Dublin's colorful nicknames for the city's most famous monuments

Dubliners have a particularly colorful way with words. Beyond expletives, which are liberally scattered amid the colloquial, some of the language is positively poetic.

For those Dubliners who might have forgotten a few and those who never knew we’ve compiled a list of the best.

Warning! Yes, many of these are "rude." But as a Dubliner would say, “There ye have it!” (meaning “What ye going to do!”)

The Spire, O’Connell Street

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The Spire, O’Connell Street

• The Spike
• The Stiletto in the Ghetto
• The Nail in the Pale
• The Pin in the Bin

Anna Livia, Memorial Park, Wolf Tone Quay

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Anna Livia, Memorial Park, Wolf Tone Quay

• The Floozie in the Jacuzzi
• The Hoor in the Sewer
• Bidet Mulligan
• Viagra Falls

James Joyce statue, North Earl Street

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James Joyce statue, North Earl Street

• The Prick with the Stick

Statue of two women, next to the Ha’Penny Bridge

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Statue of two women, next to the Ha’Penny Bridge

• The Hags with the Bags

Molly Malone, Suffolk Street

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Molly Malone, Suffolk Street

• The Dolly with the Trolley
• The Trollop with the Scollops
• The Dish with the Fish
• The Flirt in the Skirt

Pillars surrounding a statue of Wolfe Tone, north-east corner of St. Stephen's Green

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Theobald Wolfe Tone Statue in Dublin in 2013. (RollingNews.ie)

• Tone-henge (after Stonehenge).

Oscar Wilde, Merrion Square Park, northwest entrance

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Oscar Wilde, Merrion Square park, north west entrance

• The Queer with the Leer
• The Fag on the Crag
• The Quare in the Square

The Millennium Clock, in the Liffey, by O’Connell Bridge

This one’s gone but not forgotten… This clock in the Liffey was created to commemorate the year 2000, however, it was pretty hard to see under the dark green, weedy water of the river.

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The Millennium Clock, in the Liffey, by O’Connell Bridge

• The Time in the Slime
• The Chime in the Slime

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*Originally published in September 2022. Updated in May 2023.