In need of "Irish" advice

[Shea]

I'm currently working on my second book and the entire thing takes place in Ireland. The land is sort of a silent character in the plot. Anyway, I'm having trouble with coming up with more of the usual Irish "turn of phrase." I need more than just "wow" and "amazing." I'm a Harry Potter reader and ended up using "Blimey" but then looked up the etimology and found that the term is uniquely British. Not to mention that the character I had say it was actually from 1715 (displaced to 2016). "Blimey" wasn't even used till the late 1800's. Unfortunately, my Irish grandmother is too far removed from the country and the generation to help much. Any help you guys might be able to give would be great! :D

[MANICHAEAN]

Interesting question. I had an Irish father plus Irish aunts & uncles that used to visit me when I was a kid. I also worked closely with many Irish during my twenty odd years in the UK construction industry.
Now for the difficult bit. Words & phrases!
1. Skibbereen in County Cork, where my father came from, they have the strange habit of asking you twenty questions, indirectly about yourself without telling you a thing about themselves e.g. “So, yer not from around here then?” / “And you say you are a Shea?” / “So being a writer, you must be paid well then?’
2. Other expressions include:
(a) “A broth of a boy.”
(b) “The craich was good.”
(c) “It’s a fine day.” (Light rain!)
(d) “To be sure, to be sure.”
(e) “I hope this finds you as this leaves me ok.” (One of my favourites when my Dad used to write to my Mum.)
(f) “Has he met any nice Catholic girls?” (From my aunts. There was no such thing as a nice Protestant girl!)
(g) “Do you take a drink then?” (Are you a heavy drinker?)
(h) “Is yer Mam home?”
(I) "Yer man" (Referring to another person)

Good luck with the book.
M

[Shea]

Thanks Manichaean! :D Keep 'em coming guys!

[Calidore]

What comes to mind here is the time I was near a couple of Asian guys talking and laughing and one said "Can you dig it?", showing that whatever he learned from was about 30 years out of date.

Also, back when John Ostrander was writing the comic Suicide Squad, he got some flack for way overdoing Captain Boomerang's Australian expressions.

So you can get the phrases, but you also want the usage to sound natural rather than Mad Libs. If you have a Netflix account or a local video store that has a good foreign selection, it may be worthwhile to rent some Irish movies about regular Irish people. That way you get accurate dialogue, plus visuals and atmosphere as well.

[Scheherazade]

Angela's Ashes (both the book and the movie) contains many Irish phrases and it is quite a good book/movie.