An Irish Country Wedding (48 page)

hard stuff:
Spirits, usually Irish whiskey.

head’s a marley, cut:
As small and dense as a child’s marble (marley), or damaged by having been incised. Being very stupid.

heart of corn:
Very good-natured.

heifer:
Cow before her first breeding.

hiding to nothing:
A “hiding” is a physical beating. To be offered the choice of one or nothing is no choice and hence a complete waste of time.

highheejins:
Exalted persons (often in their own minds).

hobbyhorse shite:
Literally sawdust. To have a head full is again to be stupid.

hooley:
Boisterous party

houseman:
Medical intern. Term used despite the sex of the incumbent.

in soul:
Definitely.

jammy:
Lucky.

knickers:
Women’s and girls’ underpants.

Lamass:
Christian religious festival on August 1, introduced to replace the pagan Lughnasa. See
Irish Country Girl
.

laughing like a drain:
Laughing uproariously with your mouth wide open.

laughing my leg off:
Laughing uproariously.

lepping:
Leaping.

leprechaun:
Irish,
leipreachán
. A mischevious Irish faery, one of the Tuatha dé (See Tuatha dé Danaan).

let the hare sit:
Leave it alone.

like or big as the side wall of a house:
Huge (especially when applied to someone’s physical build).

liltie:
A madman. An Irish whirling dervish.

lug worm:
A member of the Phylum
Annelidia
. A ragged-edged marine worm that lives in burrows under tidal sand or mud. Much prized as bait. Harvested at low tide by digging close to the creatures’ blow holes in the sand.

main:
Very.

matron:
A hospital’s senior nurse, responsible administratively for all matters pertaining to nursing. In North America the position is now Vice President of Nursing.

Melton Mobray pie:
A savoury pork-and-bacon meat pie with a thin layer of aspic between the filling and the buttery pastry. Best eaten cold.

mending, well mended:
Recovering from an illness, completely better.

messages:
Errands.

Milesians:
Invaders from northern Spain who were Gaelic Celts. Some believe they were originally the lost tribe of Israel.

mope:
Brood over something, mourn.

muck out:
Remove the ordure from stables or a byre.

my aunt Fanny Jane:
Expression of complete disbelief.

my belly thinks my throat’s cut:
Expression of severe hunger. Literally the stomach feels as if the supply route has been severed.

name of the wee man:
Name of the devil.

newsagent:
Shop which stocked newspapers, magazines, sweeties, and tobacco products.

no dozer:
One who has his wits about him.

no great shakes at:
Not very good at.

no harm to you, but:
Inevitably preceded criticism or disagreement.

no skin off my nose:
It doesn’t affect me one way or the other. I could not care less.

nose out of joint:
Have taken umbrage.

ochón:
Irish. Pronounced “ochown.” Alas.

on eggs:
Worried sick.

on “the sick”:
Receiving sickness insurance payments while out of work.

out of the woods:
Has sucessfully passed through a trying time.

oxter/oxter-cog:
Armpit/help along by draping someone’s arm over your shoulders to support them.

pass-remarkable:
Prone to making unsolicited, often derogatory, comments about other people.

pay no heed to:
Pay no attention to.

pelmet:
Valance.

pipes:
Three kinds of bagpipes are played in Ireland. The great highland pipes, three drones; the Brian Boru pipes, three drones and four to thirteen keys on the chanter; and the Uillinn (elbow) pipes, driven by small bellows under the elbow. There are keys on both the chanter and the drones. If “pipes” is said it usually refers to the first, the latter two are usually specified.

poitín:
Irish. Pronounced “potcheen.” Moonshine. Illegally distilled spirits, usually from barley. Could be as strong as 180 proof (about 100% alcohol by volume).

poorly:
Sick.

pop in/over/round:
All mean to drop in unannounced.

price of a pint of Guinness:
In 1900, threepence. In 1928, ten
pence. In 1958, one shilling and sixpence. In 1964, two shil
lings and one penny.

pupil:
Schoolchild. “Student” was reserved for university undergraduates and only those who had sucessfully completed the necessary university courses graduated.

purler:
Tumble.

quare:
Pronunciation of the word “queer” in parts of Ireland.
Very often succeeded with “nor.”

quid:
Pound sterling or measure of chewing tobacco.

rain:
Rain is a fact of life in Ireland. It’s why the country is the Emerald Isle. As the Inuit people of the Arctic have many words for snow, in Ulster the spectrum runs from
sound day
, fair weather, to
a grand soft day
, mizzling, also described as,
that’s the sort of rain that wets you
, to downpours of varying severity to include
coming down in sheets/stair-rods/torrents
, or
pelting, bucketing, plooting
(corruption of French
il pleut
),
chucking it down
, and the universal
raining cats and dogs
. If you visit, do take an umbrella.

rashers:
Bacon slices from the back of the pig. They have a streaky tail and a lean eye.

right enough?:
Is that correct?

rightly:
Perfectly well.

road bowling:
A game where a twenty-eight-ounce metal ball or “bullet” is thrown or “lofted” over a fixed length of road. The contestant with the least number of throws to cover the distance wins.

run-race:
Quick trip.

sidthe:
Irish. Pronounced “shee.” The burial mounds and hill forts that litter Ireland.

