peeler: Policeman. Named for the founder of the first organised police force in Great Britain, Sir Robert Peel (1788–1846). These officers were known as “bobbies” in England and “peelers” in Ireland.
petrified: Terrified.
poitín: Irish. Pronounced “potcheen.” Moonshine. Illegally distilled spirits, usually from barley. Could be as strong as 180 proof (about 100 percent alcohol by volume).
powerful: Extremely.
professional medical titles: In Ireland, for historic reasons, GPs and all specialists except surgeons used “doctor.” Trainee surgeons used “doctor” until they had passed their specialty exams, when they reverted to “mister.” Dentists and veterinarians used “mister” because their basic degrees were bachelorhoods, not doctorates. “Doctor” was also used by anyone with a doctoral degree—Ph.D., D.Sc., D.D., D.Mus., and the like. Professorial rank was reserved for university departmental heads or endowed personal chairs.
puff: Life.
pupil: Schoolchild. “Student” was reserved for university undergraduates. Only those who had successfully completed the necessary university courses and been awarded a degree were said to have graduated.
quare: Irish pronunciation of “queer.” Very. Often succeeded with “nor.”
rain: Rain is a fact of life in Ireland. It’s why the country is the Emerald Isle. Just as the Inuit people of the Arctic have many words for snow, in Ulster the spectrum runs from “sound day,” or “true day, fair weather,” to “a grand soft day, mizzling,” also described as “that’s the 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), “chuckin’ it down,” and the universal “raining cats and dogs.” If you visit, take an umbrella.
range: A cast-iron kitchen stove fuelled by coke, coal, gas, or turf. In rural Ireland it served the functions of heating the kitchen, heating the water, and cooking food.
rashers: Bacon slices from the back of the pig. They have a streaky tail and a lean eye.
redd up: Tidy up.
registrar (medical): Trainee physician, equivalent to a North American resident.
right enough?: Is that correct?
right: Very or real.
rightly: Perfectly well.
rook (n): Corvus frugilegus is a black bird like a crow of the family Corvidae.
rook (v): To cheat out of money or vastly overcharge.
run-race: Quick trip.
schooner: Glass specifically for sherry, named for the type of vessels that brought the drink to England.
see you/him/her: An expression of emphasis, and the person referred to may not necessarily be in view.
senior lecturer: Academic rank equivalent to assistant professor.
shed a tear for the old country: Urinate. Usually used by or about men.
shit: (v) The action of defaecation.
shite: (n) Faeces.
sidhe: Irish. Pronounced “shee.” The fairies.
Shuey: Peculiarly Ulster corruption of Hughey, which is itself a corruption of Hugh.
sicken your happiness: Really upset you.
sister (nursing): In Irish hospitals at one time, nuns 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.
skin you: Very cold.
skiver: From scurvy. Waster. Good for nothing.
skivvy:. Housemaid of the lowest rank.
slag: Verbally abuse. Slagging can be either good-natured banter or verbal chastisement.
sláinte: Irish. Pronounced “slawntuh.” Cheers. Here’s mud in your eye. Prosit.
solicitor: Attorney who did not appear in court, a function performed by more senior lawyers called barristers.
sorbo-rubber: Foam rubber.
sound/sound man: Very good/reliable and trustworthy man.
spalpeen: From the Irish spailpin, originally an iterant farm labourer. Now used to denote a ne’er-do-well.
squirt: RAF slang. Burst of machine-gun fire.
stall the ball: Dublin. Wait a minute.
sticking out/sticking out a mile: Very good/the acme of perfection.
stiver: Tiny sum of money.
stop the lights: Dublin. Expression of utter disbelief.
stout: A dark beer, usually Guinness or Murphy’s.
stroppy: Bad-tempered.
strunts: Sulks.
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, this is the equivalent of a North American doctor’s office.
sweet, sweetie: Candy.
sweet Fanny Adams: Euphemism for “sweet eff all” and, dear reader, I’m sure you can work that out. Absolutely nothing at all.
ta-ta-ta-ra: Dublin. Party.
take your hurry in your hand: Slow down.
take yourself off by the hand: Please. Get real.
tall around: Rotund.
targe: Foul-tempered person.
telt: Told (corruption of “telled”).
tetchy: Irritable.
them there: Emphatic for “them.”
thon/thonder: That or there. “Thon eejit shouldn’t be standing over thonder.”
tip the wink: Inform.
titter of wit: Behave sensibly.
tongue’s hanging out: Dying for a drink.
tousling: Roughing up, either verbal or physical.
townland: A mediaeval administrative region comprising a village and the surrounding countryside.
trunk call: Long-distance telephone call.
using the loaf: Being sensible about.
VE Day: Victory in Europe Day. May 8, 1945.
VJ Day: Victory over Japan Day, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. In the UK it is celebrated on August 15 (the initial announcement of surrender) and in the USA on September 2 (the signing of the surrender document on USS Missouri).
water stars: Bangor term for the way small pools of water in rippled sand reflect the sun.
wean: Pronounced “wane.” Child.
wee: Small, but in Ulster can be used to modify almost anything without reference to size. A barmaid, an old friend, greeted me by saying, “Come in, Pat. Have a wee seat and I’ll get you a wee menu, and would you like a wee drink while you’re waiting?”
wee buns: Very easy.
wee man: The devil.
wee minute: A short time.
Wee North: The six counties comprising Northern Ireland.
