Newry News and Irish Fun
With over-indulgence, you may well be suffering from stomach problems. So the following useful cure offered by our regular reader Francie Byrne is timely.
‘My great-great grandfather apparently had a cure for stomach troubles. Here is an extract about him as published in the Rathfriland Outlook about the year 1940.
Dab bit, dip, soil ‘a dab of butter’; ‘dab the crust in yer tae, woman dear’ ‘the chile had dabbed her clane pinny’
Daisy-quilt grave sods, ‘she’s covered by her daisy-quilt this two years, poor dear’
Daffy silly
Dander stroll, anger ‘take a dander’, ‘he’d raise yer dander’
Dandily flirt, ‘she’s anybody’s dandilly’
Damsel damson
Dar dare
Debate progress, ‘he cud make no debate for himself’
Dead-end ‘ye cud take yer dead-end at him’ [he’d greatly amuse you]
Deef deaf
Dealing man cattle dealer, huckster
Death on greatly opposed ‘she’s death on smoking’
Delude, deluder coax, deceive ‘she’d delude the birds from the trees’ she’s only deluding him’ [she has another boy whom she prefers]
Demean as with ‘bemean’
Desperation want, rage
Devant to play or amuse
Divil’s dozen 13
Dint mark [as ‘dent’]
Dirty illicit-sex-filled, ‘I’m on a dirty weekend’
Doldrum doubtful, confusing
Donsey delicate
Doom fate, punishment, ‘he’ll meet his doom alright!’
Down-faced brazen, ‘a down-faced rascal, that’
Down-looking dejected, ‘he has a very down-looking aspect’
Down in the mouth as above
Down-take come-uppance, ‘he’ll get his down-take yet’
Down-come fall
Douse to soak, extinguish
Drain small quantity, empty ‘there’s a wee drain yit left in the bottle’ ‘let’s drain it’
Draw pull, ‘take a draw of yer pipe’, ‘draw up yer chair’
Dribs and drabs small steps, amounts ‘job done by dribs & drabs’
Drig milking term, ‘Are ye sure she’s drigged dry?’
Dressing beating ‘give him a good dressing’
Drookit wet, sodden
Drop various: ‘there’s a bad drop in that family’ [their trouble’s in the genes or blood] ‘they’re not a drop’s blood to each other, ”wud ye take a drop in the hand?’ [would you like a cup of tea?] she dropped her calf [gave birth, alternatively aborted] ‘he had a drop too much’ [was drunk] the childer are dropping potatoes [sowing]
Drudge an ill-used person
To dredge, ‘he drudged the flax-hole clean’
Druth thirst
Duds clothes
Dunt push, strike
Dunch punch, shove
Duke bend low, hide
Due owe, ‘I am due him the price of a calf’
Durneens short, wooden handle shaft grips
Dwamish sickish
Cortamlet, corr tam leacht, ‘the round burial place’
Cortresla, corr trioslog, ‘the hill of the jumps’
Cranncrea, crann chrith, ‘the trembling poplar tree’
Creenkill, crion choill, ‘the dry rotten wood’
Camily, cam mhullaigh or cam liath, ‘crooked hills’ or ‘grey bend’
Cappagh, ceapach, ‘cultivated place’ [pron. ‘cappy’]
Carrickrovaddy, carraigh ruadh a’mhadaidh, ‘the dog’s red rock’
Carmeen, corr min, ‘the smooth round hill’
Carnally, carn ayeill, ‘the side of a sloping hill’
Carrickacullion, carraigh an chuilinn, ‘rock of the holly’
Carrickamoan, carraig na monadh, ‘the bog rock’
Cavanakill, cabhan na coille, ‘the hollow of wood’
Carran, carr
It called the Pennyworth of Lies and it was Jack’s party-piece, a century ago.
Is there a word that means the opposite of an oxymoron?
There are some of our readers much cleverer and better informed than us.
We await your reply.
While you work on that, we offer you a few examples.
Local expressions – mainly insulting!
What can you expect from a pig but a grunt?
