IAN DEMPSEY’S breakfast show on Today FM today tried a little social experiment: to get people to post some ideas of the unique idiosyncrasies Irish people are known for.

The feature – to plug Colin Murphy and Donal O’Dea’s new book ‘Stuff Irish People Like’ – asked people to submit some of their observations about the strange quirks that we, as a nation, have.

Here’s some of our favourite suggestions of the day, some of which have been posted on Twitter at #youknowyoureirishwhen – feel free to plug your own in the comments section below!

You know you’re Irish when…

• you order three more drinks when the barman calls last orders
• you tell someone to ‘f*** off’ when they compliment you
• you use the phrase ‘f*** off’ to mean ‘are you serious?’
• you answer a question with ‘you know yourself’
• you drink tae (it must be ‘tae’) and eat ‘hang sangiches’ out of the boot of your car on your way to a GAA match
• you take the ‘makings of a fry’ on holiday with you
• you use the phrase, “I’ll do it now, in a minute.”
• you use garden equipment in a sentence – ‘I had a rake of drink last night’; ‘I shovelled the dinner into me’
• you think that you’ve ‘got Mass’ simply by standing outside the church talking about GAA with the auld lads
• you sing ‘Olé Olé Olé’ after taking the lead in any sport
• you can’t speak a word of it!

Got any better suggestions? Let us know.