English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 40

Gutter; wet mud on a road (_gutters_ in Ulster).

Gwaul [_l_ sounded as in _William_]; the full of the two arms of anything: 'a gwaul of straw.' (Munster.) In Carlow and Wexford, they add the diminutive, and make it _goleen_. Irish _gabhail_.

Hain; to hain a field is to let it go to meadow, keeping the cows out of it so as to let the gra.s.s grow: possibly from _hayin'_. (Waterford: Healy.) In Ulster _hain_ means to save, to economise. {271}

Half a one; half a gla.s.s of whiskey. One day a poor blind man walked into one of the Dublin branch banks, which happened to be next door to a public-house, and while the clerks were looking on, rather puzzled as to what he wanted, he slapped two pennies down on the counter; and in no very gentle voice:--'Half a one!'

Half joke and whole earnest; an expression often heard in Ireland which explains itself. 'Tim told me--half joke and whole earnest--that he didn't much like to lend me his horse.'

Hand; to make a hand of a person is to make fun of him; to humbug him: Lowry Looby, thinking that Mr. Daly is making game of him, says:--''Tis making a hand of me your honour is.' (Gerald Griffin.) Other applications of _hand_ are 'You made a bad hand of that job,' i.e. you did it badly. If a man makes a foolish marriage: 'He made a bad hand of himself, poor fellow.'

Hand-and-foot; the meaning of this very general expression is seen in the sentence 'He gave him a hand-and-foot and tumbled him down.'

Hand's turn; a very trifling bit of work, an occasion:--'He won't do a hand's turn about the house': 'he scolds me at every hand's turn,' i.e.

on every possible occasion.

Handy; near, convenient:--'The shop lies handy to me'; an adaptation of the Irish _laimh le_ (meaning _near_). _Laimh le Corcaig_, lit. _at hand with Cork_--near Cork. This again is often expressed _convenient to Cork_, where _convenient_ is intended to mean simply _near_. So it comes that we in Ireland regard _convenient_ and _near_ as exactly synonymous, {272} which they are not. In fact on almost every possible occasion, we--educated and uneducated--use _convenient_ when _near_ would be the proper word. An odd example occurs in the words of the old Irish folk-song:--

'A sailor courted a farmer's daughter, Who lived _convaynient_ to the Isle of Man.'

Hannel; a blow with the spear or spike of a pegging-top (or 'castle-top') down on the wood of another top. Boys often played a game of tops for a certain number of hannels. At the end of the game the victor took his defeated opponent's top, sunk it firmly down into the gra.s.sy sod, and then with his own top in his hand struck the other top a number of hannels with the spear of his own to injure it as much as possible. 'Your castle-tops came in for the most hannels.'

('Knocknagow.')

Hap; to wrap a person round with any covering, to tuck in the bedclothes round a person. (Ulster.)

Hard word (used always with _the_); a hint, an inkling, a tip, a bit of secret information:--'They were planning to betray and cheat me, but Ned gave me the hard word, and I was prepared for them, so that I defeated their schemes.'

Hare; to make a hare of a person is to put him down in argument or discussion, or in a contest of wit or cunning; to put him in utter confusion. 'While you were speaking to the little boy that made a hare of you.' (Carleton in Ir. Pen. Journ.)

'Don't talk of your Provost and Fellows of Trinity, Famous for ever at Greek and Latinity, Faix and the divels and all at Divinity-- Father O'Flynn 'd make hares of them all!'

(A. P. GRAVES.)

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Harvest; always used in Ireland for autumn:--'One fine day in harvest.'

(Crofton Croker.)

Hauling home; bringing home the bride, soon after the wedding, to her husband's house. Called also a 'dragging-home.' It is always made the occasion of festivity only next in importance to the wedding. For a further account, and for a march played at the Hauling home, see my 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 130.

Hausel; the opening in the iron head of an axe, adze, or hammer, for the handle. (Ulster.)

Haverel: a rude coa.r.s.e boor, a rough ignorant fellow. (Moran: Carlow.)

Havverick; a rudely built house, or an old ruined house hastily and roughly restored:--'How can people live in that old havverick?'

(Limerick.)

Hayden, Miss Mary, M.A., 5, &c.

Healy, Mr. Maurice, 178, &c.

Head or harp; a memorial of the old Irish coinage, corresponding with English _head or tail_. The old Irish penny and halfpenny had the king's head on one side and the Irish harp on the other. 'Come now, head or harp,' says the person about to throw up a halfpenny of any kind.

Heard tell; an expression used all throughout Ireland:--'I heard tell of a man who walked to Glendalough in a day.' It is old English.

Heart-scald; a great vexation or mortification. (General.) Merely the translation of _scallach-croidhe_ [scollagh-cree], _scalding_ of the heart.

Hearty; tipsy, exhilarated after a little 'drop.'

Hedge schools, 149. {274}

Higgins, The Rev. Father, p. 244, and elsewhere.

Hinch; the haunch, the thigh. To hinch a stone is to _jerk_ (or _jurk_ as they say in Munster), to hurl it from under instead of over the shoulder. (Ulster.)

Hinten; the last sod of the ridge ploughed. (Ulster.)

Ho; equal. Always used with a negative, and also in a bad sense, either seriously or in play. A child spills a jug of milk, and the mother says:--'Oh Jacky, there's no _ho_ to you for mischief' (no equal to you). The old woman says to the mischievous gander:--'There's no ho with you for one gander.' (Gerald Griffin: 'The Coiner.') This _ho_ is an Irish word: it represents the sound of the Irish prefix _cho_ or _chomh_, equal, as much as, &c. 'There's no ho to Jack Lynch' means there's no one for whom you can use _cho_ (equal) in comparing him with Jack Lynch.

Hobbler; a small c.o.c.k of fresh hay about 4 feet high. (Moran: Carlow.)

Hobby; a kind of Irish horse, which, three or four centuries ago, was known all over Europe 'and held in great esteem for their easy amble: and from this kind of horse the Irish light-armed bodies of horse were called hobellers.' (Ware. See my 'Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland,' p. 487.) Hence a child's toy, a hobby-horse. Hence a favourite pursuit is called a 'hobby.'

Hoil; a mean wretched dwelling: an uncomfortable situation. (Morris: South Monaghan.)

Hollow; used as an adverb as follows:--'Jack Cantlon's horse beat the others hollow in the race': i.e. beat them utterly. {275}

Holy show: 'You're a holy show in that coat,' i.e. it makes quite a show of you; makes you look ridiculous. (General.)

Holy well; a well venerated on account of its a.s.sociation with an Irish saint: in most cases retaining the name of the saint:--'Tober-Bride,'

St. Bride's or Brigit's well. In these wells the early saints baptised their converts. They are found all through Ireland, and people often pray beside them and make their _rounds_. (See 'Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland.')

Hool or hooley; the same as a Black swop.

Hot-foot; at once, immediately:--'Off I went hot-foot.' 'As soon as James heard the news, he wrote a letter hot-foot to his father.'

Houghle; to wobble in walking. (Armagh.)

Hugger-mugger: see Cugger-mugger.

Huggers or hogars, stockings without feet. (Ulster.)

Hulk; a rough surly fellow. (Munster.) A bad person. (Simmons: Armagh.) Irish _olc_, bad.

Hungry-gra.s.s: see Fair-gurtha.

Hunker-slide; to slide on ice sitting on the hunkers (or as they would say in Munster, sitting on one's _grug_) instead of standing up straight: hence to act with duplicity: to shirk work:--'None of your hunker-sliding for me.' (Ulster.)