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Get up to speed with Derry Girls slang
Derry Girls - James Maguire (Dylan Llewellyn), Michelle Mallon (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell), Erin Quinn (Saoirse Jackson), Orla McCool (Louisa Harland) and Clare Devlin (Nicola Coughlan), (C) Channel 4 - Credit: C4
Do you know your mucker from your craic? Your slabber from your dose? Get up to speed with Derry Girls slang before the sharp new sitcom set in the 1990s starts on Channel 4 - think The Inbetweeners in The Troubles with eyeliner
Every town has its own slang that only the locals understand – but if you're planning to watch Channel 4's new comedy Derry Girls, you've just about got time to give yourself a crash course in the 1990s slang used by Erin, Orla, Granda Joe, Aunt Sarah, Michelle and James are fluent in.
The series, written by Lisa McGee, is set against the spectre of The Troubles in Northern Ireland (not the first comedy background you'd picture) and looks at the everyday lives of ordinary people who just happen to live in extraordinary times.
Erin and her friends are used to seeing their country on the news and speaking in acronyms – IRA, UDA, RUC – they're also used to seeing armed police in armoured Land Rovers and British Army check points. But on the other hand, it's the time of Murder She Wrote, The Cranberries, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie, Doc Martens, bomber jackets, The X Files, Nirvana and Wayne's World. And while The Troubles hang over her home town, Erin has troubles of her own that seem just as important.
* Derry Girls starts on Channel 4 on January 4 at 10pm.
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Derry Girls slang dictionary:
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Bars: Gossip or scandal
Boke: Vomit
Brit: A member of the British armed forces
Broke: Embarrassed
Broke to the bone: Hugely embarrassed
Buncrana: A popular holiday destination
Buzzing: Very happy
Catch yourself on: 'Don't be so ridiculous'
Cack attack: A state of extreme nervousness: 'I'm having a complete cack attack'
Chicken ball special: A local delicacy
Class: Brilliant
Craic: Fun, but also news, for example: 'Tell us your craic?'
Cracker: Beyond brilliant
Critter: Someone who evokes sympathy, for example: 'You poor Critter'
Dose: An unbearable human being
Dicko: A general insult
Eejit: Idiot
Hi: A sound placed at the end of almost any sentence for no particularly reason, for examole, 'No problem hi'
Gone: Please
Head melter: Someone who causes you mental distress
Lurred: Absolutely delighted
Mind: 'Do you remember?'
Mouth: Someone prone to exaggeration
Mucker: Friend
No Bother: 'That's no trouble whatsoever'
Raging: Annoyed/angry
Ride (n): A very attractive person
Ride (v): To have sex
Ripping: Extremely annoyed/angry
Saunter: 'Be on your way'
Slabber: A show off
So it is/so I am: A phrase used for emphasis, for example, 'I'm delighted, so I am'
Start: To provoke, for example, 'Don't start me'
Stall the ball: 'Stop what you're doing immediately'
Tayto cheese and onion sandwich: A local delicacy
Wain: A child or young person
Watch yourself: Take care
Wile: Very or terrible
Wise up: 'Don't be so stupid and/or immature'
Yes: Hello
