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IN MOST PARTS of the world, the word “mineral” refers to a “solid, naturally occurring inorganic substance”.
But here at home, most use it to refer to a fizzy drink.
This sense of the word is among the 600 new words, phrases and senses to be added to the latest update of the Oxford English Dictionary.
And among these 600 new additions, are eight Irish-English words.
In the case of mineral, the OED has added a new sense, the one used in Ireland and West African English, of a “carbonated soft drink”.
In its definition, the OED cites an Irish account on X that posted: “My father off drink for Lent, drinking a mineral.”
It’s not the only Irish-English term to be added, with debs also now included – the OED defines a debs as a “formal social event held for students in their final year of secondary school, usually towards the end of the school year”.
Spice bag, the takeaway delicacy so beloved throughout Ireland, has also been added to the OED.
The OED remarked that the spice bag was invented in a Chinese takeaway restaurant in Dublin called Sunflower around 2006.
The OED’s first quotation for this entry is a social media post from 2012 of someone contemplating a trip to Sunflower to grab one: “Im half tempted to go around to sunflower and get a spice bag.”
The impact of Derry Girls continues to be felt in popular culture as “class” in the Irish sense of being a term of approval has been added to the OED.
The OED cites Erin from Derry Girl’s in its definition of class in this newly added sense.
Morto has also made its way into the latest edition of the OED, which means “mortified or extremely embarrassed”.
Elsewhere, it’s a big day for Waterford with the inclusion of “blaa”, which the OED defines as a “soft white bread roll dusted with flour, particularly associated with Waterford”.
The OED said possible origins for this word could be the French words blanc ‘white’ and blé ‘wheat’, but neither of these suggestions can be substantiated.
Meanwhile, ludraman, from Irish liúdramán or lúdramán, is now included in the OED as meaning a “lazy, unproductive, or stupid person”.
The OED cites James Joyce’s Ulysses in its definition, which is the earliest evidence of the words usage in English though Joyce it loodheramaun, which is one of the eleven different spellings for the word recorded in the OED.
“To act the maggot” has also been included in the latest update, meaning to “behave foolishly”.
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The grant system is and always was a shambles. The college year begins in September, NOT the end of the year. Why oh why is the department responsible, so incompetent. This is simply not acceptable to struggling students who have to go begging and scrounging off relatives while they await the grant
Did he say which year end?
You bet me to it Professor
Sure wasn’t it a great idea to encourage re-education and re-skilling for mature students? And then hit them with a 60% reduction in grants? And then pay them 3 months late? And then tell them not to go near those nasty short term money lenders? And then let the banks refuse to give out loans? Oh but the air and water are free! For now. Great encouragement for our younger students. Stay in Ireland. Everything will be just fine! Grrr! Rant over – walkies anyone?
Well said. I read it at a quick monologue pace and felt the anguish. Very well said!
I’m sure Enda will ask the Bondholders to wait until the end of the year so he can sort the students out??
Another fine mess Enda, you wouldn’t let the Bondholders wait for their Billions. Yet the ordinary taxpayers kids, can wait for a few quid in comparison!
The problem is not just with the new online grant service SUSI, a lot of people such as myself still haven’t received even a confirmation letter. It’s a joke.
what a Muppet collage started back in September with application submitted months in advance.
someone has warm hands from sitting on them for so long.
Are you studying English?
Stop it. He’s doing collage in preschool.
Tom don’t mind them.
can always rely on a Nazi grammar corrector to be hiding in the long grass.
yes it is college but predictive text like collage better
me Likey u grammeeer Good tom. u ok writterer. gOld star For yoU.
Tom, I think you will find it’s the spelling police in this case.
That’s true actually cos I had to apply like a month before I went back to college and never ever received an answer, therefore had to drop out of college!
This man has not got 2 brain cells to rub together and what he,s doin to our country is completely scandalous.
http://www.patfullerton.com/lh/movies/finemess.html
Kenny and Gilmore
Students who gets grants should be made to pay it back when they start working after finishing college.
Where do you think the money they get, is used? Do they go on foreign holidays, drink it or spend it in the economy?
Higher levels of education generally equals higher pay which means they pay higher taxes.
And just where do you think they are going to get the jobs to enable them to ‘pay back, these grants . Grants funded by their parents as taxpayers in this country !
