My dad left Cork in 1941, armed with a forged birth certificate that added three years to his age (he was 15) and a desire to be a fighter pilot. He didn’t become a fighter pilot, but did become a navigator in a Pathfinder squadron. But I digress:
Over 65 years on and he has not lost his Cork accent – Put him with some of his old friends (and you would swear he had never stepped more than a mile from the Four Faced Liar in his life!. To me the Cork accent is one of the most pleasant ways to hear English spoken – perhaps the best way to describe the rise and fall of the tone is sing song. There is no accent like it in Ireland or anywhere else .
Cork is also blessed with a rich slang. There are plenty of words known to the 200,000 or so residents that will being looks of utter incomprehension if spoken to a non-Corkonian.
Dad was never interested in golf but he used to chuckle every time he heard the name Bernard Langer (a langer is a fool and a penis; to be langers is to be drunk). A neighbour had a car with a number plate starting FLA. Again that amused him as to fla (or flah) is to engage in an act of sexual congress... using the langer of course! To say that someone would flah a cat in a shoe box, is an indication that they are not discriminating about their choice of sexual partner. If the flah was disappointing it could be described as a bake.
If he wanted a hair cut he would go for a bazzer, but the mind boggles as bazzes are pubic hair! Knawvshawling is to find fault with things. As an octogenarian, young people irritate him: they are all snot-nosed cafflers in his mind....
This online resource is very useful if you wish to learn more Cork slang
Note: Me Daza means it's great, very nice, fine
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