It’s not easy being friends with Northern Irish folk

Whilst I love my little leprechauns, I can’t say that it’s always been an easy ride sharing the craic with them.


Whilst I love my little leprechauns, I can’t say that it’s always been an easy ride sharing the craic with them. As a relatively ignorant english-woman, before I got to university I probably couldn’t tell you much about NI, but boy have I learnt a lot in my three years of having a lot of northern irish friends (3/5th of my household and 6/9th of my friendship group to be exact). If you have come to university and found yourself in the same predicament, let me teach you a few things I had to learn the hard way.

Notice the abundance of red hair

Firstly, North and South. Two very different entities. NEVER assume a Northern Irish native appreciates the generic labelling of ‘Irish’. The enjoy their independence from the mainland and whilst may still enjoy celebrating St Paddy’s with a Guiness, a wild Northern Irish may get very offended about the fact you didn’t realise there’s less of a sing-song nature about their accent and especially doesn’t sound as pleasant when they’re annoyed at you. The United Kingdom doesn’t only consist of the south of England. Who knew?

Nightlife in NI? Good Craic

Whilst on the subject of dialects, here are some basic phrases which you may need some help deciphering when embarking on a new friendship. ‘Craic’ can mean banter, or ‘what’s the craic’ translates into ‘greetings, what is happening?’. ‘Ye girl ye’ is a term of endearment when you’ve achieved something. ‘Your man’ or ‘your woman’ is to refer to someone they can’t remember any other detail about except from their gender. ‘Par Sharr’ is a ‘power shower’, and don’t get confused by the fact they say ‘wee’  basically every other word in a sentence. It literally means nothing. At all.

North Coast trippin’

Things the Norn Iron enjoy include: potatoes in several forms, including tayto crisps/roasties/champ/potato scones/potato bread/boiled/fried/etc, talking about their mutual friends and love of Northern Ireland (affectionately referred to as the ‘mother land’ by natives). Did you know every person in Northern Ireland is only about three mutual friends away from every other person in Northern Ireland? Don’t get trapped in an introduction between two fellow norn irons. You have NOTHING you can add to the conversation. You might as well leave now.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I LOVE THE RAMORE.

However, all that being said, the thing about being friends with the Northern Irish is that you end up talking about the Northern Irish so much you end up sort of feeling like you have kind of migrated into their culture a little bit. It’s hard to imagine, but all of a sudden I would be using phrases like ‘awk’ and ‘you melter’ and adding wee after every third word I said. When I met a new Northern Irish person, I too would get excited, ask about their hometown/school situation and then find I too had a mutual friend. When this is done, I feel accomplished, a sense of achievement at having successfully infiltrated the NI banter. How can I identify with this culture when I didn’t even like potatoes before I came to uni! It’s sort of an infectious disease. I’ve adapted a sort of weird twang where the ends of my words are somehow a little high pitched, especially when they mention key buzzwords like ‘the troubles’ and ‘the ramore’.

Nay, fulfilling your ultimate curiosity involves the inevitable pilgrimage to Northern Ireland. Whilst having multicultural friends for some means holidays abroad to sun, sea and tanning, the beach along the north coast is lovely, yes, but warm? Not so much.