Ross O'Carroll-Kelly is a satirical fictional Irish character, a wealthy South County Dublin

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

jock created by journalist Paul Howard. The character first appeared in a January 1998 column in the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...

'' newspaper and later transferred to ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

''. The series comprises twenty-one novels, three plays, a CD, two other books, a weekly podcast, and the newspaper column, as of 2023.

Works in the series

Language

The novels are written entirely from Ross's first-person perspective, written in an

eye dialect Eye dialect is a writer's use of deliberately nonstandard spelling either because they do not consider the standard spelling a good reflection of the pronunciation or because they are intending to portray vernacular, informal or low-status language ...

representative of the intonation attributed to affluent areas of

South Dublin South Dublin () is a county in Ireland, within the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. South Dublin Cou ...

, commonly called "Dortspeak" (after the DART, a rail service covering the Dublin coast). This accent is one of the primary targets of satire in the columns and novels. Due to the wide variety of esoteric slang used in the novels, a

glossary A glossary (from , ''glossa''; language, speech, wording), also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of Term (language), terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Traditionally, a gloss ...

("ThesauRoss") appears as an appendix to '' Ross O'Carroll-Kelly's Guide to (South) Dublin: How To Get By On, Like, €10,000 A Day''. Though the basic

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a Literal and figurative language, figurative or non-literal meaning (linguistic), meaning, rather than making any literal sense. Categorized as formulaic speech, formulaic ...

s are derived largely from standard

Hiberno-English Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the first language in e ...

, the South Dublin accent as represented by Howard has distinctive features: * "Car" is written as "cor", "Arts" as "Orts", "star" as "stor", "

fuck ''Fuck'' () is profanity in the English language that often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested ...

" as "fock", and "right" as "roysh". * The "aspirated T" or "soft T" prevails: "right" becomes "roysh", " DART" becomes "Dorsh". * A form of

rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...

is used: A taxi is a "''

Jo Maxi ''Jo Maxi'', named after Dublin slang for a taxi, was an Irish teenage entertainment show which would report on teenage issues. The presenters would discuss issues relating to teenagers through reports and studio discussions. They would also r ...

''" (or simply a "Jo"), a face is a "boat race", breasts are "top tens" (Top Ten hits – tits) and a

love-bite A hickey, hickie, or sometimes referred to as a love bite, is a bruise or bruise-like mark caused by biting or sucking the Human skin, skin of a person, usually on their neck, arm, or earlobe. While biting may be part of giving a hickey, suck ...

is a "Denis" (

Denis Hickie Denis Anthony Hickie (Irish name: ''Donnacadh Antoin Ó hIceadh''; born 13 February 1976), is a retired professional rugby union player formerly employed by the Irish Rugby Football Union. He played his club rugby for Leinster. His primary pos ...

). Ross often refers to having an "Allied Irish" (

Allied Irish Bank Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four commercial banks in the Republic of Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance products su ...

s: " wank"). " Padraig Pearse", "fierce". * Other forms of wordplay (occasionally employing equally obscure references) are also common. For example, a girl who has "fallen to the communists", has "

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

playing at home" or has won a "starring role in a period costume drama" is (or is speculated to be) having her period. * Ross, in particular, describes women by comparing them to female celebrities. For example, "A total Ali Landry", "A bit of a girl-next-door vibe, if your next door neighbour happens to be

Cheryl Tweedy Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. She rose to fame as a member of Girls Aloud, a pop girl group created through ITV's reality competition show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. Named the ...

". * Ugly women are often referred to as "moonpigs" or "swamp donkeys". Although the main satirical targets of the columns are affluent South Dublin dwellers, elements of

working-class culture Working-class culture or proletarian culture is a range of cultures created by or popular among working-class people. The cultures can be contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often equated with popular culture and low culture (t ...

(sometimes called skanger culture) are also parodied, again, primarily through language. * Common exclamations include "Ah Jaysus!", and "(Wat's de) Story, bud?" (meaning "How are you?"). * The 'th' sound becomes a 'd' sound: "Wudja looka dat young fella over dare" ("Would you look at that young man over there"). * " The ''Herald''" becomes "De Heddild", "aren't" becomes "arden't", and crime figure "The General" becomes "de Generodle". * Working-class people are sometimes referred to by Ross as "Howiyas" (based on the Dublin accent rendering of "How are you?"), and the women as "Jacintas", "Anitas" (pronounced as Anee-eh) or "Natalies" (names perceived to be common among working class Dublin women). * The term "steamer" is a phrase used by Ross referring to a guy who "bats for the other team" or "drives on the wrong side of the road" i.e.: is homosexual. Eye dialect is also used to portray the accents of people from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, " culchies" (rural people), and foreigners.

Characters

Cultural impact

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly was something of a craze in Ireland, and his name has become a byword for all that is perceived to be wrong in

Celtic Tiger The "Celtic Tiger" () is a term referring to the economy of the Republic of Ireland, economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by ...

Ireland. Though it is largely viewed as satire, there are those who view Ross O'Carroll-Kelly as a

role model A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success serves as a model to be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compa ...

or an

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a devotional image of a deity or saint used during puja ...

. Paul Howard has claimed some people have imitated Ross's friends pastime of driving through disadvantaged areas in expensive cars, shouting "Affluence!" at passers-by and throwing €5 notes out the window.Spawning a bundle of 'Rosser' wannabes, top snob takes to stage
''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'', 31 August 2007, retrieved 9 April 2009 Following Ross's move to ''

'', the ''

'' began a similar column, ''OMG!'' featuring a female counterpart to Ross, in its ''Weekend'' supplement on 22 September 2007.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Carroll-Kelly, Ross Characters in novels of the 20th century Characters in novels of the 21st century Literary characters introduced in 1998 Fictional Irish people Novel series Irish satirical novels Characters in Irish novels Fictional real estate agents Male characters in literature Comedy literature characters