English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 49

Scraddhin; a sc.r.a.p; anything small--smaller than usual, as a small potato: applied contemptuously to a very small man, exactly the same as the Southern _sprissaun_. Irish _scraidin_, same sound and meaning.

(East Ulster.)

Scran; 'bad scran to you,' an evil wish like 'bad luck to you,' but much milder: English, in which _scran_ means broken victuals, food-refuse, fare--very common. (North and South.)

Scraw; a gra.s.sy sod cut from a gra.s.sy or boggy surface and often dried for firing; also called _scrahoge_ (with diminutive _og_). Irish _scrath_, _scrathog_, same sounds and meaning.

Screenge; to search for. (Donegal and Derry.)

Scunder or Scunner; a dislike; to take a dislike or disgust against anything. (Armagh.)

Scut; the tail of a hare or rabbit: often applied in scorn to a contemptible fellow:--'He's just a scut and nothing better.' The word is Irish, as is shown by the following quotation:--'The billows [were]

conversing with the _scuds_ (sterns) and the beautiful prows [of the ships].' (Battle of Moylena: and note by Kuno Meyer in 'Rev. Celt.') (General.)

Seeshtheen; a low round seat made of twisted straw. {319} (Munster.) Irish _suidhistin_, same sound and meaning: from _suidhe_ [see], to sit, with diminutive.

Set: all over Ireland they use _set_ instead of _let_ [a house or lodging]. A struggling housekeeper failed to let her lodging, which a neighbour explained by:--'Ah she's no good at _setting_.'

Set; used in a bad sense, like _gang_ and _crew_:--'They're a dirty set.'

Settle bed; a folding-up bed kept in the kitchen: when folded up it is like a sofa and used as a seat. (All over Ireland.)

Seven'dable [accent on _ven_], very great, _mighty great_ as they would say:--'Jack gave him a _sevendable_ thrashing.' (North.)

Shaap [the _aa_ long as in _car_]; a husk of corn, a pod. (Derry.)

Shamrock or Shamroge; the white trefoil (_Trifolium repens_). The Irish name is _seamar_ [shammer], which with the diminutive makes _seamar-og_ [shammer-oge], shortened to _shamrock_.

Shanachus, shortened to _shanagh_ in Ulster, a friendly conversation.

'Grandfather would like to have a shanahus with you.' ('Knocknagow.') Irish _seanchus_, antiquity, history, an old story.

Shandradan' [accented strongly on _-dan_]; an old rickety rattle-trap of a car. The first syllable is Irish _sean_ [shan], old.

Shanty: a mean hastily put up little house. (General.) Probably from Irish _sean_, old, and _tigh_ [tee], a house.

Shaugh; a turn or smoke of a pipe. (General.) Irish _seach_, same sound and meaning. {320}

Shaughraun; wandering about: to be _on the shaughraun_ is to be out of employment and wandering idly about looking for work. Irish _seachran_, same sound and meaning.

Shebeen or sheebeen; an unlicensed public-house or alehouse where spirits are sold on the sly. (Used all over Ireland.) Irish _sibin_, same sound and meaning.

Shee; a fairy, fairies; also meaning the place where fairies live, usually a round green little hill or elf-mound having a glorious palace underneath: Irish _sidhe_, same sound and meanings. _Shee_ often takes the diminutive form--_sheeoge_.

Shee-geeha; the little whirl of dust you often see moving along the road on a calm dusty day: this is a band of fairies travelling from one _lis_ or elf-mound to another, and you had better turn aside and avoid it. Irish _sidhe-gaoithe_, same sound and meaning, where _gaoithe_ is wind: 'wind-fairies': called 'fairy-blast' in Kildare.

Sheehy, Rev. Father, of Kilfinane, 147.

Sheela; a female Christian name (as in 'Sheela Ni Gyra'). Used in the South as a reproachful name for a boy or a man inclined to do work or interest himself in affairs properly belonging to women. See 'Molly.'

Sheep's eyes: when a young man looks fondly and coaxingly on his sweetheart he is 'throwing sheep's eyes' at her.

Sherral; an offensive term for a mean unprincipled fellow. (Moran: South Mon.)

