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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 most apposite satirical programme for British political events in the aftermath of Brexit is actually the most timeless of them all: ‘Yes, Minister’. There should be re-runs of ‘Yes, Minister’ on RTE and the BBC (or Virgin Media and Gold) right now.
It encapsulates the attitudes and mentality of all the players, even today, so well. From a prime minister who only wants to survive and who has been captured by the civil service; to prominent backbenchers who are pretending to be acting only on principle, but in reality have fuelled opposition to the only deal that would actually take the UK out of the European Union just to further their own ambitions to enter 10 Downing Street.
@J. Reid: Sir Humphrey makes a great case to leave the EU though…
Sounds brilliant. Break a leg with it.
In fairness I post a lot of crap must the time, but I strongly think we can all agree that 99.9% of politicians pretty much has their own personal agenda behind every piece of crap that comes out of their mouths , they don’t really fight for the People
Thanks for bringing that show to our attention, I will be sure to avoid it
All politicians only ever speak a “load of cock and bull”, to clarify, how do you know when a politician lies? (S)he opens their mouth to speak.
Take the word British out of your article headline …….. now you’ve got a show !
If you believe a word that comes out of any politicians mouth, more fool you. The entire political system, in Ireland, the Uk and US was built for a horse and cart economy. We are living in a new world now. Time for a new system!
Cock. That is all.
@Arthur Pewty: What about Leo, it mentions Irish politicians too and he talks sense most of the time
have your say