But where in the world will they get these jobs???
fine gael have no interest in the young people of this country. fine gael would like to see them all emigrate
At least if we emigrate as graduates we will be able to send more money back to ‘d`aul’ sod, just like every second generation before us
Tom I think it’s “college”. Guessing you have no need for a grant?
The Susi system is a complete joke. Firstly the website crashed more than a stuntman when I tried to put in my details.
After 2 months I still haven’t heard anything back, to be fair I was late applying as the VEC were supposed to be looking after it and realised then that they weren’t!
Lads I go to college with have gone through an arduous process with theirs with documentation going missing etc. The whole process is drawn out and flawed!!!
From my taking of it from a number of sources here is how it works:
Apply online ( if it doesn’t crash )
Wait ages for confirmation and provisional confirmation then send in required documentation and lots of obscure stuff but necessary.
Wait another few weeks and get all the same documentation requested again !!! When you ring them they claim they never recieved anything…
Send in documentation again
Receive confirmation and then you have to send them in your bank details.
Could they not give a list of documents at the start and have the applicant send in the documents with the initial application ( like the old system that worked ) and put your bank details on the initial form.
The old system where it could be a bit slow worked a lot more efficiently than this and the staff are still there. Give it back to where it should have been left. I know of a few people who will be dropping out in the next. Few weeks if not sorted as they rely on the grant to pay rent and fees etc that are mounting up.
Darragh
If your application for a Grant was as poor as the Spelling and Grammar in your Posting with some sentences completely unfinished then it’s no surprise you haven’t had any response!
Garry. I don’t come here for a lesson in grammar. I typed this reply out on my phone and predictive text isn’t always correct. So apologies if it doesn’t meet your standards. I’m not too worried, I think I got my point across.
Well said Darragh
Anyone who has read your comment can see that you wrote it straight from the heart.Anyone can see and understand the frustration of waiting to see if you can afford to carry on with the education promised.I hope it all works out well for you.
in fairness 21000 applications were incomplete and lots missing documentation and these are supposed to be the top 5% of intelligence in society give me a break. how hard can it be to complete a form starting at the top of page 1 all the way through to the end where relevant and supply corroboration paperwork. am I being a bit harsh
Gabe. You are not being harsh, you speak sense.
That’s SUSI’s spin on it
I scanned and printed each document required, I have the print queue saved in a text file (paranoid about backups :-) )
Got an text in October saying I was provisionally approved, two weeks ago I got asked for my birth cert.
So they either mislaid my cert or processed an incomplete application to provisional status.
Rubbish, my nephew sent off an application with all necessary documentation, check by my self and sister, and he still received the your missing X,Y and Z. It’s standard practice. Buy them a bit of time, hoping he wouldn’t follow it through further. Sure look, it’s standard practice now when applying for a grant with a local TDs letter!! The only way to get them to put a shift on it.
if its “standard practice” as you say Ryan then how can 20000 have received their grants do you believe they have gotten some kind of special treatment
lets say for argument sake that they are all truly inept and somehow managed to screw up 50% of applications that they claim are incorrectly submitted and/or missing documentation that still leaves roughly 10000 applicants who still could not follow instructions, that’s about 15% of students who can’t read and that is truly staggering. I sympathise with both of your cases as above but you can see the other side of the argument yes? hope they find your birth cert or reimburse you for same.
Not necessarily staff and or student ineptitude, but 65 staff to clear 66,000 applications?
This was tendered for and was approved .
not true ….Gabe and whats a genuine case Joan just because kids look well of dosen’t mean they dont need a grant . Paid for 3rd level education for my child for 4 year’s and it was a struggle but because my husband is self employed we got nothing , And before I get slaged of for moaning Im not , it was worth it but people should realise kids cost money , dont always be looking for a hand out.
Saying “the grant system was always terrible” – yes, it wasn’t ideal, but no student had their student accounts in the colleges frozen because they couldn’t get their grant a year or so ago. Last year, I started as a first year student in DCU. Yes, it took until October until I got my grant. But everything was in before August 31st, and we were notified by the second week in September at the latest if we were missing any documentation!
Students can’t upload assignments, look at their notes, access their student email… All because they haven’t paid their fees yet. All because they’re waiting for the new, amazing system that is SUSI to help them be able to afford college.
I know the Government lets us down, but this is just terrible. What was the point in those students going to college, if in the end, they can’t do any of the college work, and may not even get the grant and have to drop out?
