It was Friday and as i sat in the car admiring the beautiful scenery that is the west of Ireland I was distracted by the conversation going on around me. You see I was travelling with two locals (mayo people) and I found it difficult to translate their words. You see Ballina and Mayo in general have there own language that we in the East had no idea of. Such sayings as:"Nicks" - translation for us none mayo people is "Oh my god" or "Deadly". According to my two travelling partners there are many more meanings for it but we could find ourselves discussing that all weekend.
"Soo ní you" - Not exactly sure if that is spelt correctly but in lay mans terms it means "the state of you" or "look at that ejet"
"Buff" - Now this one is a little strange and completely the opposite translation to us non mayo folk. Buff in mayo translates as culchie. You all know that here in the east buff means well toned and muscly. Bit of an odd one if you ask me.
There are many more and a hilarious video on the infamous youtube. check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qXnlZmDJPg
At this stage we had arrived in Ballina and but of course weren't anywhere near the house yet. It took nearly a half an hour to get from the main road to the house. That said when we did arrive I was shocked by the size of the houses around. One of the nights we went to a party in a nearby house. Again the Ballina "lingo" started and I was lost completely. That is until the lovely Joanne Mc Gowen theorized why she felt sorry for people who don't drink on a night out. You would think it was because they wouldn't have fun on the night but her theory was based on the next day and how when a person wakes up after a night out having no alcohol taken the night before. I need to quote her directly here as it is such an interesting insight!
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink, cause when they wake up the next morning it's the best they're going to feel all day, whereas waking up hungover you know it can only get better."
Later in the night I heard the strangest phrase said by Richard - "Ya want a man with good road frontage". What??? You ask. well this translates to "You want a man with lots of land that has good real estate potential"
All in all an insightful weekend. And so i leave you with this. Next time you travel west, be sure to bring your Mayo dictionary.
