Customer Reviews

Slanguage: Dictionary of Irish Slang

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Unfortunately, the word 'slang' has become misused to mean a body of language that refers to sexual and often perverted practices. This collection does NOT use the word 'slang' in that narrow modern context. Here 'slang' is used merely in the sense of 'vulgar' in its etymological sense (i.e. to refer to 'common'colloquial forms of the language). Infact what is so interesting is that the entries, even for the Irish themselves are not all that common. The reader can find so much that is new on every single page. This is an exellent collection of Hiberno-English (Irish English) vocabulary. The author often provides the etymology from the actual Irish language (as opposed to Irish/Hiberno-English) and also locates certain words that were coined (or used ) by writers by quoting judicious extracts showing the original context of such terms. Another important point is that the words do not usually refer to ordinary translateable concepts but are often fascinating examples of unique terms that cover concepts in Irish folklore, history or everyday life for which there is no equivalent. This collection will be enjoyed not only by the Irish but by any serious specialist in dialects of the English language. A masterpiece!

This book goes into much detail of the slang, sayings and dialect in Ireland, IF you are solely interested in the northern part of the country. The author obviously did their research in Ulster and sadly neglected the largest area of the island. In localizing his search to this small area they have made shortchanged their readers. They neglected to take anything from places like Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, all places with a wealth of slang all of their own. As well as these places, they omitted the more general slang that is used across the country as a whole. My wife and I were sadly disappointed with this badly put together, badly researched, badly localized waste of paper!

If you have the time and/or inclination to incorporate the minutiae validating a myriad of "Irish Slang Terms," archaic and/or contemporary, this is the tome for you! "Slanguage" is EXACTLY as the title implies: a dictionary. B. Share is to be highly commended for having taken extreme measures to provide a reference work that is extensive in scope, cross-referenced, as well as based on scholarly citations. It is an excellent reference work to supplement any interest and/or study of "slang" attributed to, or regarding, the Irish. This book is written in the English language for the faint-hearted, and knowledge of Irish Gaelic is not necessary to enjoy and/or employ any and/or all of the cited words and/or phrases. A few Irish Gaelic words so citical to some idioms are present, and their meanings are immediately contextually present. In all of critcal acclaim that rightfully belongs to "Slanguage: A Dictionary of Irish Slang," buyer beware: It IS as it proclaims itself to be: a dictionary.

Words and phrases reference, some even have references to where they were used in a movie, book or play.
I laughed out loud and my daughter says,"Your reading a dictionary?" I say, "Tis more then that my eye bright baa."

As difficult as the Gaelic language is to learn, imagine my surprise when I realized that it also contains SLANG! Just like any other language. As you listen to a character in a movie, or read a book set in Ireland, you want to know just what "that word" means. So, after finding Slanguage, I have been able to decipher phrases that were lost to me. Hey, nothing like calling your boss an eejit, and he has NO idea you think he is a buffoon!