mahogany gaspipe

== English == === Etymology === A nonsense phrase, to describe what the Irish language sounds like to Anglophones. === Pronunciation === === Interjection === mahogany gaspipe (slang, Ireland, dated) a representation of how the Irish language sounds to a non-speaker; gobbledegook. === Noun === mahogany gaspipe (plural mahogany gaspipes) (slang, Ireland, dated) A Gaeilgeoir. 1956 Brendan Behan, The Quare Fellow Act II (Grove Press (1957) pp. 59-60) I’ve been watching you for the last ten minutes and damn the thing you’ve done except yap, yap, yap the whole time. The Chief or the Governor or any of them could have been watching you. They’d have thought it was a bloody mothers’ meeting. What with you and my other bald mahogany gas pipe here. ==== Usage notes ==== Often in the sentence "Tá sé mahogany gaspipe", in which "tá sé" —genuine Irish for "it is" (or "he is")— is sometimes represented by an anglicised phonetic respelling such as "thaw shay".