Derry Girls - Your Guide to Derry Girls Slang
Learn the Derry Girls Slang
If you haven't heard of the hit series Derry Girls where have you been?! The show has quickly become Channel 4's most successful comedy show since Father Ted in the 1990s.
It was inspired by the creator, Lisa McGee's, own experiences growing up in Derry during the final years of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
The final episode of the third season is set to air on Tuesday 17 May 2022, we can't believe it's going to be over! If you've been an avid lover of the show you'll have followed the character's journey through secondary school from 2018 when the show first aired to now when they're collecting their GCSE results.
If you're not from Northern Ireland or haven't been to visit this truly unique part of the world, you might struggle to understand some of the witty jokes the characters make throughout the show. We've developed our very own Derry Girls dictionary so that you'll find the jokes even funnier when watching the finale, and you'll have the added bonus of nattering like a native in no time when you next visit Northern Ireland.
Outlined below are thirty words and phrases you might have heard in the show and what the locals mean by them.
| Bake | "Shut your bake!" meaning your mouth/face, e.g. "Shut your mouth!" or to put it bluntly, "Shut up!" |
| Banjaxed | Broken e.g. "The sink is banjaxed, call a plumber." |
| Boke | Vomit or feeling sick e.g "I'm going to boke" |
| Buzzing | Delighted! |
| Cat | Not good, e.g. "That's cat" meaning "That's bad" |
| Catch yourself on | "Don't be so ridiculous." |
| Class | Brilliant e.g. if you heard good news you'd say "That's class" |
| Craic | News, gossip or fun e.g. "What's the craic with you?" |
| Dander | Walk e.g. "To go on a dander" |
| Dead on | Good, decent e.g "I like him, he's dead on" |
| Eejit | Someone who acts foolishly e.g. "Did you see that eejit outside the pub last night?" |
| Haul | Hold e.g. "Haul my jacket" |
| Hi | A sound placed at the end of almost any sentence for no particular reason e.g. "No problem hi" |
| Melter | A person that causes you a great deal of annoyance |
| Hoak | Rummage e.g. "That man hoaks through the bins" |
| Juke | A quick look |
| Mucker | Friend |
| Neb | Nose e.g. "Keep your neb out of it!" |
| Peelers | Police |
| Raging | Annoyed/ Embarrassed |
| Ready for the hills | Under pressure or stressed out |
| Reddener | An embarrassed blush, e.g. "I'm so embarrassed I'm hitting a reddener" |
| Slabber | A show off |
| Start | To provoke e.g. "Don't start me" |
| Stall the ball | "Stop what you're doing immediately" or "Wait!" |
| Wain | A child or young person e.g. "wee one" |
| Watch yourself | Take care |
| Wile | Terrible or awful. e.g. "Did you see that dress she wore? Wile looking" |
| Wee buns | Easy |
| Wise up | "Don't be so stupid and/or immature" |
This glossary was adapted from a version originally created by Channel 4.