Today’s secret word is ridebag.
American-English: Dang, the new guy in Accounting is a total hottie.
Hiberno-English: Jaysus, the new guy in Accounting is a complete ridebag, isn’t he?
Ridebag. I’m dying. I’m dying! Leave it to the Irish to blend wit and lust. Note: I’ve yet to hear this word used in actual dialogue, as I only discovered it while reading the April issue of Ireland’s own Stellar magazine. The topic was “geeky” male child stars who grew up to be handsome. The magic line: See? You should never ignore the geeky kid in senior infants, he could turn into a complete ridebag one day…
As with all foreign slang terms used to describe people, one must proceed with caution. Is it a rude word, meant only to be used about men between women, or can men use it, too? I’d hate to say it only to have all Irish women in the room shoot daggers at me for breaking some Irish girl code I’m not hep to. Heck, I’m still not sure if I’m allowed to say “knacker” in public (am I? Oops).
So I’ve been investigating; slipping it into conversation to see if I’m using it properly and gauging the reaction. So far, so good. But a bit more research is needed.
This is what happens when you Google “ridebag”:
Who’s that? It’s only Irish TV presenter Craig Doyle!
A ridebag.