Fews Glossary M ‘2’

BallaghMillstone.jpg
Dialect ‘M’ 2
 
Melt             inside or stuffing, ‘I’ll knock the melt out of him’
                   ‘fit till melt’, boiling with anger
Mend           ‘he’ll mend him’, ‘hell mend him’, undo him of his wrong ways: improve, ‘he’s not mending this time’
Mitch           play truant from school
Midlin           not too well
Mill               strike, ‘I’ll mill ye!’
Mind            remind, ‘mind me to do that later’; ‘see, ‘do you mind the way he creeps?’; remember, ‘I mind the time..’
Miscall          slander or abuse
Misses         escapes, tumbles, ‘there’s not much misses his eye’, ‘I’m always missing my foot’, slipping and tumbling over
Mizzle          light rain
Moan           ‘Indeed I moan you from my heart’, pity
                   ‘I don’t moan ye with what ye have’, sympathise
Moidered      bewildered
Moiley          bare, a moiley hill, moiley goat, one without horns
Moral of       ‘he’s the moral of his father’, like
                   Moral spit of, the image of
More            although, ‘he needs help the more he said not’
Mortal          very, ‘he’s mortal bad’
Moss           a turf bog
Mosscheeper                   titlark
Moul            mould, as in turf mould
Mouth          ‘a fool mouth’, silly talker: ‘a foul mouth’, swearer; ‘he nivir axed had I a mouth on me!’, I wasn’t invited to eat
Muck           dirt
Mug             stupid
Muggy         close, wet
Mummle      mumble
Murderous   very, ‘murderous wicked’, ‘up murdering late’, ‘a murdering hard worker’
 

Fews Glossary: D

martindebating.jpg

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

Gaelic Place Names: Creggan etc

foreststones.jpg

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

Pennyworth of Lies

lslibrary2.jpg
There’s them that would ridicule me for telling stories out a’ school, but if ye don’t get them from me, where wud ye hear them nowadays?  Me grandfather and namesake toul’ this one to all he’s, an’ he wasn’t the author he’s-self!  There cud be words missin’ and others outa place but I can on’y do me best.


It called the Pennyworth of Lies and it was Jack’s party-piece, a century ago.

Read morePennyworth of Lies

Sold to the Divil

CaseysPubInterior.jpg
I heared meself of two men from this parish of Dromintee that sold themselves to the devil.  Ay, there was one of them ony had to think of a thing and it happened.
 
He was watching Stephen McDonald’s ones putting pork for Newry market into a cart one Thursday morning.  Says he to the mother standing there,
 
‘Wouldn’t it be a quare thing if they weren’t fit till get the pigs in the cart?’
 
An’ damn me if they cud: nor half the country cud lift the pigs into the cart.
 
Another time coming out of Newry he went into Caseys for a drink and there was a barmaid in it.  Whether she said he had enough or whether he passed some remarks out of place, she said he’d get no drink.  The bar was full.  Says he till her,
 
‘For two pins, I’d leave ye standing on yer head on that counter!’
 
No sooner said nor done.  Before the whole bar she was up on her head and who the hell was fit to get her down?
 
An’ when he’d be out rambling at night and neighbours would be in cracking with the mother, she’s the one would know before he arrived that he was on his way home. From a good distance away, the plates would start rattling.
 
‘He’s turning at the cross now’, she’d say.
 
Then the plates would start to hop and dance and hell knows what else.
 
‘He’s at Jemmy’s now!’ she’d say, for sure.
 
Half the kitchen would be hopping by the time he walked in the door.