Seven things: You know you’re from Donegal when …

The accent is widely recognisable - so it is

Around Donegal, there is an assortment of accents, especially as the county is so large, but one thing is for sure… everyone knows a Donegal accent when they hear it! 

When outside of Donegal it is not uncommon to hear “that’s a lovely accent” or “that’s a Donegal accent I hear” not only is it loved by many but it is also widely recognised!

Well, it is no wonder considering in 2019 Ireland was voted as having the “sexiest accent” in the world. In a survey conducted by OnePoll which asked both male and female participants Ireland came out as the world’s sexiest accent beating other countries such as Italy, France and Australia.

Donegal is the market leader when it comes to accents, which each townland claiming to have its own

Now, you may be thinking… Where does Donegal come into this? Following on from the Irish accent, Jury’s Inn conducted a survey to find out the best accent in Ireland. Over 1,000 people participated in the survey and 37% of respondents considered the Donegal dialect to be the best accent in Ireland. No wonder it is so frequently mentioned!

Added to this, there are just some typical phrases that are a dead giveaway, to take a few examples “Is that right?”, “you could surely”, “So I am”, “that’s wild”, “no harm”, “so you could”, and just general terminology such as the overuse of the words aye and wee among most of the population.

As well as these phrases, it is a common phenomenon in Donegal for a great deal of people to have shared surnames or even first names. It is quite common to be identified with another distinguishing feature such as a parent’s name or even a nickname. It is seen often, especially in small communities to not call everyone by their proper name, which makes people easier to differentiate with the sheer amount of overlap.