Wellington boots (Wellies): Below-knee-length rubber boots patterned on the riding boots worn by the Duke of Wellington.
wheeker: Excellent.
wheen: An indeterminate number.
wheest: Be quiet.
where to go for corn (did not know): At a loss for an answer.
whisky/whiskey: Scotch is “whisky.” Irish is “whiskey.” Both derived from the Gaelic uisce beatha … water of life. The earliest licensed distillery (1608 by King James I) is in Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
windscreen: Windshield.
wizard prang: RAF slang. “Wizard” was very good, “prang” was a crash, but the full term meant that a very successful outcome had been achieved.
WREN: Acronym derived from the initial letters of the Women’s Royal Navy. Akin to WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) or WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service—US Navy).
ye: You, singular.
yiz: You, singular or plural.
yoke: Thingummybob, whatsit. Descriptor for something one does not know the name of. Or, aircraft control column.
youse: You. Plural.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A large number of people have worked with me from the beginning and without whose unstinting help and encouragement, I could not have written this series. They are:
In North America
Simon Hally, Carolyn Bateman, Tom Doherty, Paul Stevens, Irene Gallo, Gregory Manchess, Patty Garcia, Alexis Saarela, and Christina Macdonald, all of whom have contributed enormously to the literary and technical aspects of bringing the work from rough draft to bookshelf.
Natalia Aponte, my literary agent.
Don Kalancha, Joe Maier, and Michael Tadman, who keep me right in contractual matters.
Without the help of the University of British Columbia Medical Library staff, much of the technical details of medicine in the thirties and forties would have been inaccurate.
In the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom
Jessica and Rosie Buchman, my foreign rights agents.
The Librarians of: The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, The Rotunda Hospital Dublin and her staff.
For this work only
My friends and colleagues who contributed special expertise in the writing of this work are highlighted in the author’s note.
To you all, Surgeon Commander Fingal O’Reilly MB, DSc, and I tender our most heartfelt gratitude and thanks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Patrick Taylor, M.D., was born and raised in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland. Dr. Taylor is a distinguished medical researcher, offshore sailor, model-boat builder, and father of two grown children. He now lives on Saltspring Island, British Columbia.
www.patricktaylor.ca
Facebook: Patrick Taylor’s Irish Country Novels. Or sign up for email updates here.
BY PATRICK TAYLOR
Only Wounded
Pray for Us Sinners
Now and in the Hour of Our Death
An Irish Country Doctor
An Irish Country Village
An Irish Country Christmas
An Irish Country Girl
An Irish Country Courtship
A Dublin Student Doctor
An Irish Country Wedding
Fingal O’Reilly, Irish Doctor
The Wily O’Reilly
An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War
An Irish Doctor in Love and at Sea
Home Is the Sailor (e-original)
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Photograph of “Jimmy” Taylor, MB, RAFVR
Author’s Note
1. A Party in a Parlour
2. Mighty Things from Small Beginnings Grow
3. Gentlemen of Japan
4. England’s Green and Pleasant Land
5. … My Poor Nerves
6. My Flesh Also Longeth After Thee
7. Great Balls of Fire
8. Journeys End in Lovers Meeting
9. To Remember What Is Past
10. What Is the Answer?
11. Never Look Long upon a Monkey
12. The Pity of War
13. Friendly Persuasion
14. Empty Words of a Dream
15. Let Every Puppy Drink
16. A Dream Come True
17. The Bird Is on the Wing
18. So Much Been Owed By So Many to So Few
19. On the Eve of All Hallows
20. … Would Meet in Every Place
21. I Will Make Thee a Terror to Thyself
22. Let’s Have a Wedding
23. As the Smart Ship Grew
24. By the Oak Trees’ Mossy Moot
25. The Doctor’s Dilemma
26. The Shot of Accident
27. The Ear of Jealousy Heareth All Things
28. Better a Finger Off
29. Count the Number
30. All Seems Infected
31. A Bargain Dog Never Bites
32. Engage Himself Openly and Publicly
33. Lest We Forget, Lest We Forget
34. To Everything There Is a Season
35. Events in the Womb
36. Hope Springs Eternal
37. Filled the Tree and Flapped
38. We’ll Keep Our Christmas Merry Still
39. I Am Getting Better and Better
40. ’Ere the Parting Hour Go By
41. He Might Enjoy the Things Which Others Understand
42. Fretted with Golden Fire
43. The More Difficult the Choice
44. Come Not Between the Dragon and His Wrath
45. It Is a Wise Father That Knows His Own Child
46. To Change What We Can
47. The Standing Is Slippery
48. Adverse Power Opposed in Dubious Battle
49. And Every Dog His Day
50. The Sure-Enwinding Arms of Cool-Enfolding Death
51. ’Twas the Night Before Christmas
Afterword
Glossary
Acknowledgments
About the Author
By Patrick Taylor
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
AN IRISH DOCTOR IN LOVE AND AT SEA
Copyright © 2015 by Ballybucklebo Stories Corp.
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Gregory Manchess
Photograph courtesy of the author
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Taylor, Patrick,
An Irish doctor in love and at sea: an Irish Country novel / by Patrick Taylor. — First Edition.
p. cm. — (Irish Country books; 10)
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-7820-0 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-4668-6038-4 (e-book)
1. O’Reilly, Fingal Flahertie (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Physicians—Fiction. 3. Country life—Northern Ireland—Fiction. 4. Medical fiction. I. Title.
PR9199.3.T36I763 2015
813'.54—dc23
2015023331
e-ISBN 9781466860384
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First Edition: October 2015
An Irish Doctor in Love and at Sea Page 51