Lashes, langers, bozzers and belly bachelors: a new book decodes Cork’s local slang

In Cork’s colloquial jargon, a drinker dodging paying their round is engaging in ‘immaculate conception’, while someone who needs the toilet after only three pints is a ‘premature ejaculator’. Photograph: Design Pics Inc/Alamy

If Des MacHale had to nominate a favourite from the lexicon of insulting and inexplicable terms that comprise Cork slang, it would have to be “langer”.

Depending on tone and context it can mean idiot, drunkenness or penis, a versatility that baffles outsiders and further enhances the word’s value. “Langer is an absolutely beautiful word. I’m very fond of it,” says MacHale.