Accents & Irish Slang

Welcome to the right page for geeking about Accents and Slang :)

The lads often use different accents for their characters, often with a clear purpose, sometimes... well, because they feel a certain character has to have an accent (wink wink to Arms's attempted Welsh in a Patreon video). In this section, we'll try to see who uses a type of accent more often than the other 2, who nails some accents and other stuff like language, slang and "Irish-ism" used in FAH sketches.

## Accents from Everywhere

**Does a native speaker recognize that accent as his/her own? Why do you think FAH have used a particular accent instead of another? Does the accent suit the character?**

The comments we have used here are under FAH videos, they came from different platforms, mostly from FAHns that can or cannot recognize their own accent.

If you want to give your opinion about FAH & Accents, it is very much appreciated.

*Remember to be kind but not too much*: our judgement should not be clouded by our unconditional love for FAH, but don't forget they use the accents for comedy sketch - and they might exaggerate them a bit. After all, the lads are pretty good with those accents, Regional Accent Discrimination is a piece of pure comedy genius, nothing bad can be said about this sketch (and, if you see it on YouTube, you really should use the subtitles as well, they add extra fun there).

Always kudos to Foil Arms and Hog for their skill in imitating such a variety of accents, we know How Hard It Is To Fake An Accent!

### Accents from English Speaking Countries and Regions

Foil Arms and Hog are very talented when it comes to doing accents. These are **Dublin lads** born and bred, but none of them speak with a thick Dublin accent (although perhaps Arms has the most obvious one if you listen closely).

It’s also interesting to note that **no matter how good you are at accents, your original accent comes through at times**. In the *Hard Lads* series, they guys are doing some kind of **inner city Dublin accent**, and both Arms and Hog suddenly switch accent/intonation a bit when they read out loud from a page. Could it be that reading out loud somehow gives away your native accent or intonation?

Arms commented on the Facebook upload of Getting Past Irish Immigration (5 Aug 2021):

He added that there had been a conversation (at the office) where he was suggesting doing a different one, but that the lads (Hog and the guest actors) told them to "just do your own". He was disappointed.

Let's take a look (well, have a listen) at the wide variety of accents the lads have attempted - quite successfully - during their YouTubing and Live performing careers. This list grows nearly every single week and we will try to keep up, but as ever, any suggestions for additions and changes are very much welcomed. **Sound off (heh) in the comments below**, or connect via the FAHnWiki community page or Instagram!

*Note: we have uploaded some audio samples - you might have a problem in hearing them if you use Safari, for instance. Try using Chrome or other browsers.*

Scottish

* I’ll admit it was a good highland accent but nae really Edinburgh they tend to be posher
 Countries Guess Who They Are (watch the extra footage on Patreon for a full version of Arms speaking with a Scottish accent)  | Arms

* Also Arms' Scottish accent is good... if you've only ever heard Mel Gibson's Scottish accent I mean ;P
	+ **FAH REPLY: Yes, I hated it when i watched it back! I swear I CAN do a proper one**
* Also Arms’ Scottish accent was so thick that even after repeating it several times, I couldn’t quite get what his last question before guessing he was Great Britain was exactly...
* As a Scot, I'm not quite sure who Arms was channelling, loved the dialogue though.
	+ **FAH REPLY: I got too excited about doing a glasgow or edinburgh or highland that it just got muddled in between. Too much choice.**
 Will Northern Ireland get back with Ireland?  | Hog

Welsh

* That welsh accent was on point
 Sports Reports in 2020 (bonus) - Arms's attempt is on Patreon  | Arms

* That is such a bad welsh accent! Cymraeg yw iaith y daith bois bach
 Will Northern Ireland get back with Ireland? | Foil

* Foil's welsh accent is ace
* Welsh accent needs work but other than that - bloody brilliant!

Northern Irish

* Is it just me or does Northern Ireland have a concerningly scouse accent?
* Very good lads, however Hog's accent is giving Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan a run for their money
* Oh my God, Hog's accent!
* I am from NI, living in South many years.... Best explanation ever! Accents spot on too!

