Page:English as we speak it in Ireland - Joyce.djvu/24

CH. II.] that she had come to inform me that the corpse had just been found.

various Irish modes of affirming, denying, &c., will be understood from the examples given in this short chapter better than from any general observations.

The Irish ní'l lá fós é [neel law fo-say: it isn't day yet] is often used for emphasis in asseveration, even when persons are speaking English; but in this case the saying is often turned into English. ‘If the master didn't give Tim a tongue-dressing, ’tisn't day yet‘ (which would be said either by day or by night): meaning he gave him a very severe scolding. ‘When I saw the mad dog running at me, if I didn't get a fright, neel-law-fo-say.‘

‘I went to town yesterday in all the rain, and if I didn't get a wetting there isn't a cottoner in Cork‘: meaning I got a very great wetting. This saying is very common in Munster; and workers in cotton were numerous in Cork when it was invented.

A very usual emphatic ending to an assertion is seen in the following:—'That horse is a splendid animal and no mistake.'

‘I'll engage you visited Peggy when you were in town‘: i.e. I assert it without much fear of contradiction: I warrant. Much in the same sense we use I'll go bail:—‘I'll go bail you never got that