Irish people love potatoes, so as you can imagine, there are many wise old words from Ireland that place great significance upon the potato.
I grew up eating potatoes everyday for dinner in Ireland. Pasta and rice may have gained popularity in my homeland over the past few decades buy many of my parent’s generation still eat potatoes every single day.
Ireland and America’s destinies became intertwined because of the potato. The failure of the crop during the Great Hunger of 1845-1850 propelled many Irish on an immigrant journey across the Atlantic ocean.
The destinies of Ireland and America are forever entwined because of the humble potato.
Since the potato holds such significance in Irish history, it’s no surprise that Irish folklore is replete with sayings about the potato.
And today, I thought I would gather some of these potato sayings together in one blog post, so that we can all enjoy the wisdom of our forefathers, and further understand the significance of the potato in their lives.
Irish Potato Sayings About Love And Marriage:
Let’s get started with a few old sayings about marriage, featuring none other than the potato.Irish people love potatoes, so as you can imagine, there are many wise old words from Ireland that place great significance upon the potato.
Now who would ever have thought of the potato as romantic???? Of course, the Irish!!!
And so, if you’re going to have to share your potatoes with a spouse, a few wise old words might come in handy….
“It’s easy to halve the potato where there is love.”
~ Old Irish Saying
The next one is a witty blessing for any young man who might be contemplating marriage:
“That you might have nicer legs
than your own under your table
before the new spuds are up.”
~ Irish Saying
The first crop of potatoes would have been harvested around August, so it was hoped a bachelor looking for a wife would find her before the end of the summer.
Now onto a more serious warning…
“Only two things in this world
are too serious to be jested on,
potatoes and matrimony.”
~ Irish Saying
In days gone by, survival was intertwined with the success of the potato crop. If your spuds failed, you would go hungry.
Now this next old saying comes from County Kerry, and was said at many a wedding in years gone by. It shows how important farming was to ensure survival in rural Ireland many years ago….
“May the frost never afflict your spuds.
May the leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms.
May the crows never pick your haystack.
And if you inherit a donkey, may she be in foal.”
~ Old Irish Wedding Blessing
Irish Potato Sayings For The Gardner:
Now let’s move on to some wise old words for those who have green thumbs and like to grow a few potatoes in the garden. The next section is full of wise old advice for growing those spuds.
Here’s a guide for outside temperatures for sewing and harvesting potatoes….
“When all things spoke the potato said,
‘Set me warm,
Dig me warm,
Eat me warm,
That’s all I want.'”
~Old Irish Saying
Now the sight of a healthy potato patch was deemed beautiful by our ancestors. It was a sign of success. A healthy potato crop was considered to be a beautiful sight, and as important as the birth of a child. Let’s face it, without potatoes, it was hard to feed your children.
The three most beautiful sights:
a potato garden in bloom,
a ship under sail,
and a woman after the birth of a child.
~ Words of Wisdom from Ireland
The next is a wish for potatoes with no eyes. Potato eyes are the spots on the skin from where sprouts grow.
“Here’s to eyes in your heads
and none in your spuds.”
~ Irish Toast
You may wonder why you don’t want eyes in your potatoes. Apparently the eyes contain toxic substances and if you eat potatoes with eyes and sprouts you can become quite ill, with symptoms of headache, and vomiting. So when you’re buying spuds avoid the ones with too many eyes.
And how about this saying, elevating the potato to the queen of the garden…
If beef’s the king of meat,
potato’s the queen of the garden world.”
~ Irish Saying
The next saying emphasizes the importance of the potato in Ireland’s economy in years gone by. Without potatoes, Ireland was truly beaten.
“If the potato misses,
Ireland’s beaten.”
~ Irish Potato Wisdom
Next is a saying from the Irish language that gave guidance for the planting season for late potatoes, which would have been harvested around October.
Fataí a chuirtear sa mBealtaine,
no nuair a labhras an chuach,
bíonn siad mall.
You can listen to the pronunciation on this linked page.
Here’s the meaning…
Potatoes planted in May,
or while the cuckoo sings,
are late potatoes.
Life Lessons From Ireland’s Potato Sayings:
Here’s a saying from Irish American writer, Maureen Howard.
“Hindsight is common
and bland as boiled potatoes.”
~ Maureen Howard, Irish American Writer
I’m sure she ate many a boiled potato in her youth.
“You must take the little potato
with the big potato.”
~ Irish Potato Proverb
I like that saying. It has an anti-bullying message. We must take our potatoes both big and small, and likewise we must accept everyone equally.
More Irish Language Potato Sayings:
Now let’s move on to some more old sayings in the Irish language. I’ve included links where you can listen to the pronunciation in Irish.
This first one highlights how many potatoes an Irish man would have eaten in a day.
“Prátaí ar maidin,
Prátaí ar nóin,
Is dá néireoinn san oíche
Prátaí a gheobhainn.”
You can listen to the pronunciation on this linked page.
Here’s the meaning…
“Potatoes in the morning,
Potatoes at noon,
And if I rise during the night,
Potatoes is what I would get.”
A working man ate up to 10 pounds of potatoes in one day before the Irish Famine. So morning, noon and night, potatoes were on the menu.
A mound of boiled potates was placed in the middle of the table at dinner time. In big families you had to keep an eye on the spuds if you had any hope of getting your fill….
“Bíodh práta dhá ithe agus práta dhá scú agat,
Dhá práta id gcúl do dhoirn,
Agus do shúil ar dhá práta ar an mbord!”
You can listen to the pronunciation on this linked page.
Here’s the meaning…
“Be eating a potato, peeling a potato
Have two potatoes in your hand,
And an eye on two more on the table.”
The rule of the table in many Irish households was S.O.S…. Stretch Or Starve.
Now let’s move on to one that uses small potatoes to describe a dull, boring person.
“Duine de chinéal na bhfataí beaga,
Duine gan suim.”
You can listen to the pronunciation on this linked page.
Here’s the meaning…
“A person similar to small potatoes
Is not an interesting person.”
This saying is also expressed in English in this manner …
“That’s small potatoes altogether.”
I remember my granny easing our worries by telling us not to stress over something, because it was nothing but small potatoes.
This next one comes from the west of Ireland, and makes fun of the Kerry accent or blas as we say in Irish.
“Bheadh na fataí níte, bruite agus ite agat
Fad a bheadh an Ciarríoch ag rá práta.”
You can listen to the pronunciation on this linked page.
Here’s the meaning…
“You would have the potatoes washed, boiled and eaten,
while a Kerryman is saying práta.”
The Kerry Irish dialect has very broad, long vowels, so their pronunciation is slower and more drawn out than that of Irish speakers in Galway or Donegal.
Potato Verse From County Cork:
Here’s one of my favorite little rhymes from my Irish childhood, especially since both my parents hail from Cork. When spoken out loud, this rhyme is said in a sing-song like rhythm, gently prodding fun at the Cork accent.
And ‘aru’ is simply short for ‘are you?’
“Aru from Cork?
I am! Aru?
Do you eat potatoes?
Indeed, I do.
How d’ye ate ’em?
Skin an’ all.
Bad for the stomach?
No, not at all.”
~ Old Irish Verse from Cork
And after today’s post you know that so long as there are no eyes on those potato skins they won’t be bad for the stomach at all, at all, at all.
And there you have it, a quick look at old Irish sayings about potatoes, you may never have heard before.
If you know any other sayings about potatoes, or if you have heard any of these sayings from your family members, I’d love to hear your story in the comments section.
Slán agus beannacht,
(Goodbye and blessings)