Australian

	+ **FAH REPLY yes!**
* Why is Hog Australian?
 A party with the months of the year  | Arms

 Getting Past Australian Immigration    | Arms
* Ohhhh I missed these series but didn't expect you guys would do an Australian one! Funny as always❤ I loooove Arm's Aussie accent but I also wanted to hear Hog's one because he did great in Post-Festival Makeup Tutorial as well
* Good stuff. On a scale of 1-10 on the accent, I'd say 7.5. An Aussie accent sounds like a drunk really laid back Irish. If you went a bit slower on the pacing and the tone, would've straight up nailed it. Think of it like someone "treating an emergency as being no big deal like it's a normal thing" sort of laid back. Aussie slang is like lazy English, you take shortcuts where ya can.
	+ **FAH reply: Good advice! Cheers**
* As an Aussie, that was a good Aussie accent. You didn't sound like a New Zealander.
	+ **FAH reply: I've been given a 7/10 which i'm pleased with**
* Brilliant lads, your sketches are always great but this one was particularly BRILLIANT! ? I loved it!! & yes, Arms you sounded like a kiwi at times, but that just means you’ll blend in perfectly when you (finally) get here
* Sketch accuracy: nah YEAH!! Accuracy of Arms’ accent: yeah… nah. (Sorry Arms!)
* G’day from Australia. Your accent was bonza. You blokes need a medal. Who roo for now
* Love this! And so true lol Your accent is definitely Aussie rather than Kiwi - our vowels are a lot flatter (unless it’s South Australia). Great job lads!!!
* Brilliant! Nice blend of Aussie and Kiwi accents there Arms, but we love our neighbours! Hugs from Western Australia lads.
* Am Australian and loved it, but definitely a lot of the Nu Ziland accent creeping in there. Keep those vowels wide, lads, or we will never let you in .....
	+ **FAH reply: Yes I think so, noice woide vowels**
* Well done, excellent comedy and thanks from this Aussie. Accent was great until the end when it went a little Kiwi, but we like Kiwis anyway.
	+ **FAH reply: Thanks, those T's killed me**
* Love it! Also Arms got the accent at about 90%....roughly 10% New Zealander
	+ **FAH reply: thats a solid ratio**
* The accent sounded like an Irishman who has been in Brissy for a decade ish. So Id say it was acceptable. Altho at times it sounded like every other person attempting to impersonate the accent. And this is coming from a kiwi. Lol
	+ **FAH reply: Thank you and how dare you in equal measure**
* Actually did a really good job of the accent! ps if those sausages were for Bunnings snags we would let ya in, love from Sydney
* They’re called snags. “Chuck a snag on the barbie”…
	+ **FAH reply: I know, but we had to say sausages, cause only you guys would get snags!**
* **FAH: Those wondering about the immigration officers accent, well his backstory is that he was born in Australia, went to college in Ireland for ten years and regularly eats New Zealand lamb -thats what i was going for and i think i nailed it thanks**

### Accents from Non-English Speaking Countries

**Comment from Donaz**
 For me as an Italian FAHn, Foil's Italian accent in Hospital Chef is not bad at all (better than the one he does in Airport Taxi). He is probably imitating here the Italian chef Gino D'Acampo who is originally from Campania - that would make the Hospital Chef a Southern Italian speaking in English with a very strong accent... or, at least, he sounds a lot like him, with a even more stressed accent/pronunciation for comedy purposes. As for pronunciation of Italian words, Foil slips sometimes into  Spanish words (el vino blanco should be il vino bianco)  or into some words that are very hard to understand in Italian... to an Italian (le tonto riso? Riso is rice but tonto means doofus – a new fantastic recipe from chef Antonio, maybe? ). A very important part of Italian comunication is also the gesture, and I really appreciate that Foil use correctly the famous “artichoke hand” gesture (minute 1.28 in the video “Hey, that is not in my menu”). BRAVO!

Arms plays another good Italian accent, less stronger than Foil, in the Airport Taxi sketch. His pronunciation is clearer on the Italian words... although his taxi driver says less  words than chef Antonio. Hog, err... it turns out Italian CAN be confused with a Russian accent. Sorry Hoggy.

