English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 2

To express unbelief in a statement or disbelief in the usefulness or effectiveness of any particular line of action, a person says 'that's all in my eye,' or ''Tis all in my eye, Betty Martin--O'; but this last is regarded as slang.

Sometimes an unusual or unexpected statement is introduced in the following manner, the introductory words being usually spoken quickly:--'_Now do you know what I'm going to tell you_--that ragged old chap has 200 in the bank.' In Derry they make it--'Now listen to what I'm going to say.'

In some parts of the South and West and Northwest, servants and others have a way of replying to directions that at first sounds strange or even {14} disrespectful:--'Biddy, go up please to the drawing-room and bring me down the needle and thread and stocking you will find on the table.' 'That will do ma'am,' replies Biddy, and off she goes and brings them. But this is their way of saying 'yes ma'am,' or 'Very well ma'am.'

So also you say to the hotel-keeper:--'Can I have breakfast please to-morrow morning at 7 o'clock?' 'That will do sir.' This reply in fact expresses the greatest respect, as much as to say, 'A word from you is quite enough.'

'I caught the thief at my potatoes.' 'No, but did you?' i.e., is it possible you did so? A very common exclamation, especially in Ulster.

'Oh man' is a common exclamation to render an a.s.sertion more emphatic, and sometimes to express surprise:--'Oh man, you never saw such a fine race as we had.' In Ulster they duplicate it, with still the same application:--'Oh man-o-man that's great rain.' 'Well John you'd hardly believe it, but I got 50 for my horse to-day at the fair.' Reply, 'Oh man that's a fine price.'

'Never fear' is heard constantly in many parts of Ireland as an expression of a.s.surance:--'Now James don't forget the sugar.' 'Never fear ma'am.' 'Ah never fear there will be plenty flowers in that garden this year.' 'You will remember to have breakfast ready at 7 o'clock.' 'Never fear sir,'

meaning 'making your mind easy on the point--it will be all right.' _Never fear_ is merely a translation of the equally common Irish phrase, _na bi heagal ort_.

Most of our ordinary salutations are translations from Irish. _Go m-beannuighe Dia dhuit_ is literally {15} 'May G.o.d bless you,' or 'G.o.d bless you' which is a usual salutation in English. The commonest of all our salutes is 'G.o.d save you,' or (for a person entering a house) 'G.o.d save all here'; and the response is 'G.o.d save you kindly' ('Knocknagow'); where _kindly_ means 'of a like kind,' 'in like manner,' 'similarly.' Another but less usual response to the same salutation is, 'And you too,' which is appropriate. ('Knocknagow.') 'G.o.d save all here' is used all over Ireland except in the extreme North, where it is hardly understood.

To the ordinary salutation, 'Good-morrow,' which is heard everywhere, the usual response is 'Good-morrow kindly.' 'Morrow Wat,' said Mr. Lloyd.

'Morrow kindly,' replied Wat. ('Knocknagow.') 'The top of the morning to you' is used everywhere, North and South.

In some places if a woman throws out water at night at the kitchen door, she says first, 'Beware of the water,' lest the 'good people' might happen to be pa.s.sing at the time, and one or more of them might get splashed.

A visitor coming in and finding the family at dinner:--'Much good may it do you.'

In very old times it was a custom for workmen on completing any work and delivering it finished to give it their blessing. This blessing was called _abarta_ (an old word, not used in modern Irish), and if it was omitted the workman was subject to a fine to be deducted from his hire equal to the seventh part of the cost of his feeding. (_Senchus Mor_ and 'Cormac's Glossary.') It was especially inc.u.mbent on women to bless the work of other women. This custom, which is more than a thousand years old, has {16} descended to our day; for the people on coming up to persons engaged in work of any kind always say 'G.o.d bless your work,' or its equivalent original in Irish, _Go m-beannuighe Dia air bhur n-obair_. (See my 'Social History of Ancient Ireland,' II., page 324.)

In modern times tradesmen have perverted this pleasing custom into a new channel not so praise-worthy. On the completion of any work, such as a building, they fix a pole with a flag on the highest point to ask the employer for his _blessing_, which means money for a drink.

CHAPTER III.

a.s.sERTION BY NEGATIVE OF OPPOSITE.

a.s.sertions are often made by using the negative of the opposite a.s.sertion.

'You must be hungry now Tom, and this little rasher will do you no harm,'

meaning it will do you good. An old man has tired himself dancing and says:--'A gla.s.s of whiskey will do us no harm after that.' (Carleton.) A lady occupying a furnished house at the seaside near Dublin said to the boy who had charge of the premises:--'There may be burglars about here; wouldn't it be well for you to come and close the bas.e.m.e.nt shutters at night?' 'Why then begob ma'am _'twould be no har-um_.' Here is a bit of rustic information (from Limerick) that might be useful to food experts:--

'Rye bread will do you good, Barley bread _will do you no harm_, Wheaten bread will sweeten your blood, Oaten bread will strengthen your arm.'