sister (nursing):
In Ulster hospitals nuns at one time filled important nursing roles. They no longer do so except in some Catholic institutions. Their honorific, “sister,” has been retained to signify a senior nursing rank.
Ward sister:
charge nurse.
Sister tutor:
senior nursing teacher. (Now also obsolete because nursing is a university course.) In North America the old rank was charge nurse or head nurse, now nursing team leader unless it has been changed again since I retired.

skiver:
Corruption of “scurvy.” Ne’er-do-well.

slag:
Verbal abuse. Slagging can be either be good-natured
banter or verbal chastisement.

sláinte:
Irish. Pronounced “slawntuh.” Cheers. Here’s mud in your eye. Prosit.

slubbergub:
Foul-mouthed person.

snib:
Latch.

soft-soaper:
Flatterer.

solicitor:
Attorney who did not appear in court, a function performed by lawyers called barristers.

sore:
Very seriously.

sound/sound man:
Very good/reliable, and trustworthy man.

sparks:
Electrician. All trades had their nicknames.
Chippy:
carpenter;
brickie:
bricklayer.

stickin’ out/stickin’ out a mile:
Very good/the acme of perfection.

stone:
Avoirdupois measure of mass equal to fourteen pounds.

stoon:
Sudden shooting pain.

student:
Someone attending university. Children at school were referred to as
pupils
or schoolchildren. (Schoolboy/girl.)

sums:
Math. Taught initially as counting, addition (the
sum
of two numbers), subtraction, multiplication, and division.

surgery:
When used to describe a doctor’s rooms, the equivalent of a North American doctor’s office.

sweet, sweetie:
Candy.

take your hurry in your hand:
Slow down.

take yourself off by the hand:
Go away (you eejit, implied).

taking a hand out of:
Teasing.

taoiseach:
Irish. Pronounced “teeshuck.” Prime minister.

targe:
Foul-tempered person. Scold.

taste:
Small amount and not necesarily to be eaten. “Thon creaky axles needs a wee taste of oil.”

ta-ta-ta-ra:
Party.

tea:
An infusion made by pouring boiling water over
Camellia si
nensis
, or the main evening meal. “I had a great steak for my tea.”

tears were tripping him:
He was in floods of tears.

the morrow/day/night:
Tomorow/today/tonight.

thick as two short planks:
Very stupid.

thole:
Put up with. A reader, Miss D. Williams, wrote to me to say it was etymologically from the Old English
tholian
, to suffer. She remarked that her first encounter with the word was in a fourteenth-century prayer.

thon/thonder:
That or there. “Thon eejit shouldn’t be standing over thonder.”

til:
To.

’til:
Until.

tinker’s curse/damn/toss:
I could not care less.

took the rickets:
Had a great shock, not fell ill from a vitamin D deficiency.

tousling:
Roughing up, either verbal or physical.

townland:
A mediaeval administrative region comprising a village and the surrounding countryside.

trotters:
Specifically pigs’ feet, but can be applied to humans.

Tuatha dé Danaan:
Irish. Pronounced “tooatha day danaan.” One of the early mythical races also known as Cruithne who defeated the
Fir Bolg
and were themselves overthrown by the
Milesians
.
(See under M.) The Tuatha were driven to live un
derground in the
sidthe
(see under S) and became the people of the mounds, that is the multitude of Irish faeries. (See
Irish Country Girl
.)

turn in his eye:
Cross-eyed, medically known as strabismus

up the spout:
Pregnant, often out of wedlock.

wee:
Small, but in Ulster can be used to modify almost anything without reference to size. A barmaid, an old friend, greeted me by saying, “Come in, Pat. Have a wee seat and I’ll get you a wee menu, and would you like a wee drink while you’re waiting?”

wee buns:
Very easy.

wheeker:
Excellent.

wheen:
An indeterminate number.

wheest, houl’ your wheest:
Be quiet or shut-up.

whiskey/whisky:
The -key suffix is Irish, -ky is Scotch.

wildfowling:
Duck hunting.

willick:
Mispronunciation of “whelk,” an edible sea-snail. Used as a euphemism for
bollix
. See under B.

wires is (are) shaking:
The wind is very strong.

workie:
Working person, usually un- or minimally skilled.

ye:
You. Singular or plural. More common in the Republic of Ireland.

yer honour:
Stage Irish respectful address, used sacrastically.

yiz:
You. Singular or plural.

yoke:
Thingummybob, whatsit. Name for something one does not know the name of.

you know:
Larded into conversation as “like” is in North America. Paradoxically it is usually used when the person listening cannot possibly know.

your man:
Someone who is not known. “Your man over there. Who is he?” Or someone known to all. “Your man, Van Morrison.” (Also, “I’m your man,” as in “I agree and will go along with what you are proposing.”)

youse:
You. Singular or plural.

B
Y
P
ATRICK
T
AYLOR

Only Wounded

Pray for Us Sinners

Now and in the Hour of Our Death

An Irish Country Doctor

An Irish Country Village

An Irish Country Christmas

An Irish Country Girl

An Irish Country Courtship

A Dublin Student Doctor

An Irish Country Wedding

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

Patrick Taylor, M.D., was born and raised in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland. Dr. Taylor is a distinguished medical researcher, offshore sailor, model-boat builder, and father of two
grown children. He now lives on Saltspring Island, British
Columbia.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.