Non-European Accents (various)

 The Real Victim of Scams  | Foil

* that "south african" accent though :')
* Is the first guy a South African or New Zealander?
	+ **FAH REPLY: He spent a lot of time in both due to his mothers career. Being uprooted constantly meant he could never establish a strong friend base, and he resents both his parents for that. - We research each role thoroughly**
* As a New Zealander I can tell you it sounds A LOT more like a South African, at least most of the time. It's in the O vowel
* The best South African accent I heard. Please teach Hollywood

## Irish Language

### Ceol agus Ól

The “FAH answer to Ros na Rún” (an Irish soap opera, in Irish) is called Ceol agus Ól (according to Google Translator, it means Music and Drinking).

We first see it in the video "Budget" as part of a TV programme, with "viewer discretion very much advised, on this one the acting is $h1te". The names here are different, Pól is Seamus, Micheál is Sean and Síle is Mira but this is not - and probably won't be - the first time that Foil Arms and Hog change names of characters in recurring sketches (see our "The McCormack Switching Debacle" here). Anyway, no doubt these are the same characters we find later in their version of an Irish soap opera (the painful false laughs are the same).

We can see that FAH's idea evolved from this first sketch into what they have explained in this interview: to sum up, the idea came from the Irish schools trying to make the language cool by using pop culture references, and it was also supposed to be a response for all those people using Irish stereotypes (“Top 'o the morning to you” is definitely something that you won't hear saying by an Irish person).  Hence, they decided to combine pop culture with the most stereotypical Irish characters they could think of (Pól, Micheál and Síle), and to speak in Irish for the entire videos

(they admitted that one of them is fluent with the language so... Fair play to them).

Here is the complete list of the  Ceol agus Ól videos:

* Budget
* Ceol agus Ól
* Ceol agus Ól 2
* Ceol agus Ól 3

From these sketches, we can have a list of the most common Irish stereotypes known to the rest of the world (the lads went even further and combined the two most famous of them creating a über stereotype drink). FAH did not hold back with the pop references either: starting with the greetings, then mentioning film and actors, famous people, brands...  everything with an Irish twist.

**C´ULA B´ULA** : in Ceol Agus Ol 2 we hear Pól saying “Cúla feckin' Búla”: It means ‘fantastic’, ‘great’, ‘awesome’ it’s also used when you understand completely when a friends says where they’ll be, or what they’re doing at a certain time. A little bit old-fashioned (see this interesting article here, if you like), but when the video was posted (2013), it was known to younger generation because it was reintroduced by one of the characters in the Irish TV series Love/Hate.

### Other videos

The lads have used Irish for comedy purposes in other sketches too:

* in Luas Tannoy in Real Life we have some fine examples of common words changed into Irish.
* in Right song/Wrong lyrics we have (a sort of) comeback of the Luas Tannoy with Mulligan station.
* in The Green Card Game Show Petrov Makailochov's Irish name is Seamus O'CaoilainMacNahunachagusansinmásédothoilé (O'CoailainMacNahunach" and the rest is actual Irish, it translates as "and that, if you please" - thank you commenter under this YouTube video).

* in When Irish People can't speak Irish (one of FAH's most popular videos) we see Detective Moran struggling with the language - something relatable to many Irish people apparently, if you read the comments under the video, on different platforms... or if you want, check Clisare's video Can Irish People speak Irish? (Clisare is an Irish YouTuber who played Johnno's sister in the FAH's video Hard Lads).

Further reading for language nerds: this article Languages of Ireland and the 2016 Census for Irish Language act the Gaeltacht.

## Irish Slang

Are you a non-native Irish FAHn and you are a little bit confused when our favourite Irish comedy trio use some slang word and/or expression? Then, this is the section for you. We have tried to collect as many Irish slang words as possible that appears in FAH sketches – followed by an explanation.

And, don't worry, after a few videos you'll even start using most of these words.

