langer

What it means

1. 1.

   An idiot or an obnoxious person. The definitive Cork insult, used constantly there and barely at all elsewhere.

2. 2.

   A penis. The same word, and the reason the insult carries more force than its everyday frequency suggests.

In use

• He's some langer, boy.

  Note: Cork speech; outside Munster this lands as an affectation.

• We were langers by nine o'clock.

  Note: 'Langers' as an adjective means very drunk — a separate sense from the insult.

Where it comes from

Disputed. The most repeated story derives it from Hindi-Urdu 'langur', a monkey, brought home by Cork men of the Royal Munster Fusiliers serving in India. It is plausible and entirely undocumented; treat it as a good story rather than an etymology.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

langers