Culchie
In Hiberno-English and Ulster-Scots, culchie is a term sometimes used to describe a person from rural Ireland. In Dublin it is often used to describe someone from outside the Dublin Region including all commuter towns like Maynooth. Certain border towns such as Bray and Balbriggan "scrape into" the "Dublin" category. As in Belfast the term does not refer to anyone from inside the Greater Belfast area but rather from outside Belfast city. It usually has a pejorative meaning, but is also reclaimed by some proud of their rural origin.
Possible derivations
The term is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "one who lives in, or comes from, a rural area; a (simple) countryman (or woman), a provincial, a rustic". It is sometimes said to be a word derived from the remote town of Kiltimagh, County Mayo.[1] A further explanation is that the word derives from the word agriculture, highlighting the industrial/agricultural divide between rural and urban populations.
Another potential derivation is an Irish term "cúl an tí",[citation needed] meaning 'the back of the house'. It was, and still is to a certain extent, common practice in rural areas to enter a neighbour's house through the back door rather than the front, which was used for more formal visits. Thus the term 'cúl an tí' or 'culchie' was applied to these people. Also, many city dwellers from Dublin tenements had to work as servants. The servants were not permitted to enter the house from the front but had to use the back door or servants entrance. It became common practice in Dublin to use the term in a derogatory manner. Over time as the numbers of servants dwindled away the term was still kept in everyday use.
The word “culchie” may also be derived from the Irish word “coillte”, the plural of coill, the Irish word for “wood”, an area of growing trees. It was used, mainly in Mayo and Galway, by townspeople as a condescending or pejorative reference to people from rural areas. It came into use in Dublin in the mid sixties as a counter to the country people’s use of the word “Jackeen” for a Dublin person. The “culchie” spelling is a media one and is the result of their understanding of phonetics and its derivation. It is also sometime spelled with a "T" before the "C" as cultchie indicative of its more likely closeness as a pseudonym of "Cul an Ti". It is also possible that the word is derived from "Mulchie" a derivative of the word Mulch which is defined as a covering layer for soil or a type of compost.
Popular culture
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Dublin GAA fans call supporters of any other of the county teams from Ireland as culchies; fans from counties in the north are called nordies. Dublin's fans are themselves called Jackeens, spoonburners, Antos, ghetto gougers or tenement folk. David McWilliams coined the term Dulchies to describe Dubliners who decide to live in other counties of Leinster or Ulster. This subgroup of people often live in urban areas like Navan, Kells and Naas.
The comedian Pat Shortt has made a successful living out of being a 'culchie comedian'. He has his own television series, Killinaskully, based on a theme of culchie in a village in rural Munster. The Christmas episode of Killinaskully receives viewership figures that place it in the top three most viewed television programmes in Ireland, on an annual basis.[citation needed]
The style of television presenter Dáithí Ó Sé is considered by some to be "edgy" and by others to be "a big lump of culchie cliche".[2]
Culch.ie is a popular Irish Pop Culture blog derived from the term.
Culchie Festival
The Culchie Festival started in 1989 in Clonbur, County Galway. The Festival has taken place in many towns and villages throughout Ireland in its search to find "The Culchie" or the "Village Character" (who dislikes non-"locals")as he was known years ago. The true culchie has the ability to entertain at will, whether on stage or TV.
The festival is held in late October of each year after regional heats held throughout Ireland and other overseas Irish communities to select contestants. The final consists of various challenges such as tractor racing, nappy changing, sandwich making, potato picking, knitting and karaoke.[3] The 2008 winner was Adrian McCabe from Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan. The village of Ballyjamesduff County Cavan, hosted the 2009 Culchie Festival 23–25 October.
References
External links
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Look up culchie in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
