phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Use of "after"

Posted by Doug Seaton on August 08, 2003

An expression often used by my (Scottish) grandmother was "I'll (or You'll, or He'll, etc) be after" - e.g. "I'll be after a trip to the shops", which I can remember my dad explaining as Scottish-english having inherited some Gaelic roots. As I recall, he thought it should be interpreted as something like: "I'll [eventually] be [in the state corresponding to] after [having had] a trip to the shops".
But this doesn't work for the expression used a few minutes ago by my (English) daughter: "I'm after a lift to town".
What is the real basis, and just how should such expressions be parsed?

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.