Finnegan's Wake - Uncommon or Non-standard English Phrases and Terms

Uncommon or Non-standard English Phrases and Terms

  • brogue (accent)
  • hod (a tool to carry bricks in)
  • tippler's way (a tippler is a drunkard)
  • craythur (craythur is whiskey, "a drop of the craythur" is an expression to have some whiskey)
  • Whack fol the dah (non-lexical vocalsinging called "lilting"; see Scat singing and mouth music)
  • trotters (feet)
  • full (drunk)
  • mavourneen (my darling)
  • hould your gob (shut-up)
  • belt in the gob (punch in the mouth)
  • Shillelagh law (a brawl)
  • ruction (a fight)
  • bedad (an expression of shock)
  • Thanam 'on dhoul (your soul to the devil)

Non-English phrases:

  • The last part of the song where Tim Finnegan says, "D'ainm an diabhal", means "In the name of the devil", and comes from the Gaelic.
  • However, in other versions of the song, Tim says "Thunderin' Jaysus" or "Thanum an Dhul".

Read more about this topic:  Finnegan's Wake

Famous quotes containing the words uncommon, english, phrases and/or terms:

    But tell me: how did gold get to be the highest value? Because it is uncommon and useless and gleaming and gentle in its brilliance; it always gives itself. Only as an image of the highest virtue did gold get to be the highest value. The giver’s glance gleams like gold. A golden brilliance concludes peace between the moon and the sun. Uncommon is the highest virtue and useless, it is gleaming and gentle in its brilliance: a gift- giving virtue is the highest virtue.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    I framed to the harp
    Many an English ditty lovely well.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    I know those little phrases that seem so innocuous and, once you let them in, pollute the whole of speech. Nothing is more real than nothing. They rise up out of the pit and know no rest until they drag you down into its dark.
    Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)

    Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
    Samuel Butler (1835–1902)