Irish Slang For Informant (Revealed!)

Police informants are often a key focus of local slang.

Naturally, criminal elements of society are far more likely to use slang as almost a form of code.

Even if you are not outright criminal, you may well still feel it a moral imperative not to speak to police.

This is certainly true in parts of Ireland, so what do the Irish call informants in slang terms?

In Irish slang, an informant is called a tout. More rarely, you may hear them referred to as a grass, but this is more British really. Indeed, so reviled are the touts of Derry that “touts will be shot” is a common graffiti sight around the city. Police informants “tout” for the police.

So, there’s really just the one purely Irish term for an informant, and that’s tout.

As with many pieces of slang, there is of course a good degree of sharing between British and Irish slang, but the term “tout” really isn’t used in Britain.

Let’s find out more.

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What do the Irish call an informant?

The Irish do have more than one slang term for an informant, but as I’ve said, the only one that is truly Irish in and of itself is the word tout.

If you are a police or government informant for any level of crime, then you are a tout.

“Word on the street is that James is a police tout,” for example.

Of course, this term has its origins and is primarily used in criminal circles, but you might also hear kids refer to their friends this way if they start “informing” on them to adults about behavior.

“Don’t tell the teacher you tout!” for example.

This is used widely across all parts of Ireland more or less, and so you’re likely to be understood wherever you use this term.

That said, it is more northern Irish in character. However, there are a few other potential slang terms for informant which you might hear less commonly.

The first is grass.

This one is British in origin, and for that reason alone no doubt many Irish will avoid using it!

But it has seeped into the Irish language, too, and so this is another one you might hear.

Potentially, you could also hear the term “super grass”, although this is not as common.

The other one which is not going to be common at all is “snitch”.

As you can probably guess, this one is far more American in character, but again, it has found its way into the Irish slang to a degree.

So, where does the term “tout” come from?

Why do the Irish call informants touts?

The term tout has a long and fascinating history.

As far as we can tell, the oldest form of this modern term is found in the Middle English tute.

This meant “look out”, that is the noun form of this phrase.

“He is a look out,” for example, rather than “Hey, look out!” Tute itself was of older, Germanic origin.

By the late 17^th Century, it had come to take on the meaning of watch or spy on, and then “thieves’ lookout” by the 18^th Century.

It’s hard to say for sure when it came to acquire this modern meaning of informant, though it’s most likely some time in the 18^th or 19^th Centuries.

The sense is clearly that the “tout” is spying on the criminals on behalf of the police.

Naturally, though, criminals don’t leave a lot of written records behind, so it’s hard to say for sure when it took on this meaning.

It’s worth pointing out that English became the language of Ireland due to British rule in the 16^th Century, so any Irish Gaelic slang terms for informant are unfortunately no longer in widespread use.

Why do the Irish call informants a grass?

As I mentioned, the other one you’re most likely to hear is grass. However, this is really a British term.

There’s naturally a great deal of shared slang between the two nations, but tout is the Irish one.

That said, grass itself has a pretty simple if amusing origin.

It’s simple rhyming slang: police officers would be called grasshopper, rhyming with “copper”.

Thus, the “grass! Is the one who tells the police what they want to know.

What about snitch?

Do the Irish say supergrass?

A common variation of grass is supergrass, more likely to be heard on the schoolyard than in actual criminal circles.

That said, it certainly is used to some extent, and again you’re likely to be understood when you use it.

It’s just not the kind of thing that serious adults would refer to each other as—even children are more likely to be joking when they use this term.

Do the Irish say snitch?

They certainly do, although, again, to a far lesser extent than they might say tout or grass.

As I’ve said, snitch is really mostly a North American term, which you won’t hear a great deal in Britain and Ireland.

If only by the grace of Hollywood movies, though, everyone in Ireland is likely to understand what you mean by snitch.

So, while the average Irish person does have more than one slang term for an informant in their repertoire, the fact is that “tout” is the single most quintessentially Irish, and indeed perhaps the only exclusively Irish term.

Depending on where you are in Ireland, you may hear them say grass, supergrass, or even snitch, but in all likelihood, it will be a tout.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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