Page:English as we speak it in Ireland - Joyce.djvu/28

CH. II.] that something was amiss with me—that something ailed me.’

‘Believe Tom and who’ll believe you’: a way of saying that Tom is not telling truth.

An emphatic ‘yes’ to a statement is often expressed in the following way:—‘This is a real wet day.’ Answer, ‘I believe you.’ ‘I think you made a good bargain with Tim about that field.’ ‘I believe you I did.’

A person who is offered anything he is very willing to take, or asked to do anything he is anxious to do, often answers in this way:—‘James, would you take a glass of punch?’ or ‘Tom, will you dance with my sister in the next round?’ In either case the answer is, ‘Would a duck swim?’

A weak sort of assent is often expressed in this way:—‘Will you bring Nelly's book to her when you are going home, Dan?’ Answer, ‘I don’t mind,’ or ‘I don’t mind if I do.’

To express unbelief in a statement or disbelief in the usefulness or effectiveness of any particular line of action, a person says ‘that’s all in my eye,’ or ‘’Tis all in my eye, Betty Martin—O’; but this last is regarded as slang.

Sometimes an unusual or unexpected statement is introduced in the following manner, the introductory words being usually spoken quickly:—‘Now do you know what I'm going to tell you—that ragged old chap has £200 in the bank.’ In Derry they make it—‘Now listen to what I'm going to say.’

In some parts of the South and West and Northwest, servants and others have a way of replying to directions that at first sounds strange or even