Sheugh or Shough; a deep cutting, elsewhere called a ditch, often filled with water. (Seumas MacMa.n.u.s: N.W. Ulster.) {321}

Shillelah; a handstick of oak, an oaken cudgel for fighting. (Common all over Ireland.) From a district in Wicklow called Shillelah, formerly noted for its oak woods, in which grand shillelahs were plentiful.

Shingerleens [shing-erleens]; small bits of finery; ornamental tags and ends--of ribbons, bow-knots, ta.s.sels, &c.--hanging on dress, curtains, furniture, &c. (Munster.)

Shire; to pour or drain off water or any liquid, quietly and without disturbing the solid parts remaining behind, such as draining off the whey-like liquid from b.u.t.termilk.

Shlamaan' [_aa_ like _a_ in _car_]; a handful of straw, leeks, &c.

(Morris: South Monaghan.)

Shoggle; to shake or jolt. (Derry.)

Shoneen; a _gentleman_ in a small way: a would-be gentleman who puts on superior airs. Always used contemptuously.

Shook; in a bad way, done up, undone:--'I'm shook by the loss of that money': 'he was shook for a pair of shoes.'

Shooler; a wanderer, a stroller, a vagrant, a tramp, a rover: often means a mendicant. (Middle and South of Ireland.) From the Irish _siubhal_ [shool], to walk, with the English termination _er_: lit.

'walker.'

Shoonaun; a deep circular basket, made of twisted rushes or straw, and lined with calico; it had a cover and was used for holding linen, clothes, &c. (Limerick and Cork.) From Irish _sibhinn_ [shiven], a rush, a bulrush: of which the diminutive _siubhnan_ [shoonaun] is our word: signifying {322} 'made of rushes.' Many a shoonaun I saw in my day; and I remember meeting a man who was a shoonaun maker by trade.

Short castle or short castles; a game played by two persons on a square usually drawn on a slate with the two diagonals: each player having three counters. See Mills.

Sh.o.r.e; the brittle woody part separated in bits and dust from the fibre of flax by scutching or _cloving_. Called _sh.o.r.es_ in Monaghan.

Shraff, shraft; Shrovetide: on and about Shrove Tuesday:--'I bought that cow last shraff.'

Shraums, singular shraum; the matter that collects about the eyes of people who have tender eyes: matter running from sore eyes. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish _sream_ [sraum]. Same meaning.

Shrule; to rinse an article of clothing by pulling it backwards and forwards in a stream. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish _sruil_, a stream.

Shrough; a rough wet place; an incorrect anglicised form of Irish _srath_, a wet place, a marsh.

Shuggy-shoo; the play of see-saw. (Ulster.)

Shurauns; any plants with large leaves, such as hemlock, wild parsnip, &c. (Kinahan: Wicklow.)

Sighth (for sight); a great number, a large quant.i.ty. (General.) 'Oh Mrs. Morony haven't you a _sighth_ of turkeys': 'Tom Ca.s.sidy has a sighth of money.' This is old English. Thus in a Quaker's diary of 1752:--'There was a great sight of people pa.s.sed through the streets of Limerick.' This expression is I think still heard in England, and is very much in use in America. Very general in Ireland. {323}

Sign; a very small quant.i.ty--a trace. Used all over Ireland in this way:--'My gardens are _every sign_ as good as yours': 'he had no sign of drink on him': 'there's no sign of sugar in my tea' (Hayden and Hartog): 'look out to see if Bill is coming': 'no--there's no sign of him.' This is a translation from the Irish _rian_, for which see next entry.

Sign's on, sign is on, sign's on it; used to express the result or effect or proof of any proceeding:--'Tom Kelly never sends his children to school, and sign's on (or sign's on it) they are growing up like savages': 'd.i.c.k understands the management of fruit trees well, and sign's on, he is making lots of money by them.' This is a translation from Irish, in which _rian_ means _track_, _trace_, _sign_: and 'sign's on it' is _ta a rian air_ ('its sign is on it').

Silenced; a priest is silenced when he is suspended from his priestly functions by his ecclesiastical superiors: 'unfrocked.'