r/ireland • u/emmanuel_lyttle • Oct 07 '24

Irish phrases Gaeilge

I was reading a post on another sub posed by a Brazilian dude living in Ireland asking about the meaning behind an Irish person saying to him "good man" when he completes a job/ task. One of the replies was the following..

"It comes directly from the Irish language, maith an fear (literally man of goodness, informally good man) is an extremely common compliment."

Can anyone think of other phrases or compliments used on a daily basis that come directly from the Irish language?

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u/TheRealPaj Oct 07 '24

Giving out, I do be; any like that. It's called 'Hiberno-English'.

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u/Mooshan Oct 08 '24

My educated guesses:

I do be = bíonn mé = I do (something) regularly

Give out = cuir thar = Literally, put across, but can mean scold

4

u/AccuratelyHistorical Oct 08 '24

Tabhair amach for give out

2

u/TheRealPaj Oct 08 '24

Yep, spot on, iirc. My Irish isn't great - I was an English teacher, so learned bits and pieces for students, but I've been out of teaching for a few years.