Vocabul-Eire: The Auld Pair

"The auld [owl] pair," as in "the old pair..."

An Irish person referring to his/her parents in conversation will often call them "the auld pair."  Further broken down, this becomes "the auld lad" (father) or "the auld one" (mother.)  Use cases would include, but are by no means limited to:

"Me auld lad said he'd come in to pick me up from the pub later if I'm too scuttered to walk home.  Grand job so."

Me auld pair...

"It's the auld one's birthday -- we're takin' her out for dinner, so I may head burst on or the auld lad'll clatter me if I'm late."

It goes without saying that any future child of mine (however Irish), who refers to me as "the auld one," will be summarily deprived of all potato related dishes and/or products for a full winter.  And if that doesn't teach him/her, we'll extend the ban to tea as well, for maximum cruelty.