An Irish Country Wedding

by Patrick Taylor

  ORANGE AND CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ

  200 g / 7 oz. plain dark chocolate

  Grated zest and juice of a large orange

  5 eggs

  85 g / 3 oz. sugar

  1 sachet gelatine

  55 mL / 2 oz. water

  85 mL / 3 oz. cream

  Dissolve the gelatine in the orange juice according to the instructions on the packet. Separate 2 of the eggs and place their whites in a bowl to use later. Put the rest of the eggs and the sugar into another bowl and place this over a pan of simmering water. Now you whisk the mixture for about 10 minutes until it becomes thick and creamy. Set this to one side.

  Take a third bowl, break the chocolate into it, add the water, and place over a pan of hot water. Stir until the chocolate has melted and become smooth and runny and add the orange zest.

  While this is cooling beat the 2 egg whites until quite stiff.

  By now the chocolate mixture should have cooled down. However, if it has not, you could accelerate this by placing the bowl into cold water and stirring the chocolate around. When it is cold, you stir and fold it together with the gelatine into the egg and sugar mixture. Now all you have to do is mix the beaten egg whites and the whipped cream carefully through the chocolate and egg mixture.

  Pour into a serving dish and chill for 2 to 3 hours.

  Decorate with orange segments and grated chocolate.

  The house to the left facing the reader is where Patrick Taylor grew up in Bangor.

  Original etching by Dorothy Tinman

  GLOSSARY

  I have tried to be faithful to my characters by setting them as accurately in time, place, and contemporary attitudes as memory and extensive reading allow. Some of my characters’ daily speech is the dialect of my native Ulster. While colourful and often highly descriptive, Ulsterspeak can be impenetrable to the nonspeaker. Where an explanation in the text did not interrupt the story I have used that convention, but on some occasions I have had to trust that the context was explanatory. To those I have confused, I offer this glossary.

  abdabs, screaming: Diarrhoea and vomiting, severe D and V.

  acting the lig: Behaving foolishly.

  almoner: Archaic term for what is now called a medical social worker. One of the almoner’s original tasks was to distribute charity, alms, to the poor.

  anyroad: Anyhow.

  asking after: Making concerned enquiries about.

  away off and feel your head/bumps: How can you possibly be so stupid?/A reference to phrenology, the study of personality by examining the shape of a head.

  backward in coming forward (not): Certainly not reticent.

  Bakelite: One of the first synthetic plastics. Used in telephones because of its nonconductive properties.

  barrister: A lawyer who by dint of different training than a solicitor (see under S) argued cases in superior and higher courts.

  beagle’s gowl: The beagle dog’s gowl (not howl) or baying can be heard over a long distance. Not to come within a beagle’s gowl is to miss by a mile.

  bee on a hot brick: Running round distractedly.

  bide: Wait, patience implied.

  biscuits: Cookies.

  bleeper: Pager, usually called a “beeper” in North America.

  blether, blethering: An expression of annoyance, talking nonstop trivia.

  bletherskite: Someone who never stops talking.

  bollix: Testicles, or more accurately the impolite “balls.” Used to imply rubbish. Used about a person, “You are a right regal bollix,” implies uselessness

  bonnaught: Heavily armed Irish mercenary. First appeared in the fourteenth century.

  bowler hat: Derby.

  boys-a-boys/a-dear: Expression of surprise.

  ’bout ye/how’s about ye?: How are you?

  brave: Very.

  brave stretch of the legs: A very long way.

  brill: Brilliant, meaning perfect.

  bullock: Castrated male bovine. Steer.

  burroo: Corruption of “bureau,” the government department that dealt with issuing unemployment insurance.

  bus conductor: Person on the vehicle who collected fares.

  can’t … for toffee apples: Is utterly inept at the described act.

  casualty: Emergency room.

  caubeen: Soft, floppy brimless bonnet.

  chissler/chisler: Infant.

  chuffed: Pleased.

  clatter: An indeterminate quantity.

  cod: To make fun of.

  colloguing: Chitchatting.

  collywobbles: Rumbling in the guts used often to signify butterflies in the stomach or nervousness.

  come on on on in: Is not a typographical error. This item of Ulsterspeak drives spellcheck mad.

