get up the yard

Definition: This insult from Dublin in Ireland means:

* Get lost!
* Nonsense!
* I disagree.
* I don't believe you.

Delivery: "Giddup" is said in a rising tone; "de yaard" in a falling tone. Correctly delivered, it is implacably dismissive. Usually spat in reaction to something said, it operates best as a violent, caustic ejaculation.

Like many insults, it may be used cordially between friends.

Genesis: It was used in the mid-1960s as a command to get up the school yard at St. Pius X National School in Templeogue, Dublin. The school consisted of prefabricated buildings arranged around the church on College Drive before a proper school was built and opened at Fortfield Park in 1968. During class breaks, children playing in the yard were kept away from the road.

Two older students stood at the sides of the yard to corral the younger ones. When children ran across the invisible line between the sentries, they were roared at to "Get up the yard!" Giddy children shouted the phrase back as a taunt, and it evolved into an all-purpose insult.

Distribution: The first graduates of the school infiltrated secondary schools around Dublin in 1970, carrying the formula with them. The city was rapidly overcome by the phrase.

Culprit: If proper building funds had been available from the start, the language would not have been enriched by this backslap; its genesis was economic. The Minister for Education responsible at the time for school-building funds was Paddy Hillery.

* Get up the yard, eejit!

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