On St. Patrick's Day, millions of people take to the streets dressed in green, with shamrocks on their faces, celebrating Irish culture.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Irish migrants, Paddy's Day will be celebrated around the world in 2025.
From Sydney to Santiago, Dublin to Dubai, and Tokyo to Toronto, you're sure to find somewhere to party. Only St. Nicholas could rival the title of the world's most beloved saint.
However, you may find that Irish words and phrases are more common than you thought.
Some of our favorite slang phrases and terms have roots in the Irish language, which natives call Gaeilge.
From the nickname of the Conservative Party to our slang for fun and one of Britain's most popular drinks, many have surprising origins on the island of Ireland.
Crake
“What's the fuss?” you can ask your friends instead of “What's the story” or “What's going on” when you meet them for a pint at the pub.
And you'll certainly enjoy it when the conversations start flowing.
This word doesn't require much explanation, but for those who aren't familiar, it means fun or having a good time and came into the English language from Ireland.
However, its origins are a little more confusing.
Evidence of the cultural exchange between these islands is the fact that craic actually originated in Britain.
It comes from the Scottish and North East English term “crack”, which means loud gossip, jokes or boasting.
The word Craic then took on its characteristic Irish spelling and retained it when it came back into use in England.
In abundance
This word, meaning “plenty” (you have plenty of Guinness here), has a somewhat less lofty meaning in the original Irish.
This is an anglicised spelling of the phrase “go leoir”, which translates as “enough”, and was adopted by English speakers around 400 years ago.
Hooligan
This word, which means an aggressive troublemaker, conjures up images of drunken mobs brawling after a football match. In fact, it comes from an Irish surname.
The English term “hooligan”, which can be variously spelled Houlihan, O'Houlihan or Ó hUallacháin, was first recorded in 19th-century police reports on youth gangs in London.
It became popular in the early 20th century, possibly due to its use as the name of a fictional rowdy Irish family in a music hall song.
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Sourse: metro.co.uk
