# Irish language question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2011, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449 "2011-03-21T09:05:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Molotok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Molotok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotok)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/1 "2011-03-21T09:05:49Z")
I notice there are a few Irishes on the dope, so maybe this is the place to ask: How would you say ‘bloody rain!’ or ‘damn rain!’ in Irish? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/2 "2011-03-21T10:30:32Z")
I’m not sure but it’ll probably be the Gaelic equivalent of “same as usual”😛 ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/3 "2011-03-21T11:05:07Z")
You wouldn’t. You’d say “What a fine soft day!” Just kidding. If no one comes along who knows of the top of their heads, I’ll look it up for you this evening. I can say that there are no “bad words” in Irish. You have to be creative to curse things or people. So you might want to think thruogh how you’d like to phrase that. “To the devil with . . .” is the most common, at least in the books. . . ---
**Author:** ![Molotok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Molotok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotok)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/4 "2011-03-21T11:35:43Z")
Whether it’s ‘blasted rain’, ‘sodding rain’, ‘stupid rain’, whatever - just something the Irish might mutter at the rain, if they felt the need to (like I do). ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/5 "2011-03-21T13:23:14Z")
My grandfather would have said “get out there, it’ll make you grow” ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/6 "2011-03-21T13:55:22Z")
Feckin ren ---
**Author:** ![Molotok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Molotok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotok)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/7 "2011-03-21T14:50:40Z")
OK. So it looks like we have Hiberno-English covered for now. The language I referred to in the OP is an actual seperate language: [Irish language - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language)😉 ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/8 "2011-03-21T15:15:50Z")
> [@boomerwang](#): > > I notice there are a few Irishes on the dope, so maybe this is the place to ask: How would you say ‘bloody rain!’ or ‘damn rain!’ in Irish? Try “diabhal an bháisteach”. It’s not rude, and roughly means “to the devil with the rain”, or in effect “damn the rain”. Diabhal is the devil, báisteach means rain. Irish language pronunciation varies according to the region of Ireland you come from, but if you said “Jee-wull on waw-shtock” you’ll be fine. Even better if you stick a y sound in so it’s more like “waw-shtyock”. In different parts of Ireland bh is pronounced like w or v. Like the difference between German and English pronunciation of W. So some would say “jee-vull on vaw-shtyock”. In writing “bháisteach”, you can do the á with the accent by holding down Alt Gr - works for all vowels, so impress your friends with your ability to write foreign languages. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/9 "2011-03-21T15:18:42Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > In writing “bháisteach”, you can do the á with the accent by holding down Alt Gr - works for all vowels, so impress your friends with your ability to write foreign languages. That depends on which keyboard layout he’s using, it doesn’t work for all of them and some have a completely different procedure (my keyboard gives € by using AltGr+e, for example: I use ES-Intl). ---
**Author:** ![Molotok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Molotok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotok)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-language-question/575449/10 "2011-03-21T15:24:03Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > Try “diabhal an bháisteach”. It’s not rude, and roughly means “to the devil with the rain”, or in effect “damn the rain”. Diabhal is the devil, báisteach means rain. > > Irish language pronunciation varies according to the region of Ireland you come from, but if you said “Jee-wull on waw-shtock” you’ll be fine. Even better if you stick a y sound in so it’s more like “waw-shtyock”. > > In different parts of Ireland bh is pronounced like w or v. Like the difference between German and English pronunciation of W. So some would say “jee-vull on vaw-shtyock”. > > In writing “bháisteach”, you can do the á with the accent by holding down Alt Gr - works for all vowels, so impress your friends with your ability to write foreign languages. Go raibh maith agat! You’ve no idea how happy I am with this neat little phrase. My keyboard is set to the Irish layout, so fada are not an issue for me. Thanks again. 🙂