4 Phrases You Need To Know Before Moving To Dublin

So you’re moving to Dublin, the big smoke, and you haven’t got a word of Dublineese? No problem, WWN has got your back.

“Giz all yer money ya cuntchya”

Probably the first phrase many visitors hear when arriving in Dublin is one of the oldest and probably easiest to understand, even for an American. Giz all yer money ya cuntchya means ‘hello, I will be your mugger today. Please empty all your valuables into my hands and I promise not to stick your children with this syringe full of HIV infected blood’. Always reply to this accordingly with a smile. Don’t make eye-contact.

“Rent’s only a grand and a half”

Finding a place to live in Dublin can be difficult enough, even for natives of the city. Many letting agents use slang terms to distance themselves from the extortionate rent prices. A grand is the Irish equivalent of one thousand euros, with a half a grand being 500 euros. A ‘tonne’ translates to 100 euro, but you won’t need to know that figure, not in Dublin. That’s more Waterford territory.

“For the love of Bono”

This phrase is usually said when something goes wrong, for example: if you only have a 50 euro note for a taxi fare, the taxi driver might say ‘ah, for the love of Bono’, as opposed to ‘ah, for the love of God’. In Ireland, Bono is God. Don’t ever forget this fact.

“That’ll be 8 euros please”

Many tourists and Dublin first timers mistakenly believe this phrase has an alternative meaning – it doesn’t. ‘That’ll be 8 euros please’ means exactly that, regardless if it is the price of a pint in Temple Bar, a ham sandwich, or the taxi fare from Tara street to the bus station. This is a real cost. Sorry about that.