* **AH, LISTEN** -  Never Takes an Irish Person Literally: an interjection that can be interpreted as a shrug.
* **AH, (SURE) LOOK IT** -  Shopping with your Parents: several meanings depending on the context, and apparently a phrase said by everybody in Ireland.
* **BANJAXED** – Working for free: broken (also drunk).
* **BANTER** – Never Sponsor Someone: "He's great banter" means someone's a lot of fun to be around.
* **BE + AFTER + (VERB)ING** – Shopping with your Parents ("I'm after spending 135 € on you Oisín”): it's the *after perfect or immediate perfective*.
* **BEGRUDGERY** – St Patrick's Day Isn't Irish: Irish informal resentment of any person who has achieved success or wealth.
* **BIRD** – The Green Card Game Show: girl, generally (also frequently used in the UK).
* **BOGTROTTER** – Paper Bag Hats: Historically this term refers to the lower class of Irish peasantry who roamed across the countryside, among the bogs of Ireland. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive: a contemptuous term used to refer to a native or inhabitant of Ireland.
* **BUSTING FOR A SLASH** – How to Speak Dublin LIVE: slang for having an urgent need to urinate.
* **CACKS** -  How to Speak Dublin LIVE: underwear.
* **COME HERE TO ME** - Never Takes an Irish Person Literally: Dublin slang used to mean “Listen to this” or “I've something to tell you”.
* **CRAIC** – Human Smartphone LIVE: fun time and good conversation.
* **DEADLY** – The Priest (Hard Lads): Following the trend of using ordinarily negative words to describe things positively – wicked, sick, insane, killing it – “deadly” is a quintessential contemporary Dublin word with which to signify something’s coolness.
* **DRYSHITE** – An Irish Intervention LIVE:  a dull, boring person.
* **EEJIT** – Afterlife Insurance: a fool, an idiot.
* **FAIR PLAY TO YE** – Irish Lad Chats Up American Girl: A phrase uttered to anyone who did a good job or achieved something. Otherwise known as 'well done'.
* **FIVER** – When Parents give You a Lift: 5 pound/euro note (also frequently used in the UK).
* **GAA** – Thrift Shop Mannequins: Gaelic Athletics Association (Gaelic football). An abbreviation not a slang word, but something you should know.
* **GAFF** – Quarantine Catholic Confession: house.
* **GRAND** – Parents When you have Friends over: Grand means OK. While the English version of grand means magnificent or imposing, in Ireland it usually means just fine or adequate.
* **GOOD SKIN** – Never Takes an Irish Person Literally: a good person.
* **G'WAY** – Never Takes an Irish Person Literally: I don't believe you (as in: *pull the other one*).
* **HAMMERED** – An Irish Intervention LIVE: drunk.
* **HOOR** – How to speak Dublin LIVE: an all-purpose type of word. Someone you disapprove of can be 'a right old hoor', but you can also have 'not a bad old hoor' (kind of grudging respect).
* **I WILL IN ME HOLE** – How to Speak Dublin: ‘I will definitely not do that’. Sometimes shortened to "Me hole!", such as in Irish Farmer Vs Universal Music.
* **JAYSUS** – Tennis (exclamation): Jesus. (I can't believe this!)
* **LANGER** – Regional Accent Discrimination: this infamous Cork term refers to what other people around the country would call an ‘awful eejit’. In other words, it’s an idiot or a fool.
* **LASH** - Irish Lad Chats Up American Girl: Another word the Irish have attached multiple meanings to. To go on the lash: to go drinking excessively. Lashing down: raining hard. He/She’s some lash: a good-looking fella/girl. Give it a lash: attempt something.
* **LEGEND** – Legend Disease: A hero, someone who is really funny or does mad things, an inspiration, a really decent person.
* **LOCKED** – The Room of your House throw a Party: very drunk.
* **MEET** - Irish Lad Chats Up American Girl : a term used for French kiss in many parts of Dublin.
* **MUPPET** – Regional Accent Discrimination: fool, idiot.
* **RIDE** - Irish Lad Chats Up American Girl (as a noun); That's Mass (the opening sketch on the DVD Best of 2014) (as a verb: the lads ask if anyone in the audience is *up for the ride after the gig*): in Ireland, a ride DOES NOT mean travelling in a car, or hopping up on a pony. It means hopping up on a person, or that you think they are attractive enough to be hopped up on. It means sex!
* **RONNIE** – Lockdown Makeup Tutorial by Foil (on Patreon): moustache - after movie star, Ronald Coleman.
* **SCUTTER** – How to Speak Dublin LIVE: (having) diarrhoea.
* **SHIFT** -  Irish Lad Chats Up American Girl: to kiss.
* **SLICED PAN** – Brennans: pre-sliced loaf of bread.
* **SOUND** -  Never Takes an Irish Person Literally: cool.
* **SPANNER**  -  Never Takes an Irish Person Literally: an idiot.
* **TENNER** – When Parents give you a lift: 10 pound/euro note. Also used in Britain.
* **THANKS A MILLION/A MILL** – in almost every outro: though it's used also in British English, the Irish used these sentence even more often. Not properly a slang then, just something that is used more in Ireland. ‘Thanks a million’ means ‘Thank you very much’.
* **TRAD** – An Irish Intervention LIVE: a shortening for traditional music.
* **WAGON** – First Dates (Most Shocking Revelation):  woman of loose morals.
* **WHAT'S THE CRAIC/THE SCANDAL/THE  SCÉAL?** - Never Takes an Irish Person Literally: What's up? What's the story?
* **YOKE** – Telling Someone you Gave them Covid: a thing (for example when you're blanking on the specific word or don't want to say what it is exactly).

