Now
If you live in Ireland, you know
“Now”.
When you have lived in Ireland for a while, you will hear it often: “Now”. “Now” has nothing to do with inspirational speeches and invitations to take action to achieve goals in life, at least not in the context of day-to-day conversations in Ireland. It’s not a “your time is now”, carpe diem sort of encouragement to make dramatic changes and embrace new routines.
What “now” means in Ireland in the context of everyday conversations is… well, not much really, because it’s just a way to fill up a pause. Sometimes it means “Well, this was nice, time to go”, “Alright”, “Let’s go”. But other times it could even be a filler, as in “bye now”, “good now”.
In the words of Emer McLysagh in the Irish Times, saying “now” is part of being Irish. She shared how she would say “now” even when getting out of bed and use the word throughout the day without realising, so much so that she had to make a concerted effort to avoid sprinkling “now” as a bit of seasoning in her speech.
“What now?”
The way I use “now” is often in the expression “What now?” Of course, “what now?” can also be a sign of exasperation, uttered when you are at the end of your tether. It’s one “now” away from snapping.
Out of all the possible permutations of “now”, “what now?” is my most used one, especially when I try to communicate with my dog and wonder, A) what he has destroyed, or, B) what he wants, which can range from wanting to be let outside to wanting to be fed. You see, sometimes after we have just finished playing football in the garden, my dog will demand my attention at exactly the same moment I sit at my desk to do some work. “What now?” Does he want a snack? A cuddle (he never asks for cuddles)? Basically he wants to play some more, because indoor playing is different from outdoor playing, obviously!
To illustrate the point, here’s reality TV star Oliva Attwood’s “what now?” which had become a meme:
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I also say “now” to my dog when I ask him to drop the ball he is holding in his mouth. It seems that, without putting strict time constraints to the command “leave it”, my dog interprets it as “drop the ball sometime in the future”. I live with a pet who is a sucker for philosophical debate.
Alright, alright, alright
As Matthew McConaughey would say, “alright, alright, alright”. My default filler word when I am about to get up – move on to something else – get ready to leave – want to change subject in a conversation, is not an Irish “now” but a very British “right”. I must have picked up “right” during my London years and when I catch myself saying it, it reminds me of how much effort I had put for decades to fine-tune my British accent since starting to learn English at secondary school in Italy.
Ah sure look it
There are many honorable mentions of Irish colloquialisms I have come across in the past six years living in Ireland. From “giving out” (being angry at someone, telling somebody off) to “the messages” (that’s the food shopping to you and me), every day is a school day here. “Getting the messages” is an Irish expression that derives from decades ago when people could buy a few groceries in their local post office.
I often forget to say that I am getting my messages and I revert to autopilot, saying I am doing my food shopping. Just like the Gaelic tutorials I have watched, words and expressions in Irish and by Irish people appear in front of me like a landscape viewed from a train window, but nothing sticks. I blame the ageing process but also the complex nature of the Irish language, which takes many years to master.
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