Glossary: B

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

(verb) To break or to damage. Usually implies that the damage was done through incompetence rather than malice. Adjective: banjaxed.

Begrudgery

A peculiar disease of the Irish which seemingly renders them unable to to feel good about the success of their fellows. As soon as some Irish man or woman makes a name for themselves at home or abroad, the mutterings start: "Of course, everyone really knows how s/he really got their money." "Sure, isn't the stuff s/he writes all well and good for highfalutin Yank professors, but what does it say to the average Joe Soap in the street?" And so on, ad nauseum.

Begrudgery has a long and venerable history in Ireland. Certainly, it was flourishing in the days of Samuel Johnson who observed that the Irish were a very fair people insofar as they never spoke well of one another. It's possible that the Irish, as a subject people, learned to keep the head down lest some Saxon ruffian happen along and lop it off, and this habit over the centuries lead to them regarding any of their fellows who made attempts to stand out from the crowd with dismay and suspicion. Or perhaps it's just a countrywide version of the "small town" mentality one finds everywhere in the world.

Begrudgery has its upsides. In these days of mindless celebrity-worship, this habit of the Irish-- whose first reflex upon seeing a sacred cow is to attempt to topple it-- can be quite refreshing. There is no scene more satisfying in a pub than to see some fevered ego skilfully deflated by the venomous barb of some sour old begrudger propping up the corner of the bar, whether it be a put-down of Wildean eloquence or merely an exasperated "me bollix!" muttered at just the right time. But there are downsides too. When begrudgery becomes a reflex action, the crooked and the creepy can evade criticism by dismissing any and all inquiries into their affairs as mere begrudgery on the part of the questioner. A former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach, Charles J. Haughey, whose mysterious wealth was a cause of much speculation in the 1970s and 1980s, was recently found to have received millions of pounds in "donations" from the rich and powerful, successfully deflected speculation for years in this manner.

The are many who would describe this lexicon-- indeed, this whole site-- as one lengthy and sustained act of begrudgery. To these people, I can only say: "Me bollix!"

BIFFO

Big Ignorant Fucker From Offaly. Offaly is a county in the south-east of Ireland. A slightly more specific insult than the generic culchie. Also BUFFALO: a Big Ugly Fucker From Around Laois-Offaly.

Blarney

Bullshit.

Bogger, bog-man, bog savage, bog-trotter

see culchie

Bollix

The Irish pronunciation of "bollocks".

Bowsie

(Dublin) Villain, disreputable person. See gurrier.

Brits, the

Perfidious Albion. A generic term of abuse for Britons in general, and the English in particular.

Ireland's less-than-satisfactory relationship with its next-door neighbours began in 1169 when Diarmuid McMurrough, King of Leinster, invited a bunch of Norman barons over for a party and it was nearly eight hundred years before we got the bastards to leave. During that time, we had plantations, wars, famines, and Oliver Cromwell, who is not likely to appear in anybody's Top Ten Ambassadors for British Civilisation list anytime soon. By the time we gave the Saxon invader the shove, the country was in bits, our culture was terminally ill, and all we had to show for the last eight centuries was a bunch of rebel songs, mad relatives in America, and a lot of bad feeling. Once the Brits had left, the Irish government immediately dismantled all the good stuff they left behind (like the road, rail, and canal networks and the fine Georgian architecture in Dublin) and kept all the crap stuff (like their byzantine and unaccountable Civil Service and judiciary). Makes you wonder if there's some truth in those Irish jokes after all.

Brown Envelopes

The container in which bribes to Government figures are traditionally presented.