If you want to have more fun with the Irish Slang, check these videos from Clisare Irish Names For Things - IRISH SLANG: Expressions You Only Hear In Ireland- Explaining Craic/Crack.

## Related Irish-isms

Here you may find things that have almost nothing to do with language but are part of the Irish culture and figure in FAH videos. This section might be helpful to better understand what we call "Irish-isms" which are, basically, everything that Irish people do and that might be confusing for other countries. As usual, if you can think of other Irish-isms "let us know in the comments" (sound familiar, eh?) or contribute directly to this article by adding them below.

* **MAYO 4 SAM** - We have heard the Irish Lad saying it in his video, but why, what is it? The Sam Maguire Cup, often referred to as Sam or The Sam is a trophy awarded annually by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the main competition in the medieval sport of Gaelic football. The Mayo for Sam campaign has been in full force since 1951, since last time the Mayo team has won the throphy (details here). If you want to know how a Mayo supporter feels or just to see some other things related to the Mayo 4 Sam campaign, we recommend other Clisare's videos: Mayo GAA Fans After The All-Ireland Final Every Year - The Mayo For Sam Committee - Mayo Lost The All-Ireland Final (Again).

* **12 PUBS OF CHRISTMAS** - do you remember a very distress Declan (played by Foil) in Christmas Drinks, there's no Escape? Apart from providing another great performance of the Weeping Foil, this sketch let us know about the several occasions where alcohol is involved around Christmas time - among those, the very recent tradition of the 12 pubs of Christmas... which is said to have started in Ireland around 2006 but has now taken hold in other - closer - countries too. The basic rules to follow are simple: 1) embarrassing Christmas jumpers must be worn, if possible with other equally ridiculous Christmas accessories; 2) one drink consumed in each pub; 3) each pub has an additional rule to follow. For more about this tradition, you can read this article "12 Pubs of Christmas rules & tips: everything you need to know" or you can enjoy the video The 12 Pubs of Christmas Curse by Clisare.

* **SLAGGING** - though it can be seen in other part of the world too, slagging is something that the Irish have mastered and that let people from other country very confused: it's more than insulting someone, it's something that you can hear in a group of friend, it can involve some very creative insults too... the more they slag you, the more they like you (FAH commented under their video Insults). The website Irishology have an entry that can clarify a little more.
* **THE MONEY COLLECTING RITUAL OF FIRST COMMUNION** - you have seen it in The Priest (Hard Lads), when a young Johnno is robbed of the money he had just collected after his first communion. That's it, it's very simple: kids in Ireland receive money from family members, after this Catholic ceremony, and they go from house to house to collect the money. You can also find this tradition in the book Angela's Ashes by Frank Mc Court (chapter 4).
* **FLAT 7UP** - We have watched FAH's video Parents When You Are Sick    and we have wondered why on Earth our Anne Flanagan lists among the remedies a flat 7Up (plus other things that apparently are a "cure all"), right? We are also aware that in every country, mothers' remedies for sickness may be very... different? Well, it seems that if you are Irish, your mum has probably used a flat 7UP when you had an upset stomach. If you want to have something further to read, you can read this short article about this subject on the website Irishology (here ) and, just in case they might be useful, another article on the 10 classic Irish Mammy cures for all known medical ailments.

