April A to Z: G is for Gobshite (caution: language may offend)

By Niall McArdle

Today’s A to Z Post is about how to insult someone in Ireland. Before the insults begin, check out some other A to Z bloggers like A Writer’s Journey and Falling Pennies.

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter G.

G is for … Gobshite

“Gobshite” is a marvellously useful Irish insult, meaning either “a person who engages in nonsensical chatter” or “a person of poor judgement”. A group of such people is commonly referred to as “a shower of gobshites”.

It’s much stronger than the word “eejit”.

If you’ve been to Ireland, you’ve probably heard it used, in both a serious and a joking way (it is very often used affectionately between friends).

I didn’t think I’d ever hear the word outside of Ireland or Britain, but apparently there is a Celtic Punk band in Boston called The Gobshites.

G is also for “geebag’, a highly-offensive term that loosely translates as “douchebag”. It derives from gee, an Irish slang word for vagina. The word “gee” would never be used in polite conversation: there was much merriment back home last week over this advert for Tide laundry detergent.

 Tomorrow’s A to Z post will be gobshite-free.