Young Writers Society

I'm starting a realistic fiction story that takes place in Ireland, but guess what, I don't live there, so i don't have a clue. I'm thinking about a very small town, kind of out of the way, so where in Ireland would that be? Southern? I know the basic geography, like the big cities and basic culture, but nothing more. If anyone here is Irish or has ever been there, could you clue me in on tendencies of speech, behaviour, etc? Also, I'm thinking about the name Deidre, is that an uncommon name there? I want the main character to have an unusual name. Thanks a billion, you can PM too.


~Jenni~

Okay, so I'm not too familiar with Ireland, but you might want to ask Eimear. He actually lives there.

As for the name Deidre I have no clue. I know this one girl whose name is Deirdre. She's Irish. I don't know if it's an uncommon name there, but it sure is here. Everyone always pronounces her name Deidre, though.

Oh well, this probably didn't help much. *shrugs*

Good luck with your story!


-GC10

If it's a very small town you're probably best off making it up. The smallest county is Louth, if that's any use to you. If you want it to be remote, I'd suggest setting it in the West. Unless you want a political element, I'd avoid setting it in the North. There aren't loads of Deirdres...I never thought of it as being uncommon, but then there's a Deirdre in my family...

Speech...it varies, depending on where in the country you are. Accents vary from county to county and different counties have different phrases. Apparently, "it's grand, sure" is a very Irish thing, That would be used for "it's fine." Other than that it's difficult because different counties have different phrases...

If you need anything else, pm me and I'll try to help if I can.

Now that I'm thinking, Siofra (She-uh-fra)would be unusual. There's a fadha over the i, but I don't know how to do them...I've only ever heard of one person with that name. It means "changeling"...if you need what little information I have on changelings, again, pm.

Jas

In the West, especially in Donegal/Connemara, there is quite a bit of Gaelic spoken. My favorite Irish saying describes the weather being sunny, rainy, overcast, sunny, rainy, overcast all in one day they call it "soft weather". Another one I like a lot is "Thanks a million."

Huh. Didn't realise "Thanks a million" was an Irish thing... I think "Are ya right?"/ "Ye right?" is an Irish thing too...that would be usually used for "are you ready?" or "are you ok?". I've come across it a fair bit but I couldn't tell you if any counties specifically use it...

Also we tend to refer to "Gaelic" as Irish (as in speaking Irish). If we're talking about Gaelic we're referring to Gaelic football...but please don't ask me how to play because I know nothing other than it's ok to touch the ball...and I don't even know when that's ok...

That's the end of my ramble. I'll pop back if I think of anything else.

Jas

If you want a small town, I'd avoid the east (although I love it here). I'd go for the west, out in Conamara, or Donegal. Sligo, Roscommon, anywhere like that. The West tends to be verry rugged, bad land though. Cromwell's soldiers used to say "To Hell or To Connaught!" because the land was so bad, the people could either die or go to the west. There are also probably some pretty small towns in the Midlands, I couldn't tell you the names of any of them, but that's where the bogs are. Also, I agree, that Donegal is a little too close to the North to use without involving the political element.

As Jas says, if you call Irish "Gaelic" here, you're immediately marked as a tourist. Gaelic is a term reserved for the GAA. If you want to know a few words of it though, I'd be happy to help.

What era are you setting it? The present, or the past? If it's the present, ooh, I'd enjoy telling you all the cliques and clichés so much . D4s, boggers, culchies... Stab City, the bog, the Pale

A common, very Irish greeting would be "What's the craic?" which is just like "Oh, what's up?"

Deidre isn't that uncommon at all. Hmm... Sadb is pretty uncommon (Syve.) I don't know about Caoimhe (Queeva), um... Derbhala is quite common, as is Aoife...er... I'm thinking really hard here . Sorcha's my middle name, I don't know how common it is as a normal name. Fionnuala! I love that name, I have a slight obsession with it, and it's quite unusual...

So yeah...

Feel free to PM me if you want any help!

-Stella x

"Deidre" is the name of a character in the Ulster Cycle, which is in Irish mythology. Apparently it's to do with grief, but it's ot sure what it means.



Behind the Name says: Deirdre - From the older Gaelic form Derdriu, meaning unknown, possibly derived from a Celtic word meaning "woman". This was the name of a tragic character in Irish legend who died of a broken heart after Conchobhar, the king of Ulster, forced her to be his bride and killed her lover Naoise.

It also says that Siofra means "elf, sprite."


You might not want to give her too much of an unusual name, though. That sort of thing gives heap big points on the Sewage tests.

My dad works with a guy from Northern Ireland and apparently he says things like "so it is" and describes things as "grand" but that won't be helpful to you if you're writing a story based in Southern Ireland.

I'm from Southern Ireland (Eire)originally, and there is not a lot of difference in culture with the UK...
The biggest differences are found in the colloquial terms, and also most everybody is catholic.
On the western coast, there are a lot of Gaelic speakers, and Slán gets used even by non Gaelic speakers...
You can use my Home town if you like It's called Camey - it's near Sligo.

Email me if you want any help

Love
Kris
x

I lived there for a year so i'm all good with this topic.

Name: I knew a Diedrie (however you spelt it) and it's not totally uncommon.

Bandbridge is a nice little town. Of course there's millions of small, remote country towns, but Bandbridge, where i lived, was surrounded by picturesque countryside, huge paddocks, was fairly remote for a town, but had a school, library, hospital etc nearby.
I can't remember how far it is from Belfast but it is in the Northern half, County Down.
I miss it terribly and it's a great place to put a story.

Living there for even two months and you develop an accent. Because i was so young i developed it through forcing myself to re-enact it from whenever my school friends spoke, and it quickly stuck.
You sort of lift your tone higher at the end.
Go to youtube to hear some or podcast it on itunes