h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some suggessted additions to this rather limited vocabulary.

To french kiss/snog - to were someone, to meeet someone, to get with someone,(Depending on which part of the city you are in.)

young lady - Young one (pronounced 'yung wun')
young lad - Youngfella (as in 'Here youngfella, will you meet her?')

house - gaf

stall it - slow down, also accompany me as in 'stall it down to my gaf'

here - could I have your attention please, as in 'Here, you'

Ah jeyzus - show of surprise or indignation.

Massive - good looking or brilliant as in 'Here youngfella, your only massive'

Back of a 79 - downright ugly, as in 'Shes got a face like the back of a 79' see also be't down.

it should be west brit not east brit, west brit as in west of britain.

Yep ur right there...didnt notice that one, but your dead right..

The Ravenmaster

Kinda scary, but almost half of these phrases are used here in western Canada.

You have GOT to be joking.... Hmmmm... possibly a case of parrallel evoulution due to similar conditions....tell me... do the youth of ur area commonly hang around on street corners and in parks drinking incredibably cheap alchohol till they fall over and then stagger into a take away???? If so the conditions would be similar to aours and explain the evolution of common phrases.....

Ravenmaster

actually, most youth hang out on street corners getting drunk AND stoned out of their minds. We do have a bit of a problem with that

You really musn't forgat the many erms used for the word drunk........
Langers, off your trolley,plastered to name but a few

A current phrase of preference is 'locked', in particular in the Dun Laoghaire area.

I don't know about anyone else, but my aunt refers to just about everyone as 'yung wun', including my mother and her own sons.

I had an interesting experience with 'yer wan', actually with the weaker variation 'yer woman', when I used it to refer to my geography teacher. It did not, apparently, denote the respect I was supposed to show my elders..

Another phrase that was used a few years ago for 'to kiss' was 'to see'. 'Will you see me?' was a common usage. This would have been among denizens of Finglas and Cabra. It may still be current; haven't seen them in a while . 'See' is pronounced with that high, thin, lingering Dublin 'e' - 'Will you se-e me?'

I think 'like the back of a 79' may be a variation on 'like the back of a bus'. Perhaps from a local route number?

'Gizzler' (or 'jizzler') and 'chis'ller' are probably related. The first means remote control for the television, unless it means knicknack or 'that thing I want you to pass me'. The second word means 'young lad', as in 'When I was a..'. How gizzler derived from chiseller, as I suspect it did, beats me.

Any phrase from the inner Northside is spoken in that mumble, which evolves from not opening the mouth or moving the lips. Some Slavic-speakers have the same thing. There is speculation in my family that it comes from not wanting anyone to know what you're saying, which seems fairly logical.

An 'artic' is a semi-articulated truck, known in the States as a 'semi'.

Does anyone know whether rhyming slang is still in use? I was surprised and delighted to hear boys at my school testing each other's knowledge of it, but I haven't actually heard it used.

Local rhyming slang...
Not feeling the mae west - not feeling the best

It used to be John West, as in the brand of tinned salmon. It's good to hear that some is still around!

I'm reliably informed that this is an import from America (makes sense).