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Words.
In Ireland the English which we use is
Hiberno English. We use Irish language constructions a lot
as well as many Irish words or words based on Irish words.
As part of the colonisation of our island
people London tried to destroy our native culture, music, dance
and language. They failed and we hibernised the language they forced on
us. In Ulster there is also a Scots influence. Different locations
have their own local phrases or words. And native place names are
special. I love that. Dialects are all part of the colour or fabric of
dialogue.
Many of the words or phrases involved are
dying out. For example the names of farm implements or other tools which
are no longer in use as farming was mechanised in recent times. Similarly
with city living and the construction of modern housing
and the provision of indoor toilets, bathroom, kitchens and so on.
No more ‘Going out to the yard’ for the toilet or ‘the scullery’ to cook
the grub.
The advent of television also meant some
people converse less. This has been accelerated recently with the wide
spread use of social media. Communications are now accessible to
almost everyone and this is good but traditional story telling and
the use of the spoken word is less prevalent.
I have been thinking of some words
which used to be widely used when I was a wee buck. I remember as a young
and reluctant scholar efforts being made to standardise the English we
used. This included at Saint Mary’s Grammar School. We were being
taught to be the lawyers, accountants, civil servants, teachers so
BBC standard English was required. I failed to qualify for any of these
positions. For its part the BBC frowned on local dialects.
But there were wise people in there too.
Especially on the wireless. Mostly men you may notice but that
also was a mark of that time. Michael J Murphy. Sam Hanna Bell.
Tony McAuley. Jimmy Young, Joe Tomelty, Davy Hammond, Seamus
Heaney, Michael Longley kept old words alive. So did the many fine
Irish language poets and story tellers.
Before them Alice Milligan, Francis Joseph
Biggar,William Lutton, Cathal O Byrne, Florence M Wilson, Brian
Friel, William Marshall Robert Bunting. Robert Mac Adhaimh, Cardinal
O Fiach and others made their mark.
So here is a sample of words
which were widely used when I was younger. I
may add more to this list in future columns. And I
welcome any suggestions you may have.
Weebuck
= young boy.
Also gasson. Cub.
Wean
= A youngster.
Barge = to give off. Also a
boisterous woman.
Beeling = a cut which is discharging pus.
Blirt = a
foolish but harmless person.
Scundered = embarrassed.
Pockaill = awkward person.
Amadan = a fool.
A Glyp = see blirt.
Gansaí = sweater. Also GAA sports top.
Togs =
sports shorts including swimming togs.
A boil = an abcess.
Bannock = oatloaf.
Bravely = in good health. ‘He’s doing bravely’.
Polis = police.
Brae = hill.
A sprassy = a sixpenny coin.
Oxter = armpit.
Champ = a dish of creamed potatoes and
scallions mixed together. Back in the day this was the main
meal. Now its a sidedish.
Cleg = a blood sucking fly.
Jiffey = a short period of time.
Geek = looking at, as in ‘taking a wee geek at …’
Hallion = a messer.
Cow’sClap = dung.
Quare = no literal meaning. Maybe derived
from ‘queer’ but does not mean gay. Used as ‘Quare and
big, quare and soft, etc. Or The Quare Fellow as in Brendan Behans
play of the same name.
Thon or Thonder = yon or yonder. As in thon one. Or over
thonder.
Forenenist = beside as in forenenist the wall. Or
opposite as in ‘forenenist me’.
Teeming = pouring as in teeming with rain.
Gurning = crying or c omplaining.
Ganch
= loudmouth.
A dig = a punch.
A fair dig = a fair fight.
A dig in the bake = a punch in the face. A dig in the gub. A
punch in the mouth.
Gub = mouth.
Bake = face. Sometimes
means a mouth.
Snatters = nose snot.
Slabber = A Loudmouth.
Slabbering = offensive talk.
Eejit = idiot.
Melt. = I dont know the exact meaning but
in the build up to a fight between boys the term ‘I’ll knock
your melt in’ was often used.
Scalp = a small splinter of wood. As in
‘I’ve a wee scalp in my finger’.
A stewmer = a useless person.
A tube = see a stewmer
Join
Adrian Dunbar in Moore St.
If
you’re in Dublin this Saturday morning why not come along to the GPO at
11.30am and join us for a unique tour of the Moore St. 1916 Battlefield
Site hosted by the well known actor Adrian Dunbar. The tour is
being organised by the Moore Street Preservation Trust as part of the
campaign to Save Moore Street from the developers’ bulldozers.
The terrace of houses from 10-25 Moore
Street were occupied by the GPO garrison after it abandoned the blazing
GPO on Friday evening 28 April 1916. Number 16 was the last
Headquarters of the leaders of the Rising. Seán MacDiarmada, Pádraig
Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, James Connolly and Tom Clarke met and came to
the reluctant conclusion that surrender was the only choice open to them
to avoid further loss of life. Saturday’s tour will recall those historic
events.
As well as Adrian Dunbar and several actors
playing the parts of Pádraig Pearse and Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell, Honor
Ó Brolcháin, a relative of Joseph Plunkett, one of the executed leaders,
will tell the story of those tumultuous events as they walk the
Battlefield site.
The campaign to save Moore Street has been
long and difficult. The developers have deep pockets and successive Irish
governments have supported their proposals.
However, the Relatives of the Signatories
and the relatives of those who fought in the GPO garrison support efforts
to create a cultural quarter in these ‘laneways of history’ protecting
and preserving for the future this unique part of Dublin. As the
Relatives of the Signatories put it in a recent lobby of Dublin City
Council; “It is not for one generation to give away or to be left at the
mercy of a developer's wrecking ball.”
In recent weeks the campaign has had several
notable successes. At the beginning of the month Dublin City
Councillors voted unanimously to add key buildings on Moore Street,
associated with the 1916 Rising to the Record of Protected Structures.
The developer Hammerson claimed that it would be ‘inappropriate and
unlawful’ for the Council to do this. The Councillors rejected
Hammerson’s claim and voted to give full protection to Numbers 10 and
20/21 Moore Street and partial protection to other important buildings.
Numbers 14, 15, 16 and 17 Moore Street are part of the National Monument
and are already protected – although the government has left them in a
distressing state of decay.
The decision by the Council also exposes
the outrageous decision by An Bord Pleanála – the body responsible for
planning decisions – to refuse an oral hearing on the many appeals that
have been lodged against its decisions to grant permission for the
Hammerson plans.
In a further endorsement of the stand taken
by the Moore St. Preservation Trust and by the Relatives of those who
fought in 1916, a recent meeting of Fingal County Council unanimously
called for the creation of a Moore Street Historical Cultural Quarter and
backed the Preservation Trust’s alternative plan for the area. The motion
recognises Moore Street as the site of the last Headquarters of the
Easter Rising and “a site of National historic importance” and “deserving
of regeneration as a cultural historical site”.
So the battle to save the 1916 Moore Street
Battlefield site continues and is growing in strength. More and more
people want to see this area developed as a historic quarter which would
be of huge educational, economic and social significance to the people of
Dublin Inner city, the capital and the nation, as well as a fitting
memorial to the heroism of the men and women of 1916. Perhaps I’ll see
you in Dublin on Saturday morning.
In the meantime if you want to save Moore
Street write to An Taoiseach at micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie or
The Dept of An Taoiseach Merrion Street. BAC 2
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