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June 18, 2007

"The English language brings out the best in the Irish. They court it like a beautiful woman. They make it bray with donkey laughter. They hurl it at the sky like a paint pot full of rainbows, and then make it chant a dirge for man's fate and man's follies that is as mournful as misty spring rain crying over the fallow earth."
- T E Kalem

Some miscellaneous notes:

The sign by the hospital I cut through everyday on my way to work: "Bin your butts."

Doors on all bathroom stalls: nearly floor to ceiling. Guess the American versions are quite flimsy by comparison!

Distinct regional differences between Irish accents – Galway and the west's intonation, the Cork accent, the Dublin strain, the midlanders' inflection, the more British Northern twang... according to an Irishman I spoke to, the Barbados accent derives from the Cork accent (from the Irishmen who went to the Caribbean to work on the plantations) – just stretched out and slowed down.

Some basics: "craic" (pronounced crack) as a good time, great fun, merrymaking. "Cheers" as thank you. "Grand" as good, great, wonderful. "Return" as two-way, as in a return ticket. "Concession" as student or reduced price.

And: "press" as cabinet. "Wholemeal" as whole wheat. "Soya" as soy. "Like" thrown in everywhere in casual speech, but in patterns different than the American usage – more like: "I was at the pub, like." "And the weather was bloody miserable, like."