- midden — (("dunghill, manure-heap, refuse-heap" – OED.)) Privy
- beef to the heels — strong-looking. ((beef to the heels like a Mullingar heifer: "a stalwart man, or a fine woman" Irish – Farmer 1904.)) Mullingar = a town in the west of Ireland.
- foostering — fussy activity. ((fooster: "hurry, flurry, fluster" – PWJ 1910.)) (("to fuss or fumble about in a futile, purposeless way" – EDD.))
- black as the devil's waistcoat — very black. cf ((black as the Earl of Hell's waistcoat: "pitch-dark" – Partridge HS.))
- jaunty as muck — very jaunty. ((as muck: "used emphatically following adjective" – OED.))
- your business is our business — punning the contractors' business (the collection of human waste) and ((business: "defecation" nursery colloquial – Partridge HS.))
- bit on the flowery side — slightly obscene. ((flowery language: "euphemism for blasphemous and obscene speech" – Farmer 1904.))
- on her last legs — (("the end of one's life; fig. the end of one's resources" – OED.))
- dung-dodgers — Dublin slang for waste-collectors ((O'Casey 2)). goo-wallah — ((the goo-wallahs: "a sanitary squad" military C.20 – Partridge.))
-
oilcloth — a stiff, oil-treated floorcloth, now superseded by linoleum. Traditional Oilcloth in the Home. - brawn — (("strength as opposed to brains" colloquial – Partridge HS.))
- bury it — conceal it. (("to conceal by covering; to hide" – Webster 1913.))
- dish — (("to cheat, baffle completely" – Partridge HS.))
-
grin ... width of Cheshire — from the "Cheshire Cat" in Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which disappears gradually until nothing is left but its grin. -
Georgius Rex — here, a portrait of King George V (reigned 1910–1936), marked Georgius Rex, Latin for "King George". It appears mostly on coins and post-boxes and the like. - young hopeful — (("a boy or young man; in sarcasm or contempt" colloquial – Farmer 1904.)) (("Young hopeful will be christened Mortimer Edward after the influential third cousin of Mr Purefoy in the Treasury Remembrancer's office, Dublin Castle" – Joyce, Ulysses, 1922.))
- bellows — (("the lungs" – Farmer 1904.)) bronicals — chest trouble. misrendering of "bronchial".
- any shift — any excuse. ((shift: "an expedient, an ingenious device for effecting some purpose" – OED.))
- if work was ... sleep on the floor — Irish proverbial of someone who would go out of his way to avoid work.
- tuppenny wet — a drink costing twopence. ((wet: "a drink" colloquial – Partridge HS.)) 2d was the usual price of a drink in 1914.
-
Red Hand of Ulster — used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster. - Doyler — the familiar nickname in Ireland of a male surnamed Doyle. ^
-
Clare — a rural county on the southwest coast of Ireland, in the province of Munster. - the care — (("the family, those persons that are under your care" – PWJ 1910.))
- the Banks — ^
- grush — ? a group, crowd. ((grush: "scramble for small change thrown to children, esp. after a wedding" – Slanguage.))
- the same blow — by the same stroke. ((at a blow: "by one stroke; fig. by one vigorous act" – OED.))
- list — enlist. ((OED.))
- argufying — disputing. ((argufy: "colloquial and dialect equivalent of argue, usually with the idea of pertinacious or petty argument" – OED.)) (("He was one day engaged in gentle controversy – or argufying religion – as we call it in Ireland" – PWJ 1910.))
- there's sewers in it — sewers are present, involved. ((in it: "there, in existence, alive, present" – DHE.)) IE
- used be working — used to be working. IE
- the times that's in it — the current situation of the world.
- hard-scrabble — mean and difficult. ((hard scrabble: "a place thought of as the acme of barrenness where a livelihood may be obtained only with great difficulty". U.S. colloquial – OED.)) The term, though understood, is rarely heard in Ireland or Britain.
- gave me the word — passed on the information. ((word: "tidings, news, information" – OED.))
- I'll go bail — expression of surprise, "I'll be bound" ((OED)). (("an illigant song he could sing, I'll go bail" – Lever, Charles O'Malley, 1841.))
- Ducie's window — the window of the "hand-me-down" shop where Mr Mack saw a flute for sale in Chapter 1.2 <
- risen above the ordinary — risen with affectation. ((the ordinary: "what is customary or usual" now colloquial – OED.))
- easy street — (("comfortable circumstances, affluence" colloquial, orig. U.S – OED.)) Unlikely in Irish or British speech at this period.
- always grafting — always hard at work. ((graft: "to work" – Farmer 1904.))
- half-timer — (("a scholar working half the day and going to school the other half" by 1900, Standard English – Partridge HS.)) late-to-come / soon-to-go — ? arriving late and departing early.
