Irish Curses: List

May the devil cut the head off you and make a day's work of your neck.
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May you be afflicted with an itch and have no nails to scratch with!
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May the devil swallow him sideways.
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May you die without a priest in a town with no clergy.
(Dying without the presence of a priest was considered not to be the best way to get into heaven.)
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Imeacht gan teacht ort.
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May you leave without returning.
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May your spuds be like rosary-beads on the stalk
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(May your potatoes be tiny)
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Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat.
May the cat eat you, and may the divil (devil) eat the cat.
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May you melt off the earth like snow off the ditch.
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May all the goats in Gorey chase you to hell.
(Gorey is a small town in County Wexford)
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Pissmires and spiders be in your marriage bed.
(Pissmires are ants)
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Curse of God on you.
(Another everyday Irish curse still quite commonly used when things not going your way.)
God damn your soul to hell.
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May you never have a hearth to call your own.
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May the divil take your last shilling!
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May the gates of paradise never open to you.
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That you may scratch a beggarman's back one day.
(May you lose everything you have.
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May there be guinea-fowl crying at your child's birth.
(Considered bad luck)
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May the lamb of God stir his hoof through the roof of heaven and kick you in the arse down to hell.
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Bad cess to you!
(Another common everyday Irish curse, cess being a slang word for luck.)
Curse of the seven snotty orphans on you.
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May you find the bees but miss the honey!
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The devil mend you!
(Another favorite Irish curse of my uncle's used for everyday frustrations)
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That you may be a load for four before the year is out.
(It usually required four people to carry a coffin, i.e you are wishing death on someone)
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May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the Hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope.
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May you have a little skillet,
May you have little in it,
May you have to break it,
To find the little bit in it.
(A skillet is a smalling cooking pot with legs on it.)
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May you die without a priest in a town with no clergy.
(Dying without the presence of a priest was considered not to be the best way to get into heaven.)
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May you marry in haste and repent at leisure.
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May you have the runs on your wedding night.
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May you marry a wench that blows wind like a stone from a sling.
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The crows' curse on you.
(Crows were bad luck)
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Má ithis, nar chacair!
If you eat, that you may not shit!
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Go n-ithe an tochas thú!
May you be eaten by an awful itch!
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Briseadh agus brú ar do chnámha!
A breaking and crushing on your you bones!
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Go hifreann leat!
To hell with you!