Spice bag, blaa and 'acting the maggot': Irish words added to Oxford English Dictionary

A 'blaa', the OED says, is a 'soft white bread roll dusted with flour, particularly associated with Waterford, Ireland.'

'Spice bag', 'blaa' and 'morto' are among the uniquely Irish words that have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). 

The OED publishes monthly updates on phrases and saying that are added to the dictionary, with 600 new additions for March.

According to the OED definition, a spice bag is "a takeaway meal usually sold from either Chinese food outlets or fish and chip shops, typically consisting of chips, shredded deep-fried chicken, fried onions, red and green peppers, chilli peppers, and jalapeño peppers, tossed together in a bag with various spices and often served with curry sauce for dipping."

Writing in the notes about the spice bag, the OED comments that the dish was "invented" in a Dublin takeaway in 2006, with the first quotation for the entry referring to a social media post from 2012 where someone contemplated a trip to the restaurant to "grab one".

It falls under the 'food and cooking' section of the OED — as does Waterford's favourite bit of bread. A 'blaa', the OED says, is a "soft white bread roll dusted with flour, particularly associated with Waterford, Ireland." 

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"This type of bread roll is usually thought to have been introduced to Waterford by Huguenot immigrants in the 17th century, though its exact history is difficult to determine," the OED say.

In total, eight words commonly used in Ireland have been added.

Alongside blaa and spice bag, they are: 

• class: the use of it as a general term of approval: excellent, fantastic, great. An OED example of the usage comes from Derry Girls.
• debs: a formal social event (such as a dance, party, or ball), held for students in their final year of secondary school, usually towards the end of the school year.
• ludraman: a lazy, unproductive, or stupid person (especially. a man), used first in Ulysses.
• mineral: a carbonated soft drink
• morto: mortified, extremely embarrassed.
• to act the maggot, phrase in maggot: to act or behave foolishly; to behave in a playful or silly way; to act the fool.

Away from the Irish entries, the OED have focused on words borrowed from the likes of Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa.

From their own language, words like 'guyliner', 'flour bomb', 'horndog', 'thottie' and 'collectomania' have been added.

The world used to describe the youngest has also been defined. 

Generation Alpha is used to describe the generation of people born between the early 2010s and the mid-2020s and follows the most recent generation — 'Gen Z'.