## Full List of Irish Themed Sketches

Here a list of FAH Irish Themed Sketches (we'll try our best to keep this up to date).

* Excuses: the "drama" of having to go to mass on Sunday morning.
* Renting in the city: renting in Dublin is very expensive.
* A Kerryman Gives Directions: need concentration to understand where to go, if you are lost in county Kerry.
* Gaelic Flurt: Irish men conquer women's hearts... in the Irish way.
* Never Take an Irish Person Literally: Irish slang at its best.
* An Irish Intervention: something is not right when young Seán doesn't drink alcohol.
* How to Speak Dublin: a lesson about the lingo in Dublin.
* RTE Teresa Mannion VS. Disgraced Politician Hugh McElvaney: in order to understand this sketch, you need to see this two videos first: 1 & 2.
* Election Time in Ireland: campaign promises in Ireland.
* New Irish Government: FAH version of Irish Government resolutions.
* Irish Lad on J1 chats up American Girl: when you're Irish and you try to flirt with an American girl.
* Rental Crisis: another one about the rental crisis in Dublin.
* The Garda Strike: when Irish police go on strike.
* Irish School Admissions (As an Atheist): when you try to enroll your child to a Catholic school.
* St Patrick's Day Isn't Irish: who is Irish? Who isn't?.
* The School Play: organizing a play in a Catholic all boys school.
* The Leaving Cert Dreams: after the final exam in secondary school, you will still dream about it.
* Insults: the Irish have mastered this art.
* Irish Lad on J1 goes for Job Interview: Irish guy try to find a job in the U.S.A.
* Christmas Drinks, there's no Escape: alcohol during Christmas time in Ireland.
* St. Patrick's Day Parade: what can you see during the St. Patrick's day parade?
* Irish lad on student holiday rents a 1 bed Apartment: the return of Irish Lad, trying to rent an apartment.
* When Irish People Cant Speak Irish: Irish man struggling to speak in Irish.
* Irish Farmer Vs Universal Music: Mícheál O'Conaill's first appearance, pop music with an Irish twist.
* Irish Farmer Behind Famous Pop Songs: more songs by the most famous Irish farmer (lockdown sketch)
* Mother Earth Catches Ireland Burning Fossil Fuels: FAH and pollution and renewable energy in Ireland.
* LOST FOOTAGE PROVES Irish Farmer wrote famous pop songs: FAH step up their game with this documentary about the Irish farmer (name changed)
* Who really was St. Patrick?: The Great Educators on Ireland's patron saint.
* Will Northern Ireland get back with Ireland?: Oh, political. Topical sketch with Northern Ireland, Ireland, England, a tv presenter and a new lens that goes ZzzoomZzzoom.
* Why you'll never buy a house in Ireland: Oh, political... again! Arms wrote about this sketch on Patreon: "Fueled from a place of anger and disbelief, we wrote a sketch that deals with a frustrating issue in Ireland, hoping to lampoon the peoples involved - the goal is still to make people laugh!"
* Who should Ireland support in the Euros?: written and filmed per Euros 2020.
* Getting Past Irish Immigration: continuing the Immigration Tests series, the lads decided to do one for their own country - filled with jokes about Ireland and everything Irish.
* Irish Lad at the Embassy of the USA: another (long-awaited!) instalment in the Irish Lad series with its typical brand of Irish-isms.

Anything missing? Let us know. For Anne & Oisín Flanagan + the McCormacks sketches (Irish themed as well), will invite you to read our pages Nuggets of Wisdom and McCormack Matters.