Having visitors from America always makes me see the little things that I take for granted about living in Ireland. Things that, to me, seem perfectly normal and which I might not even notice will stand out as particularly "Irish" to new visitors. Jim's recent visit, for example, has had me noticing slang more than usual. So I decided to include a few of my favorites...
Cheers: people say "cheers" to mean "thanks," informally or casually. This is one that Jim pointed out, after he held a door for three young Irish men and they all said "Cheers!" to him.
Lads: used the way an American might use "guys"-- as a gender-neutral informal form of address. My friend/fellow PhD James says this a lot, even when he's talking to a group of women. "All right, lads, what are we doing?"
Deadly: very good. I was hanging out with some Irish friends last night, and one was talking about taking his dog to a new vet. The other said "Oh, I've heard of that vet! I've heard she's deadly." Then they both started laughing, and clarified "deadly good."
How're you keeping? Instead of "How's it going?" I'm never quite sure how to respond to this one, actually, because my stock quip answers don't apply here! When someone asks me "how's it going?" I respond "It's going!" But saying "Oh, I'm keeping" doesn't quite work...
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