You Think You "Spake Norn Iron" Quiz

Answer: I am well thank you.

"Bout ye" comes from shortening "about you", and "mucker" is a term of endearment thought to come from the Irish for "my friend', which is 'mo chara'. In general this greeting would only be used with someone you'd met before and knew reasonably well.

Answer: In a very fortunate situation

Literally a translation of the Irish "ar mhuin na muice", its current use can be traced back to the 17th century. Its actual origins are unclear, but a reasonable supposition would be the idea that, if you owned a pig or pigs instead of subsisting on potatoes, you were doing very well indeed.

A similar phrase is "living off the fat of the land", though this doesn't entail the element of "good fortune" that the Northern Ireland use of "on the pig's back" implies.

Answer: Annoyed

Actually the term can mean embarrassed, or annoyed, depending on where you are in the province. However to me it has always meant annoyed so if no one were to get this question correct "Ah'd be fair scunder'd". In other words "I would be very annoyed" but at whom I couldn't say.

Answer: Uncharacteristic behaviour

It could be the effects of the "morning after" or of being under unusual pressure, but the end result is doing something uncharacteristic. For example, "I must've had the head staggers when I decided to write these quizzes", or "I took the head staggers and put the ice cream in the oven, instead of the freezer."

Answer: Keep a lookout

Listed in both the English dialect dictionary and Dictionary of the Scots Language as to "keep watch", in Northern Ireland it is a term normally used to keep a look out to avoid being caught during some nefarious activity, as an example "Somebody keep-dick for the moderator; he/she may not like some of these Northern Irish phrases."

Answer: Small

From mid 15th century English meaning "extremely small" the term arrived in the north of Ireland with the Plantation in the 1600s. People will often use the term several times in the same sentence; for example, "Are you here for a "wee" holiday because I know some great "wee" places for a "wee" trip out." It is often used incorrectly too: "Do you have your wee card" meaning your credit card, which will be the same size as everyone else's credit card.

It's simply a habit.

Answer: As a compliment

Thought to derive from middle English "crak" for "loud conversation, bragging talk", in Northern Ireland drink is invariably involved. It can also mean gossip as in "what's the craic?" Therefore I'd hope my date would take it as a compliment, as to tell someone they're great "craic" is telling them that they are great fun to be with. On the other hand my wife would kill me!

Answer: She would eat it

In Northern Ireland a poke is another word for ice cream in an edible wafer cone, poke being a word for bag (as in "pig in a poke"), and the ice cream cone being the bag, or container. Usually purchased from an ice cream vendor in a van at the seaside, it makes the ideal snack while walking arm in arm along the beach.

Answer: Fooling around

From the expression to 'flap in the wind', a useless state for a sail, which came to mean 'fuss, dither', becoming 'faff' or 'faffing' - to spend your time doing unnecessary, or trivial, things instead of the one thing that you should be doing. In Northern Ireland alternatives include, "Stop actin' the lig" or "Stop actin' the eejit".

Answer: Lamped

Two sheets in the wind equates to tipsy. Half cut means partly drunk. If you are blootered, you may be seen weaving down the street singing "Danny Boy".

If, while you were blootered, you lamped someone, the police will be after you for assault, as you will have punched them.

"Lamp as a verb is of uncertain origin but could be an alteration of the Old Norse lemja, meaning 'to lame' chiefly used with reference to beating." OED.
Or it could just be a shortened version of putting someones' "lamp's, or lights out."