# Tell me about Irish brogues (the real ones) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967 "2010-03-19T01:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/21 "2010-03-19T21:38:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > If you say so. The only leprechaun I know sounds nothing like that, but then he’s also Jewish and grew up in South Korea. [This guy?](http://aqua-teen-hunger-force.wikia.com/wiki/Leprechauns#Merle) ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/22 "2010-03-19T21:41:33Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Is the actor who plays Roy on _The IT Crowd_ truly Irish? I’m too lazy to re-look up his name, but I did once and ISTR that it sounded Irish. If he is, then his accent’s a real one. And it’s lovely, too. [Chris O’Dowd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_O%27Dowd), and yes. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/23 "2010-03-19T22:58:22Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Someone once told me that Brad Pitt had a spot-on Belfast accent in [The Devil’s Own](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RozG2ejdeh8), but I’m not sure how true that is. Being of the Northern Irish ilk I can confirm that his accent in that film is pretty good, you can tell he’s having to think about what he’s saying and is speaking a little slowly as a result but its a good attempt. I’ve always been of the opinion that Brad Pitt is an underrated actor, he’s more than just a pretty face. btw its been years since I’ve seen that film but I seem to recall that while his accent was fine I don’t think it was particularly a Belfast accent…which, and lets be fair, sounds like someone dragging a cat backwards over a bed of nails… _(hah, do your worst you swine, I’ll never talk!)_ ---
**Author:** ![Sonnenstrahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Sonnenstrahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonnenstrahl)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/24 "2010-03-20T04:30:43Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Not Irish, but I’ve been to Ireland a few times, and I spent over a decade doing Irish dance, so I’ve known a few Irish people and have had a decent exposure to the culture. > > From films I’ve seen, hands-down the worst attempt at an Irish accent I’ve ever heard was from Julia Roberts in [_Michael Collins_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(film)). On the TV front, David Boreanaz was always horrendous in flashback scenes on [_Buffy the Vampire Slayer_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_(TV_series)). I don’t have a good ear for accents but even I could tell that David Boreanaz was horrid. The funny thing is that when I started watching _Angel_ I assumed Glenn Quinn was also faking the accent, just doing a better job of it. He just sounded so stereotypically Irish! I get the same impression when I hear some genuinely posh English accents - I guess because they’re the default imitated accent, it’s jarring to hear a real example of them. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/25 "2010-03-20T04:34:32Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > I’d watch a Colin Farrell movie or show where he gets to use his normal accent - so, that episode of \*\*Scrubs… > > He’s from Dublin, so I bet he’d have it right. I’d really only paid any attention to him on that Scrubs episode \ and…I recently saw a brief part of an interview of his, and…I did a double-take, because it sounded like his accent was different. So now I’m going to have to go back and compare, cause I just figured ‘wow, he used a different Irish accent for a show, when he really HAS an Irish accent!’ Of course that’s like saying someone’s using an American accent, and there likely isn’t such a thing. Too many varieties to nail down just one and say ‘that’s it.’ Maybe he was just farking around that day; or maybe I’m going deaf. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/26 "2010-03-20T06:06:17Z")
> [@Sonnenstrahl](#): > > I don’t have a good ear for accents but even I could tell that David Boreanaz was horrid. The funny thing is that when I started watching _Angel_ I assumed Glenn Quinn was also faking the accent, just doing a better job of it. He just sounded so stereotypically Irish! I get the same impression when I hear some genuinely posh English accents - I guess because they’re the default imitated accent, it’s jarring to hear a real example of them. I think David Boreanaz’s accent did improve, though it never got good or even decent, after he spent time around Glenn Quinn, the inverse of the way that James Marsters’ accent at Spike drifted in the final season of Angel, when Tony Head wasn’t around to be an example. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/27 "2010-03-20T06:54:14Z")
> [@Sonnenstrahl](#): > > I don’t have a good ear for accents but even I could tell that David Boreanaz was horrid. The funny thing is that when I started watching _Angel_ I assumed Glenn Quinn was also faking the accent, just doing a better job of it. He just sounded so stereotypically Irish! I get the same impression when I hear some genuinely posh English accents - I guess because they’re the default imitated accent, it’s jarring to hear a real example of them. In a later episode of\* Angel\*, in which the gang regress to their teenage selves due to a spell gone wrong, “Young” Angel was surprised to notice he no longer had an Irish accent. I think that was an acknowledgment of the deficient accent. But Boreanaz was a young actor at the beginning of his career–who started in a couple of shows about vampires. There was _no_ excuse for Julia Roberts’ dreadful attempt in _Michael Collins_. She must have been hired for her “star power.” Too bad she wouldn’t do the work to learn how to speak properly. Due to her childhood in Ireland, it’s no surprise that Anjelica Huston did well in _The Dead_. In [this 2008 interview](http://www.wowowow.com/conversation/st-pats?page=0,0), she’s asked about her favorite Irish song: > [@](#): > > “Galway Bay” really gets me because I was raised in County Galway. When I was doing “Lonesome Dove,” Bobby Duvall had a mariachi band record that song to use whenever he needed to make me cry. It would be the end of a long working day, and we’d have done seven scenes, and I’d think I didn’t have a grain of emotion left in me. Bobby would play ‘Galway Bay’ on his tape recorder, and I’d be gone on a wave of tears. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/28 "2010-03-20T09:19:05Z")
