PEASANT HUMOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 221, 19 September 1938, Page 7

PEASANT HUMOUR.

SAYINGS IN IRELAND.!

WISDOM IN DROLLERY.

QUAINT AND SUBTLE POINTS.!

Correspondents of "John oTiondon's Weekly" have supplied a large number of Irish sayings. As might be expected of the Irish people, the sayings are quaint and humorous, with a subtle point. Here are examples: Clean meat never fattened a pig. Butter to butter is no kitchen. She's an old woman cut down. A face as long as a wet week. What's the use of an umbrella if your shoes let in? As big as a daisy in a cow's mouth. As thick in the head as a November cabbage. If you live in Rome you can't quarrel with the Pope. May you never die till there is a hump on your back as big as a mill, and no one to buy a pair of straps to hang it on with. May you never die till a gooseberry skin makes a nightcap for you. May the Lord spare your eyesight. May the Lord increase your store. May the Lord strengthen your arm. May the Lord love you as I do. May the mill that grinds your corn never want water to drive it. May all your troubles be behind you and all good fortune before you. May the tree not yet be planted that'll make a coffin for you. Good luck before you. bad luck behind you. and the grace of God to guard and guide you. You weren't behind the door when they were dealing out the brains. Your shadow on my threshold is like sunshine or the grace of God. May you never know the heart-scald of an empty purse. May your hearth never grow cold nor your roof leaky. Fair weather before you, though snow to your heels. May ye live long, die happy, never grow ragged nor squint. '

May every hair in your head be a candle to light ye to glory. i May you never die till I come to kill I you. May the devil fly with the roof of the J house where you and I aren't welcome. May ye get to Hivin half an hour before the divil knows ye're there. May the road rise with you. May you never see a poor day. May the heavens be your bed. May 'the spatters of your carriage blind your enemies. She'd coort a haggard of sparrows. (Haggard is a hay and straw yard.) Like a chip in porridge—neither good nor harm. What won't choke will fatten; and clean dirt ie no poison. Nothing like a change of linen, as the : old woman said when she turned her shift. My belly thinks my throat is cut, as the hungry man said. Kick him again—he's no relation. r Just as well sing sorrow as sigh it. A pigeon's clutch—only two in family. 1 A noee that would take a thorn out! of a goat's tail —a sharp one. i Keep your mind to yourself, like a ' bonive (a young pig), t As long as there's a bill on a crow. He'll never comb a grey head. r Said of— A bow-legged man: He couldn't stop a pig in a passage. Weak tea: Water bewitched and tea begrudged. A wild and cold winter morning: Such "ia morning never had a mother.