When in Ireland

Some of you might be thinking, "I'd like to be an awesome world traveler like you! You're so awesome."

And, yes, I am awesome.

But you're probably also thinking, "Man, I am too American to travel to non-English speaking countries. Learning languages takes too much work, and I'd like to pretend that I can't do it because I'm a grown up. I think I'll meander to Ireland!"

Well, American, you're in luck. The primary spoken language in Ireland is good ol' English.

But if you choose to meander to Ireland, there are some critical differences in the language.

Imagine for a moment that you are wandering the streets of Dublin/Cork/Limerick/Ireland. You meet a stranger and begin to talk. Your conversation goes like this:

• You: "Words words words, ramble ramble ramble, words words words, I'm American!"
• Irish person: "Words in an Irish accent!"
• You: "I'm looking for something to do, good sir. What can you recommend?"
• Irish person: "You can go to the place over yonder for some good crack."

PAUSE.

At this point, you're probably thinking, "Did this Irish man-woman just suggest that I go get some crack-cocaine?"

The answer is no. Well, probably not, anyway.

The Irish man-woman-child was most likely just letting you know that the place over yonder is good craic. Craic, while pronounced "crack," is the Irish word for "fun." So, in Ireland, the craic is safe. Though you might still want to avoid the crack.

PLAY.

• You: "Oh, that's just awesome. I am always looking for some good craic."
• Irish person: "I saw a film the other day that was good craic. It had your man, what's his name, in it."

PAUSE.

You might be confused about who your man is. Don't worry; the Irish man-woman-child-cat was not suggesting that you are in a homosexual/heterosexual/bisexual/multisexual/velociraptorsexual relationship with "your man."

"Your man" is simply the equivalent of the American phrase, "that guy."

Another thing that you might notice during your sojourn to Ireland is the use of the word "like."

"Like" is a word that is frequently abused in all varieties of the English language as far as I can tell. Americans, like, use, like, the word "like" as, like, a filler, and like, um, an adjective, and like, they just like to, like, abuse the word "like."

The Irish use the word "like" at the end of sentences like. And it might confuse Americans into thinking that there's more to the sentence than there is. BUT THERE'S NOT.

Because your man is good craic like.