Presumably part of the problem stems from the perception that there’s “the accent” of Ireland and not several different ones. Some accents you hear in film and television are atrocious and I wonder if it is partly a hangover for music hall days, stage Irish stuff. I can put on a “generic” American accent that sounds vaguely plausible, unless you’re actually American. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/29 "2010-03-20T17:54:10Z")
Anyone else desperate to hear the mariachi version of “Galway Bay?” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/30 "2010-03-20T22:18:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Anyone else desperate to hear the mariachi version of “Galway Bay?” I won’t say desperate but I’ll admit I looked for it on YouTube.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/31 "2010-03-20T22:40:37Z")
Accent to one side, we applauded the writers of the 1997 film The Jackal for having Gere’s character say “shite” instead of “shit”, which sounded much more authentic. ---
**Author:** ![sulamith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@sulamith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sulamith)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/32 "2010-03-22T03:27:55Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Someone once told me that Brad Pitt had a spot-on Belfast accent in [The Devil’s Own](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RozG2ejdeh8), but I’m not sure how true that is. I’ve also heard people say his Pikey Irish accent in _Snatch_ was spot on, but I don’t know enough about the different dialects to say. All I know I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. It just seems to me that people that would know were impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/33 "2010-03-22T11:48:52Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Presumably part of the problem stems from the perception that there’s “the accent” of Ireland and not several different ones. Yes, there are so many different accents. For instance the Cork accent is so very different to the Belfast accent. Someone earlier mentioned Chris O’Dowd. He’s from about 10 miles from where I’m from but his accent is slightly different from mine. When Heroes had a few Irish episodes they really went all out. There were a brother and sister, one had a bad ‘generic’ Irish accent, the other had a bad ‘northernish’ Irish accent. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/34 "2010-03-22T17:07:16Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > There was _no_ excuse for Julia Roberts’ dreadful attempt in _Michael Collins_. IMO, there’s no excuse for Julia Roberts, period. Can’t fucking stand her. > [@sulamith](#): > > I’ve also heard people say his Pikey Irish accent in _Snatch_ was spot on FYI, “pikey” is a derogatory term. ---
**Author:** ![sulamith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@sulamith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sulamith)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/35 "2010-03-22T17:42:44Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > IMO, there’s no excuse for Julia Roberts, period. Can’t fucking stand her. > > FYI, “pikey” is a derogatory term. Sorta like the equivalent “white trash”? Or “Mick”? If I’m of Irish descent, does that make it ok for me to say it? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/36 "2010-03-22T17:57:52Z")
> [@sulamith](#): > > Sorta like the equivalent “white trash”? Or “Mick”? If I’m of Irish descent, does that make it ok for me to say it? 😛 No. Nowadays, the word is used to describe [Gypsies or Travellers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikey). ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/37 "2010-03-22T18:28:28Z")
No Irish person says Pikey, that’s a British word. If we were being insulting we’d call them knackers. Calling a traveller a knacker is basically the same as calling a black man a nigger but accepted by some people who don’t like travellers. ---
**Author:** ![sulamith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@sulamith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sulamith)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/38 "2010-03-22T18:47:15Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > No Irish person says Pikey, that’s a British word. If we were being insulting we’d call them knackers. Calling a traveller a knacker is basically the same as calling a black man a nigger but accepted by some people who don’t like travellers. Ok, good enough. Wiki does say “pikey” to describe Pitt’s character in Snatch, and I have heard other people use it to describe lower class Irish, so I thought it was ok to use. Come to think of it, those people were Brits, so i should have guessed it wasn’t nice. I also thought “knacker” and “knackered” referred to being tired, worn out, beat up, etc… Either way, was Brad Pitt’s accent correct for this character? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/39 "2010-03-22T19:34:32Z")
I just watched Laurence Olivier’s _Henry V_ last night, and the actor they had playing the Irish soldier Captain MacMorris had the worst Irish accent I’ve ever heard. I don’t think the actor playing him had ever met an actual Irishman before. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967/40 "2010-03-22T19:59:25Z")
> [@sulamith](#): > > Either way, was Brad Pitt’s accent correct for this character? Pretty much but I think he over egged the pudding for comic effect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-irish-brogues-the-real-ones/532967.md?page=3)