{17}

This curious way of speaking, which is very general among all cla.s.ses of people in Ireland and in every part of the country, is often used in the Irish language, from which we have imported it into our English. Here are a few Irish examples; but they might be multiplied indefinitely, and some others will be found through this chapter. In the Irish tale called 'The Battle of Gavra,' the narrator says:--[The enemy slew a large company of our army] 'and that was no great help to us.' In 'The Colloquy,' a piece much older than 'The Battle of Gavra,' Kylta, wishing to tell his audience that when the circ.u.mstance he is relating occurred he was very young, expresses it by saying [at that time] 'I myself was not old.'

One night a poet was grossly insulted: 'On the morrow he rose and he was not thankful.' (From the very old Irish tale called 'The Second Battle of Moytura': Rev. Celt.)

Another old Irish writer, telling us that a certain company of soldiers is well out of view, expresses it in this way:--_Ni fhuil in cuire gan chleith_, literally, 'the company is not without concealment.'

How closely these and other old models are imitated in our English will be seen from the following examples from every part of Ireland:--

'I can tell you Paddy Walsh is no chicken now,' meaning he is very old. The same would be said of an old maid:--'She's no chicken,' meaning that she is old for a girl.

'How are your potato gardens going on this year?' 'Why then they're not too good'; i.e. only middling or bad.

A usual remark among us conveying mild approval {18} is 'that's not bad.' A Dublin boy asked me one day:--'Maybe you wouldn't have e'er a penny that you'd give me, sir?' i.e., 'Have you a penny to give me?' 'You wouldn't like to have a cup of tea, would you?' An invitation, but not a cordial one. This is a case of '_will you_ was never a good fellow' (for which see Vocabulary).

'No joke' is often used in the sense of 'very serious.' 'It was no joke to be caught in our boat in such a storm as that.' 'The loss of 10 is no joke for that poor widow.'

'As for Sandy he worked like a downright demolisher-- Bare as he is, yet _his lick is no polisher_.'

(THOMAS MOORE in the early part of his career.)

You remark that a certain person has some fault, he is miserly, or extravagant, or dishonest, &c.: and a bystander replies, 'Yes indeed, and 'tisn't to-day or yesterday it happened him'--meaning that it is a fault of long standing.

A tyrannical or unpopular person goes away or dies:--'There's many a dry eye after him.' (Kildare.)

'Did Tom do your work as satisfactorily as Davy?' 'Oh, it isn't alike': to imply that Tom did the work very much better than Davy.

'Here is the newspaper; and 'tisn't much you'll find in it.'

'Is Mr. O'Mahony good to his people?' 'Oh, indeed he is no great things': or another way of saying it:--'He's no great shakes.' 'How do you like your new horse?' 'Oh then he's no great shakes'--or 'he's {19} not much to boast of.' Lever has this in a song:--'You think the Blakes are no great shakes.'

But I think it is also used in England.

A consequential man who carries his head rather higher than he ought:--'He thinks no small beer of himself.'

Mrs. Slattery gets a harmless fall off the form she is sitting on, and is so frightened that she asks of the person who helps her up, 'Am I killed?'

To which he replies ironically--'Oh there's great fear of you.'

('Knocknagow.')

[Alice Ryan is a very purty girl] 'and she doesn't want to be reminded of that same either.' ('Knocknagow.')

A man has got a heavy cold from a wetting and says: 'That wetting did me no good,' meaning 'it did me great harm.'

'There's a man outside wants to see you, sir,' says Charlie, our office attendant, a typical southern Irishman. 'What kind is he Charlie? does he look like a fellow wanting money?' Instead of a direct affirmative, Charlie answers, 'Why then sir I don't think he'll give you much anyway.'

'Are people buried there now?' I asked of a man regarding an old graveyard near Blessington in Wicklow. Instead of answering 'very few,' he replied: 'Why then not too many sir.'

When the roads are dirty--deep in mire--'there's fine walking overhead.'

In the Irish Life of St. Brigit we are told of a certain chief:--'It was not his will to sell the bondmaid,' by which is meant, it was his will _not_ to sell her. {20}

So in our modern speech the father says to the son:--'It is not my wish that you should go to America at all,' by which he means the positive a.s.sertion:--'It is my wish that you should not go.'

Tommy says, 'Oh, mother, I forgot to bring you the sugar.' 'I wouldn't doubt you,' answers the mother, as much as to say, 'It is just what I'd expect from you.'

When a message came to Rory from absent friends, that they were true to Ireland:--

'"My _sowl_, I never doubted them" said Rory of the hill.' (Charles Kickham.)