A Beginners Guide On How To Speak Louth

The Louth dialect can be a challenge to decode for those unaccustomed do it.

It's an inscrutable melange of inflections from both the North, and the Republic and its slang can leave most people from outside the Wee County baffled.

We've compiled a list of common Louth phrases, so the next time you find yourself near the border, you'll be able to communicate with the natives.

1. The 'oo' sound is stretched to breaking point

Book, isn't pronounced 'Book', it's pronounced 'Boooook'.

2. Hai

Hai is a type of spoken punctuation that indicates the end of a statement. There is not other word in the louth lexicon with more finality.

3. Ah would you ever cop the fuck on?

Deployed against people who are acting in a ridiculous manner, the speaker is imploring them to come to their senses.

4. How's she cutting'?

A salutation, who 'she' is, and what she's cutting remain unknown. Often shouted from the seat of a tractor.

5. Be grand

A statement of extreme apathy. When a Louth person uses this phrase they're telling you that they don't really care about the outcome of the predicament.

6. Sure lookit

The verbal equivalent of a shrug.

7. So I was

A statement of affirmation and confirmation concerning an action they took in the past.
'I was in The Bartender, so I was.'

8. Ah here

This is a versatile term that can mean anything from disbelief, sympathy, to chastisement against unfair conduct.

'Ah here, you can't be up to that now.'

9. Well harse

Another greeting, the winding meandering country roads of Louth, combined with the relatively high population density results in a lot of incidental meetings. The 'Harse' in question is often male.

10. Garson/Gershe

Man, and woman. Adapted from the french for 'Man', stripped of all of it's melodic lilt, and delivered with the bluntness of a underripe turnip being dropped on a kitchen table.

11. Mon the towin

A bastardisation of  'Come on, the town', for reasons unknown a syllable is dropped from the beginning of the phrased and shoehorned into the end. It is the chant used at Dundalk FC games and as a general celebratory cry in Dundalk.

12. Ham

A slow witted individual the the dense, meaty cadence of ham.

13. Ah be the hokey

A  expression of mild surprise.

14. Aye, Aye... Aye

A polite dismissal, often uttered by old men who want you to fuck off.

15. Daysul

Diesel; a cultural significant resource in the North of Louth. A symbol of entrepenural spirit and mild anti-establishment rebellion. See also; Greaan Daysul

16. Now we're shucking daysul!

'We are excelling at the task we have undertaken, hooray for us!'

17. I'll bate the head off ya with a bawx

This is a threat to enter a physical altercation, in which the speaker will strike you with such force that your head will be removed from your shoulders.

18. So I do

This affirms that the preceding phrase was the speaker's genuine belief.

19. I don't have a scooby do

'I haven't a clue/I don't care, go away.'

20. Nay Harm

'No harm will result/has resulted from our chosen course of action.'

21. How's the form?

Another greeting. 90% of conversations in Louth are just people greeting each other over and over.

22. So I am

'This is my genuine position on this issue.'

23. Me hole

I don't believe your assertion.

24. I'll ate the hole off ya

This is a threat of extreme chastisement or criticism.

25. Well

The most common of Louth's many, many greetings. Often muttered in a deep baritone and accompanied by a shrug.

26. Whisht

A compression of 'Would you ever' and 'shush'.

27. Yon

Short for 'yonder' pointing at something over there.