Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-30
H1BERnIAN IMAGERY.
The Amusing CharacterIsIics of th Irish Mind and Its HIuRders.
 RTa,rr NyIarIr

The Amusing Characteristics of she Irish Mind and Its BIunders.
 ! From the New York Sun.l
 Beyond and above the vocabulary which a person uses in common with his fellows, he will have certain number, varying in in- { dividual cases, of words and phrases and turns of speech which reflect his personality ! Sometimes these amount, in families and l intimate circles, to regular lingo, often berildering to the outsider. Thus, friend told the present writer how, when lunohing out one day, he was electrified on hearing his hostess-a particularly ladylike and re- fined woman-remark to the footman: t'John, take down that leg of mutton and sit upon it until the master comes into sit upon being the not very elegant cant phrase in that family for to keep thing hot. This anec- d0te has always seemed to us to illustrate very pointedly the danger of using a lingo in mixed society. With some people it takes the form of Intentionally mispronouneing words, or employing malaprops which when used in the presence of persons not belonging to the family or circle in question, and con-
 sequently not possessed of that particular
 ''comprehension" on which Tolstoi com-
 ments go acutely in his "SouTenirs," are set down to ignorance. Thus, we know
 lady who never misses chance of saying of conspicuous object or person that it or he is "the sinecure of every eye," and we confess to having been guilty, on the first occasion we heard her use of it, of the conviotion-since corrected-that she spoke in innocence, and net with malice prepense. Similarly, in the writer's own family, several Irish malaprops-of which one, ';as white
 as the drivsling snow," may serve as an example-have established themselves so
 firmly in common use that it requires 8 con-
 scious effort to overcome the habit and say
 the right word. The worst and most in-
 tolerabIe form of lingo is that almost uni
 versally prevalent among young men about
 town, who eke out their own inanity by the
 "gag" of the music halls-scrapg and shreds
 of popular songs-a dialect the essence of
 which is that it must be comprehended of
 tho vulgar. The nuisance of this system is
 that the most simple and everyday express
 ions are seized upon and debased by constant
 association with vulgar context.
 What we have in our mind, however, is
 something very different from the borrowed
 buffoonery of the gilded youth. It is that
 peculiar coloring to be found in Irish speech that mixture of picturesqueness, exagger-
 atio1 and confusion which lends such a
 charm to the conversation of Irishnen and
 Irishwomen, gentle and simple. Whatever
 may be said in disparagement of the Irish
 gentry, it must at least be conceded that
 they have the keenest appreciation for the
 humor of the Irish peasantry, fact which is amply proved by their habit of adopting
 and employing such peasant colloquialisms.
 As to the origin of the word fatigue"
 signifying fuss, or state of impatience or
 excitement. we are not prepared to speak
 authoritstively, but it has always seemed to
 us remarkably expressive. 1rishmen have
 delightful way of using the word "dint"
 which cannot be too highly commended.
 Thus, Kerry friend remarked to the writer,
 on very black night, as they were stumbling
 aIoDy fba v-oo5a6 T0afh. SSSnrA we'll ha
 destroyed with the dint of the darkness"
 Extra7agant behavior is generally described
 as being 'sbeyond the beyonds," while the
 most effective way of laying stress on the
 s.onoe in blue moon." What character
 istic phrase, again, is the Irish variant for ooek-crow, 'fthe screech of dawnl" To
 jump is expanded into ito throw leap," and to behave properly into ''to have con duct" The foregoing are all expressions in frequent use, and into the origin of them it
 is not our purpose to inquire. But in the coining of new phrases the same pic
 turesquenees is observable. Thus, it was an Irish lady who once amused her auditors greatly by renarking in a rueful tone, in the course of conversation on the size of feet:
 ffMy feet are fearfully big-regular cubic feet"
 At the risk of spelling good anecdote we are fain to record the following fragments of e description of the wonderful adventures of horse dealer at Punehestown. He was craning over on to the course at the side of the big jump, when the barrier gave way, and before he could recover himself the whole field were on top of him. "I declare to ye most sOlemnly," continued the mar rator, "that seventeen horses changed their feet in the small of his back" Tho sequel went on to tell how the very next day he was seen selling horses at fair in another part of the county; t'but, then, he was a man of iron constitution" A certain exaggera- tion is no doubt often observable in these Irish anecdotes, and has led us to speculate whether the element of exaggerGtion SO char acteristic of transatlantic humor may not be traeeable to this source. A wild, tsmoun- tainy' gossoon will, half in jest no doubt, alluds to 8 neighboring village as the ''me- thropolis" Some friends of the writer re- gently moved a.family from dilapidated hovel to new cottage. The mother was half crazy, and her sister who lived with 1 them deaf and nearly blind. But she had l not lost her wits, as her description of their | troubles will prove. She said they were | desthroyed from that ould castle-their for l mer domicile-bailing it out all night Twas l that fabric made her hard of hearing and | upset her sisters mind. And, again, point | ing to her sister: Look at her now, and l she was the gracefullest girl in the place, | and as honest as the Pope, until that fabric | upset her mind" What makes the forego- | ing expressions 30 characteristically Irish is | .1e X1.a ~;ar