Period Vocabulary
Descriptive Words
strong
small
within the purse
handsome
lonesome
snap
raw
long
slow
wealthy
not wealthy
affordable
pretty (for girls)
lonely
hard time
green
big (As in, “I have a long family.”)
low temperature
People
Ma
Da
biddy
colleen
colleen bawn
follower
fella
cottier
rustic wags
skitter
fence
sharper
runner
Yankee Sullivan
mother
father
Irish woman
pretty young girl
fair-haired girl
boyfriend
man/boyfriend
In Ireland, a sharecropper, not a leaseholder
country bumpkins
rascal
dealer in stolen goods
con man
swindler (associated with boardinghouses)
boxer, very famous Irish-American of the period
Children
infants
babs
pups
children under 5 years old
young children
bold children
Back in Ireland
house
a house that you own
cottage
settle bed
bastible
delph
kish
spyder
creepies
dab OR dip at the stool
The Great Hunger
The Gaelic
ragged schools
scholar
hedge school
a house that you rent
bed that serves as a seat during the day
oven pot used for roasting meat
crockery
oval shaped basket used to strain potatoes
skillet with little legs used in hearth cooking
low three-legged stools, to sit on around the hearth
meal of potatoes
The Potato Famine
Gaelic, Irish
school for poor kids
student
secret schooling that pre-dated the National Schools
On the Boat
promenade deck
part of the boat you walked around on
Places
Ould Sod
Amerikay
Ireland
America
Dating & Marriage
fortune
mashing the fellows
coshering about
dowry
flirting with boys
being a bad girl
Work
intelligence office
domestic
character
situation
place
living out
on tap
idle times
backstairs
outworking
employment agency
servant, housemaid
reference from an old employer
job
job
having a job in service
on call
free time
kept out of sight
In Ireland: doing piecework
Socializing & Entertainment
home
shindig
comrades
jessy
people quinstravagin about
place for socializing (not a workplace)
a party
friends
a punch
people wasting time being out and about
In the Home
rockery
Croton bug
straw shake-down
sub-divided frame house
water bug
bed
Food & Drink
colcannon
yalla male
boxty cake
goaty bread
fruiterer
blue milk/swill milk
white meats
kitchen
priest’s bread
barm brack
tay
stirabout
beef an
sinkers
pair 'o sleeve buttons
white wings, ends up
one slaughter on the pan
summertime
murphy with his coat on
solid shot
shipwreck
mystery
Irish dish made from mashed potato and kale or cabbage
yellow & Indian meal (introduced during the Famine)
potato and flour cake
Irish bread made with goat’s milk
fruit vendor
contaminated or adulterated milk
cow’s milk foods
relishes for potatoes
white bread
spiced currant loaf
tea
wheat, barley, and oats ground into meal and baked into
flat giddle cakes, or stirred into porridge
New York-ese for a slab of corned beef and a side of beans
New York-ese for doughnuts
two fish balls
poached eggs
porterhouse steak
bread with milk
potato in skin
apple dumpling
scrambled eggs
hash
one
oyster patty
oyster pie
puff pastry with oysters in gravy
Religion & Folklore
mass rock
chapel
church
station
patron (pronounced: “pattern”)
The Blessed Virgin
God-never-deserts-them
that-don’t-desert-Him
mumming and guising
old pishrogues
In Ireland: where mass was held in absence of a church
In Ireland: plain thatch church building
In Ireland: building in which religious services were held
In Ireland: mass at a house when the priest comes
a party connected with a patron saint
Mary
prayer
On Samhain, dressing in costume and going door to door,
singing in exchange for food.
folk beliefs/superstitions
Sayings, Phrases & Exclamations
P.D.A.
I don’t care a snap.
Like money from America.
God is a good provider.
getting along first rate
“Wisha!”
“Oh, bedad!”
Every crow thinks her own bird the whitest.
The devil himself couldn’t please her and
a saint out of heaven couldn't bear her.
It was an ill wind.
She’s a pimp, a deceiver, a dirty turn in her.
The thought was torture to him.
i’ the vein
to give out to someone
yer man
"Pour Dire Adieu" (To say goodbye)
I don’t care at all.
Easy to come by.
Easy to come by.
doing well
“Phew!”
“Oh, pshaw!”
Every mother thinks her kids are the best.
She’s impossible to please.
“You’re a little too fond of puttin’ your nose in other
people’s porridge.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
“Never darken his door.”
“Put that in your pipe an’ smoke it.”
You’re nosy.
bad luck
She’s bad news.
He hated the thought of it.
in the mood
to scold someone/tell someone off
that guy
Never come back.
So there.
“He may talk till he’s black in the face.”
“She made her own bed…be it soft or hard.”
“You’d best keep a civil tongue in your head.”
Mounted the high horse
Instead of “blue in the face.”
She got what she deserved.
Talk politely.
Got high and mighty