runt, a stunted fruit or vegetable.

Cuddy - A young woman or small girl. Plural: cuddies. 

Cub - Young man or small boy

Cuz - Because

Dander - A gentle stroll

Diddies - Breasts

Doing - A physical assault or a traditional prank before a wedding where the bride or groom (or both parties) are tied up in the back of a pick-up or trailer, covered in the contents of the kitchen bin and driven around their local area.

Eejit - Intellectual inferior; person who gets on your nerves 

Fag - Cigarette

Fáilte - Irish for welcome

Fanny - Female genitalia (not buttocks)

Footer - To fiddle with something. Footery meaning something small and fiddly that requires time and patience to tackle.

Free State - The Irish Free State was founded in 1922 with 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties. Though Ireland officially became the Republic of Ireland in 1948, the term ‘Free State’ is still used informally by some rural Nationalists.

Frig-all - Not much, nothing

Frig - An expletive – milder than fuck – used to express disbelief, surprise or shock.

Frigger - Insult applied to an irritating person.

Fut - Foot

garvaghy - (placename); a fictional townload in rural Northern Ireland (from the Irish Garbhachadh meaning rough field). 

Gumption - Initiative, intelligence, common sense

Dirning - Droning on

Dryshite - Someone who is zero craic, or a bit of a pain to get rid of

Gawk  - (Verb) to look intensely (often open-mouthed).
(noun) an ungainly male

Gleek - A quick, covert glance.

Gob - Mouth

Gobshite - Insult levelled at a know-it-all or an irritating person.

G’wan - Go on

Gulder - To roar, shout

gurning - Crying or complaining

fella - Fellow, man, chap.

foundered - Feeling very cold, next to hypothermia

hallion - A large, uncouth male who is often up to no good

internment - Refers to the British Army’s mass arrest and imprisonment without trial of 342 people suspected of being involved with the IRA.

hoke - Rummage – to search for something physically, by going through objects

hoor - Whore

hooring - Can mean rushing around, driving fast, or the act of prostitution.

kilt - Killed or in extremities – e.g. overworked, in pain, under pressure.

leggarred - Heavily applied, often used to describe layering something on top of something else (e.g. butter on bread)

lamped - The condition of being drunk or having been punched.

lock - A small amount (more than a couple, but less than a wheen).

langered - Very drunk

lug - (Noun) ear (verb) to carry something very heavy or cumbersome

mank - Muck, dirt, filth

Meenkeeragh  - (placename) from the Irish Mín na gcaorach meaning "Mountain Pasture of the Sheep”

Dunree  - (placename) from the Irish An Dún Riabhach, meaning "Grey Fort"

Month’s mind - A requiem mass held one month after someone’s death.

musta - Must have

nyammen - Whinging; crying in a self-pitying, attention-seeking way; long-winded expression of displeasure at a person or situation; a young kitten’s cry.

on the lock - Getting drunk in a public place.

on the tear - Getting drunk in a series of places, both public and private.

oxter - Armpit

pish - (Noun) urine (verb) urinating or raining heavily

Prod - Insulting abbreviation for Protestant often used by Catholic nationalists. 

the Rah - The Irish Republican Army

Reek - (Verb) emitting smoke (noun) pungent odour

Redd up - To tidy up

Reddener - Blush

Rift -Burp or belch

Scart - To dodge or make a quick pass around something

Sheugh - A drainage ditch at the edge of a field, often full of rain water.

Settee - Sofa, couch

Skitter - Diarrhoea; an annoying person or animal; a youth

Snootery - Snobby; posh

Steaming - Drunk

Stocious - Drunk

tae - To

tae - Tea

Taig - An ethnic slur used by some Protestant loyalists to refer to Catholic nationalists. It has been appropriated by some Catholics to self-describe.

The Cause - Euphemism for the IRA’s armed paramilitary campaign against British rule in Ireland usually used by supporters of the campaign.

Thole - Put up with, endure

Thon - That object or person over there.

til -To

till - Until

wan - One 

wean - Child – a corruption of ‘wee one’

wee - Small

weemen - Women

well oiled - Describing the condition of someone who is feeling the effects of having consumed a large amount of alcohol

wile - (Adverb) very, meaning extremely, e.g. I’m wile tired. (adjective) terrible, shocking, e.g. ‘isn’t it wile about climate change?’ 

whatter - Water

wouldnta - Would not have 

wrecked - Tired or drunk (depending on the context)

ye -You

yer - Your

GAA - Gaelic Athletic Association – the governing body of Irish hurling and Gaelic football.

RTÉ - Raidió Teilifís Éireann - Irish national public broadcasting service

BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation - British national public broadcasting service

UTV - Ulster Television - Northern Irish TV channel

Civil Resistance - The use of nonviolent resistance by Nationalists to challenge British rule.

Long Kesh - A colloquial name for Her Majesty's Prison, Maze, a prison in Northern Ireland used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles.

NHS - National health service

Sinn Fein - An Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.