  coming down with: Having too many of, or being in the earliest stages of, an illness.

  council house: Low-income subsidised housing provided by the local authority, usually a city or county council.

  cracker: Acme of perfection.

  craic: Irish. Pronounced “crack.” Fun. Good conversation. A very good time was had by all, often fueled by several drops of the craytur.

  crannóg: Irish. Pronounced “crannohg,” literally “little wood.” Fortified, often man-made island usually constructed with wooden pilings.

  craytur/craythur, a drop of: Creature/a drink of spirits, usually whiskey or poitín.

  cup of tea in your hand: A cup of tea taken informally as opposed to sitting down at a tea table.

  currency: In 1965, prior to decimilization, sterling was the currency of the United Kingdom, of which Northern Ireland was a part. The unit was the pound, which contained twenty shillings, each made of of twelve pennies, thus there were 240 pennies in a pound. Coins and notes of combined or lesser or greater denominations were in circulation, often referred to by slang or archaic terms: halfpenny (two to the penny), threepenny piece (thruppeny bit), sixpenny piece (tanner), two-shillings piece (florin), two-shillings-and-sixpence piece (half-a-crown), ten-shilling note (ten-bob note), five-pound note (fiver). Most will be encountered in these pages. In 1965 one pound bought nearly three U.S. dollars.

  dab hand at…: very skillful at a given action

  dander: To stroll, or horse dandruff. To get one’s dander up was to get or be made angry enough to be ready for a fight.

  dead brill: Very brilliant. Perfect.

  dead on: A strong affirmative, excited acceptance of good news or a measure of complete accuracy. “I totally agree,” “That’s marvelous,” or “Absolutely correct.”

  decline (going into a): Becoming depressed.

  desperate/ly: Serious/seriously.

  doddle: Short walk or easy task.

  doh-ray-mi: Corruption of “dough,” money.

  dosh: Money.

  dote (n): Something or somebody adorable.

  dote on (v): Adore.

  doting (gerund): To be wrong because presumably you are in your dotage.

  dulse: Edible seaweed.

  duncher: Flat tweed cap.

  dunt: Blow with something blunt.

  eejit, buck: Idiot, complete idiot.

  elected: Everything’s coming up roses.

  every happiness: Traditional wish on hearing of a couple’s engagement. “Congratulations” was not used.

  fecking: Euphemism for the “F” word. Liberally thrown in for emphasis, particularly in Dublin.

  ferocious: Very severe.

  fillums: I have deliberately avoided the phoenetic rendering of words, but two instances are so Ulster I couldn’t resist. “Fillums” for films and “northren” for northern.

  Fir Bolg: Irish. Pronounced “feer bollug.” One of the early races believed to have inhabited Ireland. Probably invaders of the Belgae tribe from Gaul.

  fire away: Carry on. Useful except in front of a firing squad.

  fit to be tied: Very angry.

  fly your kite: I have not the slightest interest in your influence in this affair or, simply, go away.

  footeri
ng: Fumbling about with.

  fornenst: Near to.

  full as a goat/ as a lord: Drunk/very drunk.

  gander: Look at.

  gansey: From the Irish geansaí, a jumper (sweater). Used in the Anglicised version by Irish and non-Irish speakers.

  gerroff: Get off. Usually said to over-affectionate animals.

  Gestetner: An early copying machine dependent upon a stencil technology. Replaced by Xerox photocopiers after 1959.

  git: From “begotten.” Bastard, often expressed, “He’s a right hoor’s [whore’s] git.” Not a term of endearment.

  giorria (mór): Irish, pronounced “geara (more).” Hare (big).

  glipe: Idiot.

  gobshite: Dublin slang; literally dried nasal mucus. Used pejoratively about a person.

  good man-ma-da: I approve of what you have done or are going to do.

  good skin/head: Decent person.

  grand, grand altogether: Well. Very well.

  great gross: Very large quantity.

  guff: Verbal abuse.

  gulder: Roar.

  gurrier: Dublin slang. Street urchin, but can be used pejoratively about anyone.

  half-un, wee half: A single measure, usually one ounce of spirits, usually whiskey.

  hard stuff: Spirits, usually Irish whiskey.

