Its funny because even though they speak English here, there are many many things I don't understand either because of the accent and them speaking quickly or because the turn of phrase is so strange.
We went to Billy Elliot in London and at the intermission a family in front of us turned around and asked us how much of the phrases we were missing. There were loads (although there was a lot of cursing which did NOT go over our kids' heads. Johnny wondered what "PISS OFF!" meant!). I didn't miss "bent as a nine bob note."
The other day we were planning for our impending sleepover with Oscar and Pierce. The "lads" are coming over in a few weeks to spend a couple of nights as Dervla and her husband are heading somewhere fun (and hopefully warm) to celebrate their tenth anniversary.
Johnny's room has two twin beds that we slide together but he often ends up in the middle, either goofing around, purposefully falling in between, or because of the fact that he rolls around in bed like a madman while he sleeps.
In discussing where the boys would sleep we said, Johnny likes the crack!
Of course, when I said this in front of Dervla she laughed at the double entendre. In Irish the word "craic" is pronounced "crack". When I said that Johnny likes the crack, she laughed knowing that he really does like to have a bit of fun and will definitely be the life of the party as he gets older.*
I had another misunderstanding tonight when I texted Dervla about the Tooth Fairy protocol in Dublin.
Here was her response: "Yes. Leave your tooth as clean as possible wrapped up and if the fairies think its good enough for furniture, they leave money. Don't know where they get it but we think they just find money that people drop."
I wrote back and asked "how much" and "furniture?" But in the meantime, I grabbed a little bleach and water and Johnny and I were cleaning the little blood off of the tooth based on her recommendation that the tooth needed to be "as clean as possible."
Until I read her next response: "Furniture for the special fairies. They have to be good quality teeth that were brushed regularly and didn't get too much sugar. The fairy gives less depending on the tooth quality and also the amount the fairy finds that day. We know lucky people that get paper money but we think this is rare. My kids get loads of coins like 2 euros and 72 cents. It really depends on your fairy and your tooth."
Ohhhh.... The tooth needed to be clean from five years of brushing!!!
Snacktime at Johnny's school is called "nibble time", "tag" is "catch" and today Johnny told us a story about getting to have a shot at the "lucky dip" after doing well in his Irish lesson. Apparently this is a little bag full of bags of candy that one or two kids get after a good job at school.
I love the sayings and am constantly looking them up. I've been working my way through the Irish microbrews lately and found one called Beal Bán brewed by Tig Bhric of West Kerry.
The beer is delicious but I was curious about the name.
Beal is "mouth" in Irish while "Bán" is "white". So, we have "white mouth". It is a pale ale but the name "white mouth" threw me for a loop. Do you think "smooth talker"? There's a beach called Beal Ban. Perhaps that's it!
Any advice is welcome.
One last misunderstanding. I was chatting with a gal across the street and she was asking when we were heading home. I said June and she said something like "you won't notice that." I literally had her repeat it three times until Dervla showed up and translated "you won't even notice the time passing it'll go so fast."
Alas. It could slow a bit.
*That is one thing we really learned on this trip -- Johnny really does like the craic! He is usually the latest one up and the only one ready to go. He loves crowds and noise and music and subways and energy.
We went to Billy Elliot in London and at the intermission a family in front of us turned around and asked us how much of the phrases we were missing. There were loads (although there was a lot of cursing which did NOT go over our kids' heads. Johnny wondered what "PISS OFF!" meant!). I didn't miss "bent as a nine bob note."
The other day we were planning for our impending sleepover with Oscar and Pierce. The "lads" are coming over in a few weeks to spend a couple of nights as Dervla and her husband are heading somewhere fun (and hopefully warm) to celebrate their tenth anniversary.
Johnny's room has two twin beds that we slide together but he often ends up in the middle, either goofing around, purposefully falling in between, or because of the fact that he rolls around in bed like a madman while he sleeps.
In discussing where the boys would sleep we said, Johnny likes the crack!
Of course, when I said this in front of Dervla she laughed at the double entendre. In Irish the word "craic" is pronounced "crack". When I said that Johnny likes the crack, she laughed knowing that he really does like to have a bit of fun and will definitely be the life of the party as he gets older.*
I had another misunderstanding tonight when I texted Dervla about the Tooth Fairy protocol in Dublin.
Here was her response: "Yes. Leave your tooth as clean as possible wrapped up and if the fairies think its good enough for furniture, they leave money. Don't know where they get it but we think they just find money that people drop."
I wrote back and asked "how much" and "furniture?" But in the meantime, I grabbed a little bleach and water and Johnny and I were cleaning the little blood off of the tooth based on her recommendation that the tooth needed to be "as clean as possible."
Until I read her next response: "Furniture for the special fairies. They have to be good quality teeth that were brushed regularly and didn't get too much sugar. The fairy gives less depending on the tooth quality and also the amount the fairy finds that day. We know lucky people that get paper money but we think this is rare. My kids get loads of coins like 2 euros and 72 cents. It really depends on your fairy and your tooth."
Ohhhh.... The tooth needed to be clean from five years of brushing!!!
Snacktime at Johnny's school is called "nibble time", "tag" is "catch" and today Johnny told us a story about getting to have a shot at the "lucky dip" after doing well in his Irish lesson. Apparently this is a little bag full of bags of candy that one or two kids get after a good job at school.
I love the sayings and am constantly looking them up. I've been working my way through the Irish microbrews lately and found one called Beal Bán brewed by Tig Bhric of West Kerry.
The beer is delicious but I was curious about the name.
Beal is "mouth" in Irish while "Bán" is "white". So, we have "white mouth". It is a pale ale but the name "white mouth" threw me for a loop. Do you think "smooth talker"? There's a beach called Beal Ban. Perhaps that's it!
Any advice is welcome.
One last misunderstanding. I was chatting with a gal across the street and she was asking when we were heading home. I said June and she said something like "you won't notice that." I literally had her repeat it three times until Dervla showed up and translated "you won't even notice the time passing it'll go so fast."
Alas. It could slow a bit.
*That is one thing we really learned on this trip -- Johnny really does like the craic! He is usually the latest one up and the only one ready to go. He loves crowds and noise and music and subways and energy.
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