How's Your Derry Lingo? Test Yourself Before "Derry Girls" Debuts In The New Year
Rejoice Irish comedy fans, there's another Irish sitcom hitting your screens soon.
Channel 4 has commissioned a six part series called 'Derry Girls' which will debut in the new year. The series is written by Lisa McGee and concerns a group of young girls growing up in the early 1990s under the backdrop of the Troubles.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph McGee explained why she decided on setting the sitcom in such a turbulent time for Irish society:
Anything set during the Troubles tends to be a bit grim and bleak, but that just wasn’t my experience of Derry as a child and a teenager . It was a joyful place – I’d like to celebrate that. It was also hugely matriarchal, so I was keen we have a large and varied cast of female characters.
The show stars Saoirse Jackson as Erin, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell as Michelle, Nicola Coughlan as Clare and Louisa Harland as Orla. Tommy Tiernan and Game of Thrones actor Ian McElhinney make up other notable additions to the cast.
Here's the trailer for the sitcom:
To coincide with the release of the show, which airs on January 4th Channel 4 has released a list of Derry slang, so those of us not from the north can keep up. Although it has to be said there is some spillover with the Nordies and from the South.
Bars: Gossip / scandal
Boke: Vomit
Brit: A member of the British armed forces
Broke: Embarrassed
Broke to the bone: Hugely embarrassed
Buzzing: Very happy
Catch yourself on: “Don’t be so ridiculous”
Cack attack: A state of extreme nervousness “I’m having a complete Cack attack”
Chicken ball special: A local delicacy
Class: Brilliant
Craic: Fun, but also news e.g. “Tell us your craic?”
Cracker: Beyond brilliant
Critter: Someone who evokes sympathy e.g. “You poor Critter”
Dose: An unbearable human being
Eejit: Idiot
Hi: A sound placed at the end of almost any sentence for no particularly reason e.g. “No problem hi”
Gone: Please
Head melter: Someone who causes you mental distress
Lurred: Absolutely delighted
Mind: “Do you remember?”
Mouth: Someone prone to exaggeration
Mucker: Friend
No Bother: “That’s no trouble whatsoever”
Raging: Annoyed/angry
Ride (n): A very attractive person
Ride (v): To have sex
Ripping: Extremely annoyed / angry
Saunter: “Be on your way”
Shite the tights: Someone of a nervous disposition
Slabber: A show off
So it is/so I am: A phrase used for emphasis e.g. “I’m delighted, so I am”
Start: To provoke e.g. “Don’t start me”
Stall the ball: “Stop what you’re doing immediately”
Tayto cheese and onion sandwich: A local delicacy
Wain: A child or young person
Watch yourself: Take care
Wile: Very or Terrible
Wise up: “Don’t be so stupid and/or immature”
Yes: Hello