We’re on the cusp of a new season! Yet, because we’re playing the first game in another land, I fear some of our fans don’t appreciate the moment because they don’t quite understand what’s being said. I am going to do my best to take a little time now and fill folks in on some basic Irish slang I’ve learned. This will be of service to our fans who have come across the ocean for the game, our fans who will be staying at home for the event, and perhaps even our fine young men and women who are here in beautiful Dublin either to play or to watch.
Garda: What we would call the police. They don’t have side arms over here, but they can run pretty fast (without the help of any cabbies). So it’s best to leave them very well alone. Razzers, Raz, mules, pigs, peelers, shades – it’s all the same and I’m not bailing anyone out.
Black Mariah: What the Garda bring if there’s too many of you to collect at once. We call them Paddy Wagons…because we’re honest.
Fir: It means ‘Men’ in the sense of ‘men only’. You’ll see it on doors to the necessary room and your hotel room after 2:00 in the morning.
Baile Atha Cliath: The proper name for Dublin in the Irish language. Some of these folks really hate the English and anything that came with them. As a Frenchman, I can’t say that I disagree.
Tan: An Englishman. Which is odd, because those people are really quite pale.
Pale: Then again, the Pale was that area of Ireland around Dublin where the English were in control for centuries.
Ulster: Evidently, the security deposit the English required when they gave the Irish their independence.
Craic Agus Ceol: This generally means ‘nightlife’. If there’s too much craic, it becomes a problem – but not if you make the plane on Sunday morning (sins are a local thing).
Bogball: Football, but not our kind of football.
Gaa: In charge of football, but not our kind of football.
Garrison Game: A football game, but not the sort we recognize.
Ri-Ra: Our kind of football game.
Git: A Navy fan.
Eejit: A Michigan fan.
Caffler: A Miami fan.
Arse: A USC fan.
Fecky the Ninth: A Purdue fan.
Shite: Boston College.
Bollocks: The NCAA.
Boyo: A lad from Zahm.
Chips: Long sections of extruded potato meal, deep fried – also called French fries, though I know not why.
Crisps: Thin slices of potato, deep fried and petrified – the staple of any Boyo’s diet.
Gobsmacked: Something we do not want to be at the end of the game.
Black Stuff: That brown, soupy slag they call Guinness beer. And why is the factory the highest point in Dublin? Is this a challenge or a means of culling the herd?
Jameson: The good stuff.
Chucker-out: An usher, and in this case an usher who doesn’t shush, but removes.
Da: You may call me ‘Da Sorin’.
Brasser: A woman of ill-repute…meaning from East Lansing.
Colcannon: Some sort of building material the Irish serve with every meal.
Brickin’ It: Nervous to the point of soiling oneself – essentially the whole fourth quarter.
Brown Trout: Apparently what results if one is brickin’ it for too long, though I am quite certain I ordered this off a menu.
Bucket of Snots: A particularly unattractive person. Oddly, it’s missing only the ‘C’ in order to be BCS.
Dickey Dazzler: Do we remember Digger Phelps?
Fanny: Not what we say in Indiana, and not what you’d think. Just don’t use this word.
Gaff: House, home. Where you need to be prior to the Garda looking for you.
Gasun: A child, or in our terms, a future alumnus.
Gutties: Athletic shoes. But not the green-white-and-orange kind. Seriously, we couldn’t give these eyesores away.
Rubber Dollies: Same thing, although it sounds like something we’re suing the federal government over.
Hames: A mess or a debacle. Not to be confused with Hammes. Which means goldmine.
Punch: Booze.
Juice: Booze.
Poteen: Booze.
Craythur: Booze.
Porter: Booze.
Mother’s Ruin: Booze.
Lilly the Pink: Booze.
Little Green Man: Booze.
The Demon Creature: Booze.
Uisce Beatha: Literally the ‘water of life’. Booze.
Tae: Not booze.
Rosie Lee: Tae.
Bunk Off: What all of our students are doing in Ireland when they should be studying in Indiana.
Hockeyed Them Out of It: To really beat someone. Essentially what we will do to Navy.
Hooley: What goes on after we begin the season with a win over Navy.
Hoor: Enough said. Think Mishawaka.
Laudy Daw: Member of the Board of Trustees.
Life of Reilly: What you can all live until you get back to Indiana.
Like a Blue-Arsed Fly: Running all over the place. What our offense will do.
Jaysus: The Lord.
Ma: The BVM.
Rashers: Not what you would think. It means bacon.
Bangers: Not what you would think. It means sausages.
Plastic Paddy: Our Alumni…for better or for worse.
Scratcher: Bed. Where you should all be by 10:00 at night. Where everyone watching the game in the States will be by Noon.
Shower of Savages: The opposing team’s fans.
Wanker: Pinkett.
Couldn’t Hit a Cow’s Arse with a Banjo: Navy’s quarterback.
Damsha Bua: How we start the season.
EFS CSC
Son, in 199 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard, incontrovertible facts: There is a God, and I'm pretty tight with Him.
Now I’m going to tell you a whole lot of things I’ve kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew me. I was along before your time, but you all know what a tradition I am at Notre Dame. And one of the most important things I ever said was, “Friends, sometime when my University is up against it and the breaks are beating the students, tell them to go out there with all they’ve got and win at everything for Padre. I don’t know exactly where I’ll be then, friends,” I said, “but I’ll be looking right over your shoulder.”
- Good Fridays w/Padre: WORTHY! - November 30, 2018
- Good Fridays w/Padre: The Horror - October 26, 2018
- Good Fridays w/Padre: BALLS! - September 7, 2018
