All the world speaks Irish today.
Monday, March 17th by carlaHappy St. Patrick’s Day — the day celebrating a patron saint of Ireland, a man who escaped slavery and later returned as a missionary to the people who had enslaved him.
In honor of the day when “all the world is Irish,” I thought it would be fun to explore Irish influence on English vocabulary. We all know a few words like shillelagh, shamrock, and blarney that we use mostly on March 17. What words do we use year-round?
Turns out there’s a slew of them, words galore. You don’t have to be a bard from a bog to use Irish words. You could be a callow slob, a cute colleen, or a scallywag running a phony scam. We speak Irish when we say someone was wailing like a banshee, something was broken to smithereens, or when we have a sip of the water of life.
Y’all enjoy the day! And — trust me on this — stay away from the green beer.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Y’all, huh? Is that Irish, too!! I thought it was just those lazy Southerners!! LOL
Have a Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
=)
March 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Marilynn, I was suspicious, but the original source was corroborated, so I went with it. It’s not laziness, it’s linguistic diversity.