THE INFLUENCE OF THE IRISH LANGUAGE ON SPOKEN
ENGLISH
Réamonn Ó Ciaráin gives examples
of some of the sounds we have in Hiberno-English which come from the Irish
Language
Listen to Réamonn
Réamonn Ó Ciaráin gives examples
of English words which have their roots in Irish
Listen to Réamonn
Gráinne Gillen explains the Irish language roots
of some structures we find in Hiberno English which may help you remember
certain structures in Irish.
Listen to Gráinne
Réamonn Ó Ciaráin explains where
'Hooligan' originates from and also what the word 'Amadán' means.
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Have you ever wondered where the expression 'having the life of Reilly'
came from? Well, Réamonn has plenty of interesting
anecdotes and colourful tales about the Irish origin of many well known
expressions.
Listen to Réamonn Have you ever wondered where the word 'smashing'
originated from? Or have you ever found yourself using the expression
'my dog died on me?' You might be surprised to lear that
this stems from the Irish language and how it has carved some English
phrases down through the years.
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Reamonn Ó Ciaráin continues the discussion
on the influence of Irish on spoken English opening with the phrase 'how
are you this weather?' He explains that weather doesn't just refer to
the actual weather, but also to time… this expression stems from
the Irish language, where 'aimsir' refers to both the 'weather' and 'time'.
This also becomes evident in the sean focail or proverb 'Is maith an scéalaí
an aimsir', which again gives reference to time and means 'time will tell.'
As always, Reamonn is full of interesting bits of information about the
true relationship and impact the Irish language has on spoken English.
Listen to Réamonn
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