Index to English as we speak it in Ireland.

What’s in a word?

This is P. W. Joyce’s “English As We Speak It In Ireland.” (1910). It’s great for dipping into. The Irish spellings are phonetic even when they seem not to be (you’ll understand when you start reading!). KF July 29, 02.

Preface/Sources of Anglo-Irish Dialect (p.1)

Affirming, Assenting, and Saluting. (p.9)

Asserting by Negative or Positive (p.16)

Idioms Derived from the Irish Language (p.23)

The Devil and his ‘Territory’ (p.56)

Swearing (p.66)

Grammar and Pronunciation (p.74)

Proverbs (p.105)

Exaggeration and Redundancy (p.120)

Comparisons (p.136)

The Memory of History and of Old Customs (p.143)

A Variety of Phrases (p.185)

Contents of English As We Speak It In Ireland by P.W. Joyce

1. Preface and Sources of Anglo-Irish Dialect. — Preface This book deals with the Dialect of the English Language that is spoken in Ireland.
2. Affirming, Assenting, and Saluting. — Chapter II. Affirming, Assenting, and Saluting. The various Irish modes of affirming, denying, &c., will be understood from the examples given in this short…
3. Assertion by Negative of Opposition. — Chapter III. Assertion by Negative of Opposite Assertions are often made by using the negative of the opposite assertion. 'You must be hungry now Tom, and…
4. Idions derived from the Irish Language. — [p.23] Chapter IV. Idioms derived from the Irish language.
5. The Devil and his 'Territory.' — Chapter V. The Devil and his ‘Territory.’ [p.56] Bad as the devil is he has done us some service in Ireland by providing us with a fund of anecdotes and…
6. Chapter VI: Swearing — Chapter VI. Swearing. The general run of our people do not swear much; and those that do commonly limit themselves to the name of the devil either straight…
7. Grammar and Pronunciation — Chapter VII Grammar and Pronunciation. Shalt and Will. It has been pretty clearly shown that the somewhat anomalous and complicated niceties in the English…
8. Chapter VIII: Proverbs — Chapter VIII. Proverbs. The Irish delighted in sententious maxims and apt illustrations compressed into the fewest possible words. Many of their proverbs were…
9. Exaggeration and Redundancy. — Chapter IX. Exaggeration and Redundancy. I have included both in this Chapter, for they are nearly related; and it is often hard to draw a precise line of…
10. Comparisons — Chapter X. Comparison. Some of the items in this chapter would fit very well in the last; but this makes no matter; for 'good punch drinks well from either…
11. Memory of History and of Old Customs — Chapter XI. The Memory of History and of Old Customs.
12. A Variety of Phrases — Chapter XII. A Variety of Phrases. Among fireside amusements propounding riddles was very general 60 or 70 years ago. This is a custom that has existed in…
13. Vocabulary: A to K. — Chapter XIII. Vocabulary and Index. [p.209] [In this Vocabulary, as well indeed as through the whole book, gh and ch are to sound guttural, as in lough and…
14. Vocabulary R to Y. — \ Rabble; used in Ulster to denote a fair where workmen congregate on the hiring day to be hired by the surrounding farmers. See Spalpeen.
15. Vocabulary L to Q. — Leprachaun; a sort of fairy, called by several names in different parts of Ireland:- luricaun, cluricaun, lurragadaun, loghryman, luprachaun. This last is the…