English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 14

'A bird with one wing can't fly': said to a person to make him take a second gla.s.s. (Moran: Carlow.)

Protect your rights: 'Don't let your bone go with the dog.'

'An old dog for a hard road': said in commendation of a wary person who has overcome some difficulty. _Hard_ in this proverb means 'difficult.' (Moran: Carlow.)

'No use sending a boy on a man's errand': Don't be satisfied with inadequate steps when undertaking a difficult work: employ a sure person to carry out a hard task.

Oh however he may have acted towards you he has been a good friend to me at any rate; and I go by the old saying, 'Praise the ford as you find it.'

This {113} proverb is a translation from the Irish. It refers to a time when bridges were less general than now; and rivers were commonly crossed by fords--which were sometimes safe, sometimes dangerous, according to the weather.

'Threatened dogs live long.' Abuses often go on for a long time, though people are constantly complaining and threatening to correct them.

(Ulster.)

He who expects a legacy when another man dies thinks the time long. 'It is long waiting for a dead man's boots.' (Moran: Carlow.)

A person waiting impatiently for something to come on always thinks the time longer than usual:--'A watched pot never boils.'

'A poor man must have a poor wedding': people must live according to their means.

'I could carry my wet finger to him': i.e. he is here present, but I won't name him.

'Oh that's all _as I roved out_': to express unbelief in what someone says as quite unworthy of credit. In allusion to songs beginning 'As I roved out,' which are generally fict.i.tious.

'Your father was a bad glazier': said to a person who is standing in one's light.

'As the old c.o.c.k crows the young c.o.c.k learns': generally applied to a son who follows the evil example of his father.

A person remarks that the precautions you are taking in regard to a certain matter are unnecessary or excessive, and you reply 'Better be sure than sorry.'

'She has a good many nicks in her horn': said of a girl who is becoming an old maid. A cow is said to have a nick in her horn for every year. {114}

A man of property gets into hopeless debt and difficulty by neglecting his business, and his creditors sell him out. 'Well, how did he get out of it?'

asks a neighbour. 'Oh, he got out of it just by a break-up, _as Katty got out of the pot_.' This is how Katty got out of the pot. One day at dinner in the kitchen Katty Murphy the servant girl sat down on a big pot (as I often saw women do)--for seats were scarce; and in the middle of the dinner, through some incautious movement, down she went. She struggled to get up, but failed. Then the others came to help her, and tugged and pulled and tried in every way, but had to give it up; till at last one of them brought a heavy hammer, and with one blow made smithereens of the pot.

'Putting a thing on the long finger' means postponing it.

On the evil of procrastination:--'_Time enough_ lost the ducks.' The ducks should have been secured at once as it was known that a fox was prowling about. But they were not, and----

'_Will you_ was never a good fellow.' The bad fellow says 'Will you have some lunch?' (while there is as yet nothing on the table), on the chance that the visitor will say 'No, thank you.' The good hospitable man asks no questions, but has the food brought up and placed before the guest.

'Cut the _gad_ next the throat': that is to say, attend to the most urgent need first. You find a man hanging by a _gad_ (withe), and you cut him down to save him. Cutting the _gad_ next the throat explains itself.

When a work must be done slowly:--'I will do {115} it by degrees as lawyers go to heaven.' (Moran: Carlow.)

'That's not a good fit,' as the serpent said when he swallowed a buck goat, horns and all.

Time and patience would bring a snail to America.

'The cold stone leaves the water on St. Patrick's Day.' About the 17th March (St. Patrick's Day), the winter's cold is nearly gone, and the weather generally takes a milder turn.

'There are more turners than dishmakers'; meaning, there may be many members of a profession, but only few of them excel in it: usually pointed at some particular professional man, who is considered not clever. It is only the most skilful turners that can make wooden dishes.

A person who talks too much cannot escape saying things now and then that would be better left unsaid:--'The mill that is always going grinds coa.r.s.e and fine.'

'If you lie down with dogs you will get up with fleas': if you keep company with bad people you will contract their evil habits. (Moran: Carlow.)

If you do a kindness don't mar it by any unpleasant drawback: in other words do a kind act graciously:--'If you give away an old coat don't cut off the b.u.t.tons.'

Two good things:--A young man courting, an old man smoking: Two bad things:--An old man courting, a young man smoking. (MacCall: Wexford.)

What is the world to a man when his wife is a widow.

Giving help where it is needed is 'helping the lame dog over the stile.'

{116}

'Leave him to G.o.d': meaning don't you attempt to punish him for the injury he has done you: let G.o.d deal with him. Often carried too far among us.

A hard man at driving a bargain:--'He always wants an egg in the penn'orth.' (Kildare.)

A satirical expression regarding a close-fisted ungenerous man:--'If he had only an egg he'd give you the sh.e.l.l.' (Kildare.)

A man wishes to say to another that they are both of about the same age; and this is how he expresses it:--'When I die of old age you may quake with fear.' (Kildare.)

Speaking of a man with more resources than one:--'It wasn't on one leg St.

Patrick came to Ireland.'

When there is a prospect of a good harvest, or any mark of prosperity:--'That's no sign of small potatoes.' (Kildare.)

Your friend is in your pocket. (Kildare.)

[As a safe general principle]:--'If anybody asks you, say you don't know.'

'A good run is better than a bad stand.' When it becomes obvious that you cannot defend your position (whatever it is), better yield than encounter certain defeat by continuing to resist. (Queenstown.)

A man depending for success on a very uncertain contingency:--'G.o.d give you better meat than a running hare.' (Tyrone.)

To express the impossibility of doing two inconsistent things at the same time:--'You can't whistle and chaw meal.' {117}

A man who has an excess of smooth plausible talk is 'too sweet to be wholesome.'

'The fox has a good name in his own parish.' They say that a fox does not prey on the fowls in his own neighbourhood. Often said of a rogue whose friends are trying to _whitewash_ him.

'A black hen lays white eggs.' A man with rough manners often has a gentle heart and does kindly actions.

Much in the same sense:--'A crabtree has a sweet blossom.'

A person who has smooth words and kind professions for others, but never acts up to them, 'has a hand for everybody but a heart for n.o.body.'

(Munster.)