sure

What it means

1. 1.

   A sentence opener that softens whatever follows into something obvious and agreed: 'sure it's grand', 'sure you may as well'. It is not agreement and does not mean 'certainly'.

2. 2.

   Tacked on at the end for the same effect: 'I'll do it tomorrow, sure'.

In use

• Sure what harm?

  Note: A complete sentence, and one of the most Irish things a person can say.

• Sure look, it is what it is.

  Note: 'Sure look' is the standard way of closing a conversation about something unfixable.

Where it comes from

The discourse use tracks Irish sentence-initial particles such as 'nach' and 'muise', which frame a statement as self-evident. English has the word; Irish supplied the job it does here, which is why it sounds so different from American 'sure'.