Dublin 4


Dublin 4 is a historic postal district of Dublin, Ireland including Baggot Street Upper and the suburbs of Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Irishtown, Merrion, Ringsend and Sandymount, on the South side of Dublin. Most of the area was known as Pembroke Township until 1930 when it was absorbed by the City and County Borough of Dublin. Under Ireland's Eircode system the postcode is now rendered D04.
The headquarters of the national broadcaster RTÉ, the RDS, Merrion Centre, University College Dublin, Aviva Stadium, Google and a number of foreign embassies to Ireland are all located in Dublin 4.

Popular culture

'Dublin 4' or its abbreviation, 'D4', is sometimes used as a pejorative adjective to describe Dublin's upper-middle class based on the perceived characteristics of residents of this area. However, it sometimes even used to refer to the Irish upper middle class in general, regardless of whether or not they live in the D4 area. In this sense the term signifies a set of attitudes apparently in opposition to those held by "the plain people of Ireland" by Irish commentators such as Desmond Fennell.
While the area has, for most of its existence, been seen as well-to-do, the use of the term "D4" as an adjective emerged in the 1990s. The fictional jock Ross O'Carroll-Kelly was meant as a caricature of this.
The term has been used to describe very aspirational middle-class people from south Dublin and also used by Fianna Fáil members who like to portray themselves as being on the side of "the plain people of Ireland".

Accent

A change in accent occurred between those born roughly before 1970 and those born in the early 1970s or later.
In the early 1980s, a group of people in Dublin 4 developed a different accent, partly in rejection of older views of Irishness. The accent was known as "Dublin 4", "Dartspeak" or later "DORTspeak/Formers Morket". It has also been noticed that people who move into the area and parts of south Dublin from outside the county and who would normally speak in their native accent develop the DORT accent as well. The accent quickly became the subject of ridicule.

Quotes

Two examples of "Dublin 4" being used to refer to alleged wealth:
Sometimes the antonym plain people of Ireland or plain people was contrasted with it: