'Ah sure look' and 'holliers' among 12 Irish-isms entering Oxford English Dictionary 

‘Ah sure look’ is an absolutely invaluable phrase for an Irish person who doesn’t quite know what to say about a particular situation, and it is now receiving its richly deserved acknowledgement with a place in the latest Oxford English Dictionary update.

This phrase is joining 11 other Irish-isms in the dictionary, with going on your ‘holliers’, being in the ‘nip’ and calling someone a ‘skanger’ also entering the lexicon this time around.

The dictionary update also traces when words and phrases came into use, with the first example of ‘ah sure look’ or ‘ah sure look it’ dating back to 1986 according to Oxford languages.

“[It] is a colloquial phrase that Irish people use to introduce or emphasize a statement,” it said. 

“It is also an expression of resignation or acceptance of a situation; an Irish way of saying ‘that’s life’, ‘so it goes’, or ‘it is what it is’.” 

It will also likely be the most commonly-used phrase when speaking to others if Ireland fail to progress to the World Cup over the playoffs which lie ahead in the coming days.

Meanwhile, ‘in the nip’ dates back to the 1970s but Oxford Languages said the exact origin of the phrase is unknown. It could, however, be an echo of the phrase ‘a nip in the air’ by associating nakedness with feeling cold.

Going on one’s ‘holliers’ dates back to the early 1940s, while to ‘put (some or a bit) of manners’ on someone dates back to 1898.

Elsewhere, the infamous ‘GUBU’, coined by Conor Cruise O’Brien to describe a Haughey political scandal in 1982, is a noun denoting a political fiasco and, “more broadly, anything to which the words grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented can be applied”.

Also making the list were ‘back to porridge’, ‘duchas’, Erin go Bragh’, ‘full Irish’, ‘full Irish breakfast’, and ‘Galwegian’.