# Does anyone else in the UK and Ireland "look something" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023 "2009-12-04T20:08:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/1 "2009-12-04T20:08:10Z")
As in, not look _for_ something, or look _at_ something, or look _through_ something, but to “look something”. I’m sure I’ve not heard it any sooner than the last few months, but all of a sudden my boss at work started asking “Are you looking me?”, people email me stating they’re “looking a password reset”, ads online tell me that someone is “looking a TV”. I can’t stand this and I’ve no idea who passed around the idea that it was the done thing. Hearing someone say “'bout ye” I can say that they’ve watched an advert for a pretty crappy beer. But I’ve no idea where this one came from and it’s starting to drive me nuts :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/2 "2009-12-04T20:13:24Z")
I haven’t heard that and I hope I never do. Between hearing “ask” used as a noun and “hot” used as a verb, I have enough trouble keeping my impulses under control :mad: ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/3 "2009-12-04T20:41:39Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > I haven’t heard that and I hope I never do. Between hearing “ask” used as a noun and “hot” used as a verb, I have enough trouble keeping my impulses under control :mad: How does one use ‘ask’ as a noun? ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/4 "2009-12-04T20:46:16Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > I haven’t heard that and I hope I never do. Between hearing “ask” used as a noun and “hot” used as a verb, I have enough trouble keeping my impulses under control :mad: My Irish wife uses “hot up” (as in, "Please hot up the kettle) and it makes me wince. That being said, my heart flutters a little when she says “amn’t.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/5 "2009-12-04T21:02:34Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > How does one use ‘ask’ as a noun? “That’s a big ask”, i.e., that’s asking a lot. It’s used all the time in Ireland and it makes me cringe. **Daithi Lacha** I haven’t heard that particular usage of it, but the Irish media frequently refer to political and sporting competitions with phrases along the lines of “the race for \_\_\_\_\_ is hotting up”. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/6 "2009-12-04T21:07:37Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > **Daithi Lacha** I haven’t heard that particular usage of it, but the Irish media frequently refer to political and sporting competitions with phrases along the lines of “the race for \_\_\_\_\_ is hotting up”. You know, I guess you’re right - she does use it in that (infinitive?) sense: “The kettle is hotting up.” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/7 "2009-12-04T21:32:15Z")
Gerund, and tense not sense. The infinitive is the “to” form (to heat, or in this case “to hot”). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/8 "2009-12-05T17:51:58Z")
I thought “big ask” was an import. I find it jarring, it sounds like dodgy office-speak. I’ve not heard the “look something” in the OP. I hear the word random about 5 times a day on the bus though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/9 "2009-12-05T18:17:34Z")
I do use ‘hot up’. Like, I may hot up the kettle or if the bath water gets cold, I hot up the bath. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/10 "2009-12-05T18:31:27Z")
In fundraising, the “ask” is the part of the text where you stop beating around the bush and ask for money. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/11 "2009-12-05T18:34:49Z")
> [@Kal](#): > > I do use ‘hot up’. Like, I may hot up the kettle or if the bath water gets cold, I hot up the bath. What’s wrong with “heat”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![ascensions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@ascensions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ascensions)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/12 "2009-12-05T23:34:25Z")
I love Amn’t… OMG!!! You just gave me a new word… and the lexicon grows! ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/13 "2009-12-06T15:09:02Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > What’s wrong with “heat”? It’s a horrible magazine. Just so I’m clear, I wouldn’t use ‘hot up’ in proper speech; instead I’d use ‘warm up’ or ‘heat up’. In casual speech, where I’m prone to using all kinds of various dialects - typically a mixture of Nottinghamese, poggardi jib and Jamaican patois, with other wee bits picked up from all over the place - standard grammatical rules get taken (or as I’d say, ‘tooken’) out back and shot in the head. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/14 "2009-12-06T18:01:21Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > “That’s a big ask”, i.e., that’s asking a lot. It’s used all the time in Ireland and it makes me cringe. James Cagney told a story about a time when someone asked “how do you go about joining this ‘Irish mafia’ (the circle Cagney ran with in Hollywood; Pat O’Brien, Spencer Tracy, Frank Morgan, others) of yours?” and was told by Morgan(?) “you don’t go about it; you are asked”, to which another added “and we’ve run out of asks”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mighty\_Boosh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_mighty_boosh/32/1755_2.png) [@The\_Mighty\_Boosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mighty_Boosh)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/15 "2009-12-06T20:17:55Z")
To ‘look’ something is commonly used in Ireland (or Northern Ireland, at any rate) to mean ‘to look for’ or, more precisely, ‘to want.’ As in, ‘Are you looking a drink?’ People said it when I was a kid - it’s not new. Nor is ‘bout ye’, by the way - well established saying, a bit corny and old-fashioned now. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/16 "2009-12-06T23:18:22Z")
Oh for the love of pasta, it’s coming to the US. A car that parks near mine at work has a vanity plate “bout ye.” I thought it was something canadian. Glad that was cleared up. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/17 "2009-12-06T23:25:07Z")
> [@The\_Mighty\_Boosh](#): > > Nor is ‘bout ye’, by the way - well established saying, a bit corny and old-fashioned now. I thought that Harp ad campaign had given it a new lease of life perhaps, most people I’m familiar with are greeted or greet with “Alright?” ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/18 "2009-12-06T23:30:32Z")
To the original question: no, I’ve never heard anyone say “look something” other than “look something up”. I am from Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/19 "2009-12-08T22:47:58Z")
My favourite is the F-word used as a destination. As in: “Tell them to get out to f\*\*k!” (Go away) **Pushkin** , are these the kind of people who ask if there is a situation? It’s a pretty common way of phrasing things in ceertain parts of norn irn “looking a wee word”, “looking a night out” etc. and it annoys me too. **sinjin** - my favourite Northern Irish vanity plate said “NEE KAP”. As I saw it in the car park of a hospital the question arose in my mind…does it belong to an orthopaedic surgeon, or a paramilitary who had kneecapped someone? ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023/20 "2009-12-08T22:52:28Z")
Oh dear, I’ve said, and heard it, lots of times. We are odd though, everybody knows that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-in-the-uk-and-ireland-look-something/520023.md?page=2)