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Greetings,

I am currently writing a book series that has an Irish lead character. I have done quite a bit of studying on common slang for Ireland and have a pretty good understanding of what to write the character as saying. However, if there are any people who reside or have resided in Ireland for a long period of time that can give me any tips on how to make an Irish character speak, I would love the help.

I know a fair amount of slang and common words from Ireland, but any that you think I should know would be great, as well as how often these words would normally be used, by who, and when. What are some slang or common words/sayings that really are very common to use and not just stereotypical for an Irish person to say, because I do not want to write that way.

Also, I could use some help on just how Irish people would speak normally anyway. I know of many Irish people who speak just like I would here in America (just with an Irish accent) and don't really use that much slang or Irish sayings at all.

Basically, if anyone has any tips on how to properly make an Irish character speak without making them seem like a stereotypical Irishman, but still allowing for it to be clear they are Irish, I would really love the help.

Stuff like this can be really hard when you do not live in the place of the characters you have.

Thank you in advance,

The Ellipsis Writer

The only think I can help you with is that they say "lover" a lot and refer to many people(anyone in fact) as "your man" typically pronounced "ya man". I don´t know why, neither do the Irish people I´ve asked.

Interesting! Thank you for your reply and suggestions. I will definitely look into how to best use these...

Thanks again,

The Ellipsis Writer...

They drink a lot

Slang differs in each region in Ireland. Cork, Dublin, Galway, Donegal. So you need to focus on a particular area. Where is your character from? Is he/she still living in Ireland or have they lived somewhere else for a long time? What age are they? What class are they, working class, middle educated class? Younger people use more Americanisms now due to social media, movies etc. Examples
'Ye feckin ejit' - country
'You f****g moron' - Dublin
'Ye langer' - Cork

This is really difficult to get right. Read Roddy Doyle for Dublin slang. Using the vernacular for Irish slang could appear as really bad writing. Use sparingly. Happy to review but I will be very honest.

I would also suggest writers such as Maeve Binchy and Marian Keyes to try and get the cadences of speech right without slipping into cliche.