When we called the ESB to have the electric turned on in our new home in Ireland 38 years ago, the man came and told us that the wire didn't have any jizz in it. I almost fell down the steps from shock. I had not heard that word since WW2, when it was used as a slang word for sperm and considered very naughty here in the States. My husband finally got up the nerve to ask him what he meant by jizz and he explained that in Ireland it meant 'life', -- and we had a dead wire!!! Then there is 'the hair of the dog that bit ya.' Feeling banjaxed? Jacklegged carpenter. And what the heck do jackeen and culchie,(spelling?,) mean???? The Irish language doesn't even have a 'j' in it!! I thought the whole nine yards was the length of fabric in a man's dress kilt. The same as dressed to the nines.

Fun thread, thanks.