Page:English as we speak it in Ireland - Joyce.djvu/365

 states that this was a common construction in Anglo-Saxon. (Ulster.)


 * Why; a sort of terminal expletive used in some of the Munster counties:—'Tom is a strong boy why': 'Are you going to Ennis why?' 'I am going to Cork why.'


 * Why for? used in Ulster as an equivalent to 'for what?'


 * Why but? 'Why not?' (Ulster.) 'Why but you speak your mind out?' i.e. 'Why should you not?' (Kane: Armagh.)


 * Why then; used very much in the South to begin a sentence, especially a reply, much as indeed is used in English:—'When did you see John Dunn?' 'Why then I met him yesterday at the fair': 'Which do you like best, tea or coffee?' 'Why then I much prefer tea.' 'Why then Pat is that you; and how is every rope's length of you?'


 * Wicked; used in the South in the sense of severe or cross. 'Mr. Manning our schoolmaster is very wicked.'


 * Widow-woman and widow-man; are used for widow and widower, especially in Ulster: but widow-woman is heard everywhere.


 * Wigs on the green; a fight: so called for an obvious reason:—'There will be wigs on the green in the fair to-day.'


 * Will you was never a good fellow, 18, 114.


 * Wine or wynd of hay; a small temporary stack of hay, made up on the meadow. All the small wynds are ultimately made up into one large rick or stack in the farmyard.