-
readamadaisy — child's ABC book, primer. (("sure he speaks it like I used to read the readamadaisy when I was a gossoon" – Gerald O'Donovan, Father Ralph, 1913.)) - in fits — ? in tatters. ((all in fits: "(of clothes) ill-made" tailors' slang – Partridge HS.))
- muffler — a heavy scarf. (("a wrap or scarf worn round the neck or throat for warmth" – OED.)) Often worn by poorer men as a substitution for collar and tie, and so, an indicator of class: (("Why don't you wear a collar and tie, Sean, and not come to the [Gaelic League] Branch with a muffler round your neck?" – O'Casey 3.))
- keep your puff up — don't neglect yourself. ((puff: "breath, 'wind'" slang and dialect – OED.))
- gaffer — foreman. ((OED.))
- Larkinite — follower of Jim Larkin, Irish socialist and trades-union organizer.
- close to the door — ? "about to be fired". (("let me tell you, you're near the door, unless you show some sign of realising that it is a privilege to be employed by such a Firm as ours" – O'Casey 2.))
- on tick — on credit. ((OED.))
- young gallows — derogatory, young fellow. ((gallows: "one deserving the gallows" – OED.)) (("'Now, young gallows!' This was an invitation for Oliver to enter through a door ... which led into a stone cell" – Dickens, Oliver Twist, 1839.))
- taking a rise out of me — making a fool of me. ((take a rise out of (one): "to make a butt of, raise a laugh at, by some form of pretence or dissimulation" – OED.))
-
agitators employing the Red Hand — The Red Hand of Ulster was the "distinctive union lapel badge" of Larkin's union. ((O'Brien, Dear Dirty Dublin, 1982.)) - red-flag — extreme. (("symbol of revolution, socialism, or communism" – OED.))
- catch wind of — grasp, comprehend. ((get wind of: "to hear of, become acquainted with" – OED.)) ((catch wind of something: "to learn of something; to hear about something" – Dictionary of American Idioms.))
- national school — in Ireland, a primary school.
- shaper — one who puts on airs, shows off. (("with connotations of aggression" – Slanguage.)) hook — (("thief, pickpocket" slang – OED.)) (("twister" – Slanguage.))
- ash-pit — (("a hole in which ashes and household refuse are thrown away" – OED.))
- groaning board — (("a table weighed down with generous amount of food" – Chambers.))
- the clutching hand — indicative of miserly behaviour. (("greed" jocularly colloquial, on the verge of Standard English. C.20 – Partridge.))
- afeared to sneeze ... give something away — Irish proverbial, said of miserly people. ((quoted in Frank MacNally, The Xenophobe's Guide to the Irish, 2005.))
- heel of the hunt — finally, eventually. ((Slanguage.)) (("I suppose I will steal as long as I live, and I'll die in a ditch at the heel of the hunt" – Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1912.))
- spread — feast. ((colloquial – OED.))
- horse-whisper — ? loud whisper.
- splash — (("a striking or ostentatious display, appearance, or effect; something in the nature of a sensation or excitement" – OED.))
- homer — a blow that hits "home", a telling argument. (("That's a homer, thought Sean ... Another homer!" — "If only his fist ever comes within reach of some Yeats' bake, he'd give him a homer." – O'Casey 3.))
- breeks — breeches. ((OED.)) (("since ca 1860, colloquial for trousers, very rarely for breeches" – Partridge HS.))
- thick — stupid, obtuse. ((Slanguage.))
-
Joyful Mysteries — a division of the Rosary prayers. (Traditionally told on Mondays and Thursdays: today is Wednesday.) - the hookum — the correct thing. ((army colloquial. Ex Hindustani "hukam" – Partridge HS.))
- Dublin it's second city — a loyal, though at the time not undisputed, claim. ((cf Second city of the United Kingdom.))
- disremember — (("to forget" – EDD)) (("to fail to remember" Anglo-Irish colloquialism – Partridge HS.))
-
Sacred Heart vigil — the vigil light of the Sacred Heart image. - didn't signify — didn't matter. ((OED.))
- may the earth lie gently on them — may they rest in peace. ? proverbial (("May the earth Lie gently on their ashes!" – Fletcher, The False One, 1619-23.))
- honour bright — (("an exclamation pledging honour" British school slang – Collins.)) ((colloquial, orig. Anglo-Irish and somewhat low – Partridge HS.)) (("I didn't mean to, honour bright. It was only for cod. I'm sorry" – Joyce, Portrait of the Artist, 1916.))
-
the Cape — Cape Colony, South Africa. - bockedy — unsteady. (("of furniture etc from Irish Gaelic bacaideach 'limping'" – Collins.))
-
prie-dieu — a prayer kneeler. (("a piece of furniture consisting of a low surface for kneeling upon and a narrow front surmounted by a rest for the elbows or for books, for use when praying." – Collins.))
| UK | US-h | US-p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pages | 45-56 | 46-56 | 37-47 |
| POV | Mr Mack | ||
| Where | Macks' yard and house | ||
| When | Wednesday afternoon, May 5 1915 | ||
