I have many fond memories of my four years at an all-boys Franciscan prep school in Buffalo (NY), Bishop Timon (St. Jude) High School. Located in the heart of (conservative) Irish Catholic South Buffalo, Timon was ground zero of youthful Irish pride. Many of us were (are) what some might refer to as “Danny Boy Micks”: Fiercely proud to be of Irish descent, but having no clue about Irish culture, other than Guinness and the Notre Dame mascot. (Case in point: A young lady I interviewed at the Irish Center the day of the St. Patty’s Day parade had no idea what the Gaelic slogan on her sweatshirt meant. Come on, EVERYBODY knows “Erin Go Bragh” translates to “Ireland Kicks Ass, Especially Yours”.) Here, I give you a (by no means comprehensive) list of Dannybonics terms:

Jargon/Lingo
– Skish/spoof/faced (insulted, dissed)
– Nice head/face/body/_________ (heavy sarcasm)
– Nice ability (i.e. Saying “Nice ability to walk” to someone on crutches. “Nice head, nice body…..nice ability…” was a witty satire of “One Bread, One Body”, an oldie but goodie classic Catholic hymn we sang regularly at school masses.)
– Short dong (insult regarding a dearth of length in one’s genitals, usually leveled at less popular classmates)
– Long dong (a compliment, usually reserved for members the football team)
– Lips (somewhat ambiguous in its use, a reference to female anatomy, see)
– Scrots (another ambiguous term, from scrotum pronounced skroads)
– Yeahn’t (yeah-NOT, heavy sarcasm)
– No sac (no balls/intestinal fortitude)
– You MIGHT (with or without verb here, heavy sarcasm)
– YOU won’t ___________ (fill in some sort of dare here like “fight ‘em”)
– I don’t THINK so (emphasis so heavy on “think”, it almost becomes “tink”)
– ‘Moke ’em (smoke him/them)
– Yeah, RRRRIGHT (heavy sarcasm)
– Good/Great guy (in reference to a teacher)
– Where are you GOING with that (insert derogatory comment referencing one’s personal appearance)

Other noteworthy phenomena:
– Banging the backs of rickety wooden chairs at pep rallies
– Multiple references to “yabos” (breasts) at pep rallies
– Yelling “Off!” at all school assemblies (Rumor had it that our softy principal had once caved to the same cries years earlier and actually gave the school the rest of the day off…)
– Neckties with knots the size of grapefruits and 3-4 inches in length (often worn with Polo shirts)
– Sarcastically cheering in the cafeteria for the unlucky klutz who dropped a tray in the kitchen
– Duelling Pericak impressions
– Duelling weekend drinking stories on Monday mornings
– The AD’s whistling gym paddle-used whenever you forgot t-shirt, shorts, sneakers, or jock strap (Good times. Thanks, Mel & Jim Pelano – Timon’s father-son team of athletic enforcers.)

Lift up the green and the gold!
Yeah, rrrrrright! 🙂