  head’s a marley, cut: As small and dense as a child’s marble (marley), or damaged by having been incised. Being very stupid.

  heart of corn: Very good-natured.

  heifer: Cow before her first breeding.

  hiding to nothing: A “hiding” is a physical beating. To be offered the choice of one or nothing is no choice and hence a complete waste of time.

  highheejins: Exalted persons (often in their own minds).

  hobbyhorse shite: Literally sawdust. To have a head full is again to be stupid.

  hooley: Boisterous party

  houseman: Medical intern. Term used despite the sex of the incumbent.

  in soul: Definitely.

  jammy: Lucky.

  knickers: Women’s and girls’ underpants.

  Lamass: Christian religious festival on August 1, introduced to replace the pagan Lughnasa. See Irish Country Girl.

  laughing like a drain: Laughing uproariously with your mouth wide open.

  laughing my leg off: Laughing uproariously.

  lepping: Leaping.

  leprechaun: Irish, leipreachán. A mischevious Irish faery, one of the Tuatha dé (See Tuatha dé Danaan).

  let the hare sit: Leave it alone.

  like or big as the side wall of a house: Huge (especially when applied to someone’s physical build).

  liltie: A madman. An Irish whirling dervish.

  lug worm: A member of the Phylum Annelidia. A ragged-edged marine worm that lives in burrows under tidal sand or mud. Much prized as bait. Harvested at low tide by digging close to the creatures’ blow holes in the sand.

  main: Very.

  matron: A hospital’s senior nurse, responsible administratively for all matters pertaining to nursing. In North America the position is now Vice President of Nursing.

  Melton Mobray pie: A savoury pork-and-bacon meat pie with a thin layer of aspic between the filling and the buttery pastry. Best eaten cold.

  mending, well mended: Recovering from an illness, completely better.

  messages: Errands.

  Milesians: Invaders from northern Spain who were Gaelic Celts. Some believe they were originally the lost tribe of Israel.

  mope: Brood over something, mourn.

  muck out: Remove the ordure from stables or a byre.

  my aunt Fanny Jane: Expression of complete disbelief.

  my belly thinks my throat’s cut: Expression of severe hunger. Literally the stomach feels as if the supply route has been severed.

  name of the wee man: Name of the devil.

  newsagent: Shop which stocked newspapers, magazines, sweeties, and tobacco products.

  no dozer: One who has his wits about him.

  no great shakes at: Not very good at.

  no harm to you, but: Inevitably preceded criticism or disagreement.

  no skin off my nose: It doesn’t affect me one way or the other. I could not care less.

  nose out of joint: Have taken umbrage.

  ochón: Irish. Pronounced “ochown.” Alas.

  on eggs: Worried sick.

  on “the sick”: Receiving sickness insurance payments while out of work.

  out of the woods: Has sucessfully passed through a trying time.

  oxter/oxter-cog: Armpit/help along by draping someone’s arm over your shoulders to support them.

  pass-remarkable: Prone to making unsolicited, often derogatory, comments about other people.

  pay no heed to: Pay no attention to.

  pelmet: Valance.

  pipes: Three kinds of bagpipes are played in Ireland. The great highland pipes, three drones; the Brian Boru pipes, three drones and four to thirteen keys on the chanter; and the Uillinn (elbow) pipes, driven by small bellows under the elbow. There are keys on both the chanter and the drones. If “pipes” is said it usually refers to the first, the latter two are usually specified.

  poitín: Irish. Pronounced “potcheen.” Moonshine. Illegally distilled spirits, usually from barley. Could be as strong as 180 proof (about 100% alcohol by volume).

  poorly: Sick.

  pop in/over/round: All mean to drop in unannounced.

  price of a pint of Guinness: In 1900, threepence. In 1928, tenpence. In 1958, one shilling and sixpence. In 1964, two shillings and one penny.

  pupil: Schoolchild. “Student” was reserved for university undergraduates and only those who had sucessfully completed the necessary university courses graduated.

  purler: Tumble.

  quare: Pronunciation of the word “queer” in parts of Ireland. Very often succeeded with “nor.”

  quid: Pound sterling or measure of chewing tobacco.