Odd that our representative from one of Ireland’s wealthiest constituencies, the very comfortable Rich Boy Brat, is showing such an interest.
Surely his affluent flock can’t qualify for grants?
I know, the cheek of him, caring about stuff outside himself. Why can’t he be selfish, so that our working class snobbery towards him is somewhat justified?
Oh, “affluent flock”.
Thought you were saying something else for a minute…
I think he’s a joke. Concocting an imaginary downtrodden underclass for whom he defining himself as their hero.
Launching himself naively against austerity and cuts, when they are the unfortunate inescapable and mandatory reality globally.
However, if he took his big brain and ability to understand the bigger picture, he could be expending his commendable energy pushing some of the right buttons that would make a real difference.
Be effectual is what TDs are there for. I’ve a lot more respect for Shane Ross who, having regretted his admiration of Fingleton, is now a healthy constructive champion of the people on matters that need a terrier and a spotlight on the hidden issues..
Arguing that the public sector staff managing the grant system are doing a slothy disorganised job is RBB stating the incurable obvious. What is he proposing? That we fire them for incompetence?
Imagine, If he was still a primary school teacher and freaking out students? Is that why he left that job, or being just a typical greedy teacher and one pension isn’t enough?
Typical greedy teacher????? Go back into your dark dreary little hole and scream at the worms about how things used to be. They’re about the only thing that will listen to you at this stage.
Yes the typical greedy little teacher, in Politics and keeping their jobs open. 30% of T.D.’s, in the Dail are teachers and don’t you think one job per person is enough. I wouldn’t lose sleep, If no-one listened to me?lol
Outsourced to Abtran…???? Why. I received a grant in my final yr a few years ago, which I received one week before the end of the year… Wonder was I sitting in a high interest account for the L.A making money….
Plenty of people in college with my kids who got grants and deffo didn’t look like they needed them! However the genuine cases need to be sorted pronto, what are they suppose to survive on…eat the cornflakes box? It’s a very unfair not properly policed system, people who don’t need it get it and those who do, don’t!!!!!
true the self employed who can work the books get it for sure
Joan
Among your outstanding abilities you are now claiming an infallible method of being able to determine parental financial means by how young students look! Amazing.
Angela I didn’t mean to offend or tar all self employed but you can be damned sure that during the height of the boom that some taxi drivers and solicitors etc were only declaring ?14000 earnings per year to get their kids grants when the very same people were easily pulling in 3 to 4 k a week and this I know for a fact. creative accounting I believe its called but clearly you and your family couldn’t stomach that level of dishonesty and that’s a rare thing by all accounts so kudos to you
Garry the people I’m talking about we know fairly well, I’m not just judging on ‘looks’!
Yipee now quinns pub can stay open
i was awarded grant there last wk to the princely sum of 0.00euro
Cain
You were obviously entitled to it!
Are you serious Cain
Oops Sorry Cian
Delays mean the money can sit in bank accounts or wherever for longer and earn more interest. Not fair on students.
yeah those damm students have a terrible life, they can only afford to go out 3 to 4 nights a week. SORT IT ENDA!!!!
SUSI = ‘Omnishambles’…!!!
Ask the banks to give them a low interest loan. O ya I forgot they have no money
Why doesn’t he give the one,s waiting for theirs money out of his own pocket, he has plenty or ask the bankers to support em Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Today’s been weird…
Different day , same shite!
The reason for centralising it was to stall some, refuse some and this could be done by people generally unknown to local politicians. They are taking their new role as agents for the german bankers too literally.
If you drop out or fail your exams you should have to pay every penny back.
More entitlements for this day and age and the country a mess
I bet a European Man of the Year award winner would not let this happen…oh wait…
Especially to applicants that the government know.
Was very lucky to get my grant from SUSI in mid-October !
I find it very ironic that he should say “all successful applicants will receive their grants by the end of December” as I was FINALLY deemed a successful applicant in the end of November (after a hell of a lot of hassle with them losing my documents etc.), I did all the necessaries with bank details etc. and have still not received any payment! Each time I get in contact with someone from the SUSI “helpdesk” I am being given a different date for my payment and each time that said date comes and goes and no payment.. They are fobbing people off and telling them only what they think we want to hear and then not able to fulfil their duties!
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