Irish clubhouse

A slang term for a wheelbarrow, playing on stereotypes of Irish labor and construction work in the 19th century. The expression reflects the historical association of Irish immigrant workers with manual labor and building projects in Britain and North America. The term is now considered an ethnic slur and is rarely used without awareness of its offensive and demeaning origins.

A darkly humorous slang phrase for two black eyes — the kind you get after a serious fight. The joke plays on the idea of someone looking like they're wearing sunglasses due to two swollen, darkened eye sockets. Like many 'Irish X' constructions in old American slang, it emerged from a cultural environment that wasn't always kind to Irish immigrants, though it's been used self-deprecatingly within Irish-American communities too. It's largely dated today but pops up in classic noir fiction and old crime dramas.

A dated American slang term for a brothel, specifically one of the lower-end variety where sex workers rented individual small rooms or 'cribs' by the hour or night. The word evokes the cramped, utilitarian nature of such establishments at the turn of the 20th century and appears frequently in historical accounts of red-light districts in cities like New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago. It's largely a historical term now, more likely to appear in period fiction than modern conversation.