  rain: Rain is a fact of life in Ireland. It’s why the country is the Emerald Isle. As the Inuit people of the Arctic have many words for snow, in Ulster the spectrum runs from sound day, fair weather, to a grand soft day, mizzling, also described as, that’s the sort of rain that wets you, to downpours of varying severity to include coming down in sheets/stair-rods/torrents, or pelting, bucketing, plooting (corruption of French il pleut), chucking it down, and the universal raining cats and dogs. If you visit, do take an umbrella.

  rashers: Bacon slices from the back of the pig. They have a streaky tail and a lean eye.

  right enough?: Is that correct?

  rightly: Perfectly well.

  road bowling: A game where a twenty-eight-ounce metal ball or “bullet” is thrown or “lofted” over a fixed length of road. The contestant with the least number of throws to cover the distance wins.

  run-race: Quick trip.

  sidthe: Irish. Pronounced “shee.” The burial mounds and hill forts that litter Ireland.

  sister (nursing): In Ulster hospitals nuns at one time filled important nursing roles. They no longer do so except in some Catholic institutions. Their honorific, “sister,” has been retained to signify a senior nursing rank. Ward sister: charge nurse. Sister tutor: senior nursing teacher. (Now also obsolete because nursing is a university course.) In North America the old rank was charge nurse or head nurse, now nursing team leader unless it has been changed again since I retired.

  skiver: Corruption of “scurvy.” Ne’er-do-well.

  slag: Verbal abuse. Slagging can be either be good-natured banter or verbal chastisement.

  sláinte: Irish. Pronounced “slawntuh.” Cheers. Here’s mud in your eye. Prosit.

  slubbergub: Foul-mouthed person.

  snib: Latch.

  soft-soaper: Flatterer.

  solicitor: Attorney who did not appear in court, a function performed by lawyers called barristers.

  sore: Very seriously.

  sound/sound man: Very good/reliable, and trustworthy man.

 
sparks: Electrician. All trades had their nicknames. Chippy: carpenter; brickie: bricklayer.

  stickin’ out/stickin’ out a mile: Very good/the acme of perfection.

  stone: Avoirdupois measure of mass equal to fourteen pounds.

  stoon: Sudden shooting pain.

  student: Someone attending university. Children at school were referred to as pupils or schoolchildren. (Schoolboy/girl.)

  sums: Math. Taught initially as counting, addition (the sum of two numbers), subtraction, multiplication, and division.

  surgery: When used to describe a doctor’s rooms, the equivalent of a North American doctor’s office.

  sweet, sweetie: Candy.

  take your hurry in your hand: Slow down.

  take yourself off by the hand: Go away (you eejit, implied).

  taking a hand out of: Teasing.

  taoiseach: Irish. Pronounced “teeshuck.” Prime minister.

  targe: Foul-tempered person. Scold.

  taste: Small amount and not necesarily to be eaten. “Thon creaky axles needs a wee taste of oil.”

  ta-ta-ta-ra: Party.

  tea: An infusion made by pouring boiling water over Camellia sinensis, or the main evening meal. “I had a great steak for my tea.”

  tears were tripping him: He was in floods of tears.

  the morrow/day/night: Tomorow/today/tonight.

  thick as two short planks: Very stupid.

  thole: Put up with. A reader, Miss D. Williams, wrote to me to say it was etymologically from the Old English tholian, to suffer. She remarked that her first encounter with the word was in a fourteenth-century prayer.

  thon/thonder: That or there. “Thon eejit shouldn’t be standing over thonder.”

  til: To.

  ’til: Until.

  tinker’s curse/damn/toss: I could not care less.

  took the rickets: Had a great shock, not fell ill from a vitamin D deficiency.

  tousling: Roughing up, either verbal or physical.

  townland: A mediaeval administrative region comprising a village and the surrounding countryside.

  trotters: Specifically pigs’ feet, but can be applied to humans.

  Tuatha dé Danaan: Irish. Pronounced “tooatha day danaan.” One of the early mythical races also known as Cruithne who defeated the Fir Bolg and were themselves overthrown by the Milesians. (See under M.) The Tuatha were driven to live underground in the sidthe (see under S) and became the people of the mounds, that is the multitude of Irish faeries. (See Irish Country Girl.)