# Irish Dopers, I'm confused so... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855 "2003-12-30T23:35:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/1 "2003-12-30T23:35:53Z")
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. 😉 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! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/2 "2003-12-30T23:40:42Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/3 "2003-12-30T23:45:07Z")
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?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/4 "2003-12-30T23:52:38Z")
you getting the beers in? that’ll be grand so. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/5 "2003-12-31T00:12:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tir Tinuviel \* > \*\*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. 😉 > > Ta muchley! 😃 \*\* Good luck ,lol when ever he is ranting on Just smile and nod 🙂 that usually takes care of 95 percent of the conversations. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/6 "2003-12-31T00:15:30Z")
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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/7 "2003-12-31T00:27:22Z")
_He shoots and thats 3-0. the captains weaving run results in a third!_ …sorry honey, you were saying? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/8 "2003-12-31T00:36:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tir Tinuviel \* > \*\*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. > 😃 \*\* 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 🙂 Declan ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/9 "2003-12-31T11:01:03Z")
Ah, that’s useful to know so. You’re Canadian-Irish? Or are we talking about men in general? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/10 "2003-12-31T14:28:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tir Tinuviel \* > \*\*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 ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/11 "2003-12-31T16:07:32Z")
**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 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/12 "2003-12-31T16:12:06Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/13 "2003-12-31T17:55:39Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/14 "2003-12-31T23:24:26Z")
irish so= canadian eh? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/15 "2004-01-01T01:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rocking chair \* > \*\*irish so= canadian eh? \*\* Not with me anyways , I hear it enough but not all the time to say that everyone says it Declan ---
**Author:** ![StinkPop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@StinkPop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkPop)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/16 "2004-01-01T08:49:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tir Tinuviel \* > **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!** 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?] ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/17 "2004-01-01T12:25:11Z")
The kind that then pronounces the bh as ‘v’ and the mh as ‘w’ etc 🙂 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. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/18 "2004-01-01T12:31:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by StinkPop \* > \*\*What kind of a language puts h’s after m’s, d’s, and b’s?] \*\* Why is that any stranger than putting them after Ps, Gs and Ts? ---
**Author:** ![StinkPop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@StinkPop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkPop)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/19 "2004-01-01T15:11:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*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. ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855/20 "2004-01-01T15:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iteki \* > **"ah would you ever go fuck off!"** shouldn’t that be “feck”? 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-im-confused-so/221855.md?page=2)