Irelandbanjaxed
adjective · Informal · BAN-jakst
Broken, ruined, beyond fixing. Used of machines, plans and knees.
+1 more sense
Ireland
Irish Slang for Everyday Things
9 Irish slang terms for everyday things, each with its meaning, how it is pronounced and an example of it in use.
Informal names for ordinary things and ordinary activities — the domestic layer of slang that rarely makes phrasebooks but comes up constantly.
bold
adjective · Colloquial · BOHLD
Naughty, badly behaved. Said of children constantly and of adults teasingly; it does not mean brave or daring in Irish usage.
cat
adjective · Colloquial · KAT
Awful, dreadful. Applies to weather, performances, food and moods, and has nothing to do with cats.
grand
adjective · Colloquial · GRAND
Fine, adequate, no problem. Almost the opposite of its standard English sense: grand is the lowest passing grade, not praise.
+1 more sense
hames
noun · Colloquial · HAYMZ
A botched job. Almost always in 'to make a hames of', meaning to do something so badly it has to be undone.
press
noun · Colloquial · PRESS
A cupboard. The kitchen press is where the cups live; the hot press is the airing cupboard around the immersion heater, and has no equivalent name anywhere else.
the jacks
noun · Informal · the JAKS
The toilet, especially a public one in a pub. Always plural and always with 'the'.
wee
adjective · Regional · WEE
Small — but in the north of Ireland it is attached to almost any noun regardless of size, as a marker of friendliness. A wee bill, a wee minute, a wee lorry.
yoke
noun · Colloquial · YOHK
A thing whose name you have forgotten, or cannot be bothered with. Covers machinery, gadgets, tools and objects of any size.
+2 more senses
Use with care