How do we explain the innate ability to understand what we hear and read? Can we develop and expand that ability? A knowledge of grammar and vocabulary is certainly essential in language learning, but these are not the sum total. A grasp of the social norms peculiar to the language is also necessary, and a key portion of those social norms is to be found in old sayings and metaphorical utterances. This collection of phrases from Ó Dónaill’s Irish-English Dictionary aims to give the reader a fresh insight into this metaphorical aspect of the Irish language. English headwords have been used so that both writers and translators can easily find what they are looking for.