“Meanwhile In Ireland”: 50 Reasons Why Ireland Is A World Apart From Any Other Country

To gain some more insight on the background of Meanwhile in Ireland, we reached out to one of the page's creators, Katie Morris. "We started off as a Facebook page showing the funniest real life images and memes from Ireland," she shared with Bored Panda. "The content went viral and within 5 years, we had over 500,000 followers which was incredible! It was hard to believe!" And their audience has only continued to grow, as their Facebook page currently has over 760k followers.

While we all know about certain Irish traditions, celebrities and scenic spots we admire from the outside, we wanted to hear from Katie what she thinks makes Ireland so special. "Ireland is a fascinating place. The people and culture make it unique," she shared. "Irish people have a way of not taking life too seriously and seeing the funny side of things which makes us generally well-liked around the world."

We were also curious what Katie loves the most, and the least, about Ireland. "The people, music, culture and Guinness are some of our favorite things about Ireland," she shared. Even as a foreigner, I can agree with all of those responses!

"Our least favorite thing is probably the cost of living in 2022!" Katie shared. While inflation has affected the entire planet, Ireland has been hit particularly hard. As of October this year, Irish inflation reached 9.2% in annual terms, while electricity prices have gone up a staggering 71.2% and gas prices have shot up by 93.3%. Ireland is now tied with Denmark for having the highest cost of living of any EU nation, due to having the most expensive health care in the EU and prices that are, on average, 40 cents higher than other European nations.

We were curious if there were any misconceptions about Ireland that Katie would like to dispel while she had the floor. She shared, "Contrary to popular belief, we do not say 'top of the morning'. We actually find it insulting if you say that to us!" So remember that when you make your trip to the gorgeous country; the last thing you want to do is offend any locals!

"Make sure you visit Ireland at least once in your life, and follow Meanwhile in Ireland for the best Irish humor!" Katie added.

Unfortunately, I’ve yet to visit Ireland myself, but I recently had a couple of friends visit from there, and after hearing about how lovely it is, Ireland has certainly jumped to the top of my “must visit” list. But one thing they also made very clear to me is that in Ireland, I would have a hard time understanding anyone, and I would likely make a fool of myself often by using the wrong words and phrases. (Such as asking for a ride home when I really should say lift. Apparently 'ride' means something entirely different in Ireland...) This didn’t come as a complete surprise to me, as I have to watch Derry Girls with subtitles on or I become lost extremely fast, but I had no idea how many unique phrases and slang words Irish people use.

To help you pandas learn a few words and phrases that you might come across in Ireland, I’ve consulted this list from Keith O’Hara at The Irish Road Trip. One that Keith notes that is common in his everyday speech is “minus craic”. He explains that it means “a situation or person that’s no fun”. “For example, ‘I called over yesterday and he was going on about his new tractor for an hour. It was minus craic’,” he writes. That’s certainly one I would have never known, unless I could decipher the meaning through context.   

Apparently, in Ireland, “act the maggot” means to mess around or do something that you’re not supposed to be doing. “That young lad was in here last night acting the maggot,” is the example Keith used to explain it. Another I definitely would need to have explained to me is “donkey’s years”. “‘Donkey’s years’ is used to describe a long passing of time,” Keith writes. “You’ll generally hear people use this when describing how long it’s been since they’ve seen someone, or how long it’s been since they’ve done something. For example, ‘I haven’t seen Tony in donkey’s years.’”

One of the expressions that my friends recently explained to me, as someone who’s never been to Ireland, was “yer man”. “You’ll often hear this used when someone’s describing someone that they don’t like, however it can also be used when you don’t know someone’s name,” Keith explained. I was also told that one way to translate this to American English would be by saying “that guy” instead, if you’re referring to someone you don’t actually know.

Another Irish term I was recently taught is “culchie”. This phrase is used to describe someone who lives in a remote part of the island, but for people from Dublin, it might be used for anyone from outside of Dublin. “For example, ‘The pub last night was wedged with culchies’,” Keith writes. If you’re looking to insult someone in Ireland, there are also a few Irish-specific words that you might want to know how to use. Some of the tame insults Keith notes are goon, gobshite, eejit (similar to idiot), pox (someone who is annoying), and dope (someone who is stupid). My friends from Ireland also educated me on the phrase “scarlet fer yer ma” or “scarlet fer yer ma fer havin’ ye”. Essentially, this translates to “how embarrassing for you”, or you did something so shameful your mother should be embarrassed (or blushing) just for having you. That one would hurt.