I think having an American flatmate has kept me from taking on an Irish accent (I felt it coming on in the early days), but that doesn't mean my language hasn't been affected. Here are the ways in which my use of language has been affected by the Irish:

I say "wee". I also know the proper way to use "wee", which is not by or about a leprechaun.

I've noticed "jumper" creeping into my vocabulary. This one may have snuck in with the "wee", as in "look at his wee jumper".

I have long used the 'u' in words like colour and favourite, but I have become aware of my use of "programme".

I have been substituting 's' for 'z' in words like "publicised" or "criticised". I haven't yet begun referring to it as 'zed' on a regular basis, but it has happened a few times.

I have occasionally referred to a "hole in the wall". In case you're wondering, that's a magical place where you speak into a hole in a wall, and a fairy hands you money. Or, it's an ATM.

The term I have probably used more than any other -- and the one I didn't even notice in my vocabulary for a while -- is "proper". The first time I realised I had said it, it was a double-woosy: I said that something was "right proper".

To complete my exercise in language assimilation, I must drop articles ("went into hospital"), remember to ask three times before accepting an answer of no, and stop using that pesky Oxford comma (the most resistant of the three, as it is apparently the secret love of my life).

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