English As We Speak It in Ireland

they are nearly related; and it is often h

ten the expressions are jocose, or the person is fully conscious of the exaggeration; but in numerous ca

This is borrowed from the Irish. In the 'Lament of Richard Cantillon' (in Irish) he says that at the musical voice of the lady 'the

t was said 'He would swear tha

k eggs, the young ducks would be drowned.' Or again, 'If that man sowed oats in a field, a

-'Ah, old James Buckley is a fine piper:

you flung him against a wall h

o with them:-'I'll follow ye to the world's end.' On which the eldest says to him-a half playful threat:-'You presumptious little atomy of a barebones, if I only see the size of a th

' 'Oh not very much indeed: hardly the size

it said:-'If that man looked at a pail of

enuated by sickness:-'You c

was no more than a daisy in a bull's mouth!' Another says of his dinner when

f you fall don't wait to get up.' Warning a person to be expeditious in any work you put him to:-'Now don't let grass grow u

ace-as a lover to the house of the girl's parents:

' 'Sharp!-why 'twould

e fire, has the A B C on his shins,

r:-That man would talk

t fright:-'It frightened h

f her wits: or frightened out of her seven senses. When I s

he truth because he was shook for a lie; i.e. no lie was ready at hand. Shook, to be b

: i.e. when a live coal happens to fall on his foot while sit

ou here again I'll hang a quarter of you o

ren.' 'The bloody throopers are coming to kill and quarther an' murther every mother's sowl o' ye.' (R. D. Joyce.) The parlour bell rings impatiently for the third time, and Lowry Looby the servant says, 'Oh murther there goes the bell agai

abuse I'll give you a s

, but now he hasn't as much mone

arse: why you could s

I don't like a b

deed I know every bone in his body,' i.e

you met him in the street you'd rath

if he swallowed a dicti

erize any trifling damage easily remedied:-Tha

hen,' says Barney Broderick, 'till I hadn

s as bad land as ev

ogue as ever stoo

ey that was coming to him he was ju

n, and I got them for a song: in

s described as the tu

'Yerra he won't touch you':

m in shooting:-'He wouldn'

'You could dance the Colleen dhas dhown [a ji

f sixty years ago, who were not remarkable for their honesty or good conduct, com

r the news; i.e. e

ased to accept your invitation,' an Irishman

is breath has a terrible smell-a smell of

lfpenny out of a blind beggar

He'd steal the suga

ow a halter in his grave and h

skill and profanation. According to the religious legend the back of the ass is marke

o outstays his welcome:-'If that man went t

getting an invitation to the party: 'Oh I was fit to be tie

ich will bring advantage to everyone, but which after all is very unlikely

such as trying to persuade a person who is obstinately bent on having his own w

I know him!-why I'd know his skin in a tan

t man is rotten with money. He doe

umped into my mouth. The people said that Miss Mary Kearney put the h

who had just fitted on a new coat:-That coat

lways puts his head against the

elly Donovan trips and falls: and Billy Heffernan, running up, says:-

express the swiftness of a m

Barney Broderick said she'd coort a

were on y

I'd sit and

tear would

: 'Old Irish

great an exaggeration as what th

her on t

orm of grief,

tears at such

rld on fire it m

ven and quenched

s his hat on three

that the company were spli

rs as he called them-Every stalk of 'em would make a rafter for a house. But put the best man in t

o also here at home we read 'round the four seas of Ireland' (which is right enough): and 'You care for nothing in the world but your own four bones' (i.e. nothing but yours

a cure for sore eyes to see you.' 'I haven't seen you now for a month of Sundays,'

big feet:-He wasn't behind the door

in of my collar.' The allusion is to a fellow whose clothes are falling off him for want of buttons and pins. At last to preve

the villain says to her:-'Not another word or I'll stick you like

e has forty-five ways of getting int

ard the money jingling in his mother's poc

an is a ter

n woman is t

drink Loug

cCa

te blundering expressions:-'You never ope

be married says: 'I think, miss, my husband's intend

is sweetheart says, in th

she walks upon, mav

r love of

:-'Here comes half the town!' A trans

ion of jigs and reels that might 'cure a par

fe longer than he considered reasonable, asked did they think tha

rer:-'He'd swear a h

curse the bladde

ench a candle at the other sid

his mind is disturbed for any reason:-'He doesn't kno

es himself to hoard up:-He could live on

long fasting says:-'My stomach will think

it once and that's enough for me: I wouldn't touch it with a

without it?' 'Did last night's storm injure your house?' 'Ah you may well say it did.' A very distinguished Dublin scholar and writer, having no conscious leanings whatever towards the Irish language, mentioned to me once that when he went on a visit to some friends in England they always observed this peculiarity in his conversation, and often laughed at his roundabout expressions. He remarked to me-and an acute remark it was-that he supposed there must be some peculiarity of this kind in the Irish language; in which conjectu

to translate them either into English or Latin by an equal number of words.[3] But this old language is too far off from us to have any influence in our present every-day English speech; and, as already remarked, we derive this peculiarity from modern Irish, or from middle Irish through modern. Here is a specimen in translation of over-worded modern Irish (Battle of Gavra, p. 141), a type of what was very common:-'D

treasures, and what should he see running towards him but 'a great big red mad bull, with fire flaming out of his eyes, mouth, and nose.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) Another man sees a leprechaun walking up to him-'a weeny deeny dawn

is only just in and out of him, and the

sed to be]. (Gerald Griffin.) Expressions like this are very oft

er on we find the same expression-marbh gan anam, dead without life. This Irish expressio

g Brian, he

peace and to

ere bad he cut

ere worse he ki

er:-Oh indeed poor Jack Lacy is dead and buried for the last two

.' This is merely a translation from Irish, as we find in 'Gabhra':-D

ying into the mouth of another; but the phraseology is probably his own: and at any rate I sup

I often use such expressions myself. 'His companions remained standing, but he found it more convenient to sit down himself.' A writer or speaker has however to be on his guard or he may be led into

n.' Very common in Ireland. Goldsmith took the expression from his own countr

t meadow is tip-top, i.e., very excellent: he is a tip-top hurler. 'By no means' is sometimes expanded:-

i.e., 'you'll deeply regret it.' Salt tears is ho

your two bended knees

ing the head off o' your n

fell down on the top o

tive. It is correct in Irish, but it is often heard echoed in our English wh

of witness:-'Now I ask you in the most solemn manner, had

the house and killed him there; then they dragged him out on the road and killed him entirely, so that he lived for only three

nk it is time for me to get married.' To which Billy replies:-'I thin

nd Patrick says:-'Your honour's honour is

hear even in Dublin:-'Lend

s often used to express '

en, you're goi

y myself in

Duff

and from that day to this we have ne

get it entirely, and I never took bit, bite, or sup in his ho

thout any particular meaning:-'I had it all the time, you know, in my pocket: he had a seat, you know, that he could arrange like a chair: I was walking, you know, into town yesterday, wh

(three syllables with the I long and the o very short-barely sounded) 'I'd'no is John come home

heard in Armagh: it i

the umpire, ce

s neither one