Can ChatGPT order a jumbo breakfast roll without messing up?
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Updated / Wednesday, 20 May 2026 10:48
ChatGPT correctly understands the important of the Irish breakfast roll in Irish society, bringing to mind the evocative lyrics of The Jumbo Breakfast Roll (Image: Getty Images)
Gail Flanagan
By Gail Flanagan
University of Limerick
More from<br>UL
Analysis: ChatGPT can display knowledge of Irish-English but doesn't fully capture the nuances for what it means to converse across the island of Ireland
The ubiquitous Pat Shortt song, celebrating morning time at the deli counters across Ireland, is reflected in ChatGPT's ability to speak Irish English. More to come on that later but to explain the premise for this article, I wanted to investigate whether AI, namely ChatGPT, could demonstrate ability to reveal the nuances of the variety of English that we speak on this island. I was especially curious to determine whether AI could help our international students in interpreting and communicating in Irish English, based on all the examples that they provided me in class. As an upfront disclaimer, I did not attempt to, in any way, train ChatGPT on Irish English, rather just posed a series of questions over a few days.
Two prime components of Irish English are its varied and sometimes colourful vocabulary and the pragmatics, the meaning in context, of what we say and at times, what we avoid saying. Looking at words and phrases that we use when speaking Irish English, ChatGPT provides a great starting point, listing craic, grand, eejit and press for cupboard.
In conversations with our international students, they often comment that that grand can mean just about anything or nothing at all, depending on the context. They also confirm their initial curiosity when hearing craic for the first time in the Irish context. However, when ChatGPT lists craic dealer as a fun person, that is a new one on me.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with David McCullagh, what are we consenting to when we hand over our image to Chat GPT
Turning to linguistic resources, Speak for Yersel is an excellent source of regional expressions across the island of Ireland. Eejit is also on its list but it then details several synonyms, ranging from gombeen to gomie and also, maps the regional usage of each expression.
When asked for Irish English equivalent for the American English sneakers, ChatGPT correctly identifies runners and advises that the usage of trainers has been influenced by British English. However, it does not suggest gutties, the footwear of choice of those of you from The Town and surrounding areas. Speak for Yersel pinpoints the majority of usage of this word in the county of Louth. To me, this provides a richer understanding of such expressions in Ireland when compared to AI.
As a final example, ChatGPT sagely advises that both ye and yous/youses can be deployed as the plural of the you pronoun in Irish English. Being slightly picky but as a proud Cavan woman, when it confirms that the usage of yous/youses is predominantly limited to Dublin and urban areas, I beg to differ. Many of yous in the border counties will hopefully agree with me.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, are we losing our accents
Swearing encompasses another set of words and expressions widely attributed to Irish English. Listening to our students from outside Ireland, they often express their initial shock at the level of swearing amongst Irish students. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Irish swear more. A linguistic study from 2018 provides statistics for Irish English speakers of 1.62 instances of...