'How did you travel to town?' 'Oh I went _on shanks' mare_:' i.e. I walked.
'His bread is baked'; i.e. he is doomed to die soon. (See p. 109 bottom.)
Banagher is a village in King's Co. on the Shannon: Ballinasloe is a town in Galway at the other side of the river. When anything very unusual or unexpected occurs, the people say,'Well that bangs Banagher!' or 'that bangs Banagher and Ballinasloe!'
'Have you got a shilling to spare for a friend?' 'Indeed I have not.' 'Ah you must give it to me; it { 193} is for your cousin Tom.' 'Oh, _that's a horse of another colour_.' (So he gives it.)
'_Well done mother!_' says the blacksmith when the tooth was out. This is how it was pulled. He tied one end of a strong string round the tooth, and the other end to the horn of the anvil, and made the old woman keep back her head so as to tighten the string. '_Asy_ now mother,' says he. Then taking the flaming horseshoe from the fire with the tongs he suddenly thrust it towards her face. Anyone can finish the story.
If she catches you she'll _comb your hair with the creepy stool_: i.e. she'll whack and beat you with it. (Ulster.)
They say pigs can see the wind, and that it is red. In very old times the Irish believed that there were twelve different winds with twelve colours. (For these see my 'Smaller Soc. Hist. of Anc. Ireland,' p. 527.) The people also will tell you that a pig will swim till the water cuts its throat.
Ah, I see you want _to walk up my sleeve_: i.e. you want to deceive me--_to take me in_. (Kerry.)
An expression often heard in the South:--Such and such a thing will happen now and then _if you were to put your eyes on sticks_; i.e. however watchful you may be. 'Well, if I was to put my eyes upon sticks, Misther Mann, I never would know your sister again.' (Gerald Griffin.)
He _is down in the mouth_, i.e. he is in low spirits. I suppose this is from the dropping down of the corners of the mouth.
To scold a person--to reprimand him--to give him a good 'setting down'--to give him 'all sorts'--to give him 'the rough side of your tongue.' { 194}
Anything that cheers you up 'takes the cockles off your heart': 'Here drink this [glass of punch, wine, &c.] and 'twill take the cockles off your heart.' 'It raises the very cockles o' my heart to see you.' ('Collegians.') ''Twould rise the cockles av your heart to hear her singing the Coolin.' ('Knocknagow.') Probably the origin is this:--Cares and troubles clog the heart as cockles clog a ship.