Irish Dopers, I'm confused so...

Anyways, seeing as my lovely Twisty is a Dub, I’ve been trying to learn the language so I can understand what he’s ranting on about. :wink:

I don’t understand the rules regarding the use of the word ‘so’ at the end of sentances. Apparently I keep getting it wrong, so that implies there is a correct way to use it, hence the posting in GQ.

Tell me how I’m supposed to use it so?

Ta muchley! :smiley:

it is rarely used at the end of a question, and mostly used at the end of an exclemation or a statement of fact or reassurance.

:D:D

So what about this crazy mad idea making a question out of something that really doesn’t need to be asked, like “Will I get the beers in so?” or “Can I make the tea so?”

:smiley:

you getting the beers in?

that’ll be grand so. :slight_smile:

Good luck ,lol

when ever he is ranting on

Just smile and nod :slight_smile: that usually takes care of 95 percent of the conversations.

Declan

Aye Declan, I got that nice and sorted, can even watch the telly in the background too, but I just feel I’m not satisfying his emotional needs, ya know.
:smiley:

He shoots and thats 3-0.
the captains weaving run results in a third!

…sorry honey, you were saying?

Well as a rule , we do not have emotional needs. As long as the Guiness, and the local football is not interupted , we are golden :slight_smile:

Declan

Ah, that’s useful to know so.

You’re Canadian-Irish? Or are we talking about men in general?

I am actually Irish , I was born in Belfast

My family emigrated to Canada in 1970 , so i got naturalized sometime in the 80’s

Declan

Tir, sounds like you have the hang of it. As you said it can be often used with rhetorical questions. It can also replace “in that case” for example “Are you hungry? Come on so.”

Never noticed this before, but the mrs reassures me that I do it all the time. So that’s grand so :slight_smile:

ahhhhh, cheers Iteki, I didn’t realise it meant “in that case”, I was using it in any case where I might have used “so” at the beginning of the sentence.

Cunning.

Actually all the Irish people I know that I’ve asked say that they never use it, and then 2 mintues later they will, but when you point it out they don’t even realise!
heh!

Reminds me of Robert Heinlein’s weird use of “So?” where anyone else would use “Oh?” or “Oh yeah?” Always through me for a loop as a lad. Is this a Navy thing, or what?

irish so= canadian eh?

Not with me anyways , I hear it enough but not all the time to say that everyone says it

Declan

Very true. What I find ironic is that those very same people will leave “so” off the end of a sentence when it should be there. For example:

“Did Aiofe go to the pub?”
“She must have done.”

My wife is Irish. I didn’t have to try to learn how she speaks – I just picked it up. Now when asked the time I say “It’s half three” instead of “It’s three thirty” (assuming that’s what time it is, of course). And I do it in an Irish accent. A bad Irish accent. I can also insult our baby daughter in Irish (real Irish, not Irish English). She’s a right cailín cráighte beag, she is. [I’m not sure I spelled that middle word correctly. I can never spell the ones with h’s correctly. What kind of a language puts h’s after m’s, d’s, and b’s?]

The kind that then pronounces the bh as ‘v’ and the mh as ‘w’ etc :slight_smile:

mrsIteki also speaks with an Irish accent now, much to the confusion of others. People tend to do a double-take when an asian swede lets out a roar of “ah would you ever go fuck off!”

Happily I have managed to train her away from saying “jayzis, I look like a knacker!” :eek: She picked that up when we lived in Dublin, but had no idea what it meant.

Why is that any stranger than putting them after Ps, Gs and Ts?

I suppose it isn’t. Guess I’m just used to the Latin-based languages. I do like many of the names with h’s in them, like Niamh and Aoibheann (not sure I spelled that right either). Tough to name a kid something unpronounceable by 99% of Americans, though.

shouldn’t that be “feck”? :smiley: