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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Lifestyle
Michelle Cullen

'D'ya know what?' The new Irish Alexa will have to understand these tricky phrases to make it

Amazon announced on Thursday that it is introducing an Irish accent for its Echo smart devices in Ireland.

The native accent is now available on thousands of smart speakers and other tech gadgets and is available in just a female voice for the time being.

To avail of the new accent, the latest software update is needed, and the device's location needs to be set to Ireland.

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Amazon has spent months ensuring that, when activated, certain sounds will differ from their British and American variants. For example, words ending with "ght" will sound more like the Dublin "sh" than the British "t".

The new tech will also recognise well-known Irish Phrases such as "Alexa, who's your man?" and " Alexa , what's the craic?"

However, if the new concept is to be a success, Alexa will have to learn how to understand a few more Irish phrases that are unique to the land.

Here's a look at a few.

'D'ya know....such a song?"

Irish people are notorious for speaking very quickly, as we try to cram as much information as possible into a short space of time.

That said if Alexa is planning on sticking around, "D'ya know" will have to become part of her vocabulary.

Because let's be realistic, who has the time to say, "do you know".

Weather terms

If there is one thing Irish people are obsessed with, it's the weather.

No matter who you meet, friends, family or strangers, it's a topic of conversation you just can't avoid.

So it's no surprise that a litany of strange and peculiar words can be used to describe the weather.

Alex will have to get used to hearing some of these weather buzzwords:

  • Lashing
  • Bull rain
  • Fierce mild
  • Grand drying
  • Spitting
  • Splitting the stones
  • Down for the day

And many, many more.

Telling the time

Another thing unique to Ireland is the way we tell the time.

You may not see saying 25 to 5 instead of 4:35 that odd, but when travelling abroad, people can become incredibly confused by the alternative way of reading the clock.

Additional sayings that say a lot but mean nothing?

Having a chat with a few mates can often end or begin with a phrase of shared understanding.

These can be slotted in just about anywhere in a conversation and can be alarming to some not so used to them.

Like when someone says, "Ah, sure look", someone unfamiliar with the phrase could ask, "look where?".

"C'mere till I tell ya" is another sentence that has been shortened for time convenience.

Alexa will have to decipher the common phrase as "come here until I tell you", which may be a little tricky.

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