Acushla machree
Rachel Meisel
Apologies to anyone who might consider this question off-topic;
the phrase, which I take to be Irish, appeared without any gloss
in an article written in English (by Marcus Laffey in the
November 10 _New Yorker_). I can guess the tone, but not
the meaning, from context. Can anyone give me a literal
translation? Also, how common is the phrase? I don't recall
seeing it before.
Thanks,
Rachel
--- begin quote -----
My father died before I went on the job, but I think
that my decision to become a cop would strike him as
an affront to how far we've come from the hardscrabble
west of Ireland and the docks of Hell's Kitchen. For
the next generation to pound a beat might mean that his
grandchildren would not try cases in the Supreme Court
but instead make their livelihood digging potatoes with
a stick by the crossroads outside Ballinrobe. Ah,
achushla machree.
--- end quote ---
Padraig Breathnach
Literally, "O pulse of my heart" -- a term of endearment not common in the
Irish language, and just about never heard in English as spoken in Ireland.
It's not obvious to me how you might interpret it in the piece which you
quoted.
There is, of course, redundancy in preceding the phrase with "Ah" as the
initial "A" in the term itself is a vocative: a chuisle mo chroi.
Enough from alt.usage.irish!
PB
Rachel Meisel <mei...@buphy.bu.edu> wrote in article
<6421en$1hu$1...@news1.bu.edu>...
Padraig Breathnach
Keith C. Ivey wrote:
>
> >Literally, "O pulse of my heart" -- a term of endearment not common in
the
> >Irish language, and just about never heard in English as spoken in
Ireland.
>
> Irish-Americans (who are supposedly more numerous than the Irish). They
> do other things -- such as making a big deal about St. Patrick's Day --
> that are, I'm told, virtually unknown in Ireland.
Not only is it possible -- it is a near-certainty that Irish-Americans hold
on to expressions which are now rare in Ireland (and some which might
always have been rare here). There are other instances of which I am aware,
but memory fails me at present, except for the instance of "mavourneen"
("my little love") which is not commonly used in English here.
The biggest St. Patrick's Day parade each year is in New York, and nearly
every member of our government is out of the country on our national
holiday, helping the Irish diaspora be more Irish than the Irish
themselves.
> In any case, Joyce used the expression in _Ulysses_. I found this on
> the Web (http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce/ulys9.htm):
>
> # There he keened a wailing rune:
> # --Pogue mahone! Acushla machree! It's destroyed we are from this day!
> # It's destroyed we are surely!
Joyce had a sense of humour! "Pogue mahone" means "kiss by arse". Are we to
take it that he meant to communicate a genuine Irish form of lamentation?
PB
Keith C. Ivey
"Padraig Breathnach" <padr...@iol.ie> wrote:
>Literally, "O pulse of my heart" -- a term of endearment not common in the
>Irish language, and just about never heard in English as spoken in Ireland.
It's possible that it is or was more common in English as spoken by
Irish-Americans (who are supposedly more numerous than the Irish). They
do other things -- such as making a big deal about St. Patrick's Day --
that are, I'm told, virtually unknown in Ireland.
In any case, Joyce used the expression in _Ulysses_. I found this on
the Web (http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce/ulys9.htm):
# There he keened a wailing rune:
# --Pogue mahone! Acushla machree! It's destroyed we are from this day!
# It's destroyed we are surely!
And there was apparently a ship that brought immigrants from
Galway to New York in 1849 called Cushla Machree
(http://www.rootsweb.com/~irish/passlist/49cushla.htm).
Keith C. Ivey <kci...@cpcug.org>
http://cpcug.org/user/kcivey/
Washington, DC
Brian J Goggin
On 8 Nov 1997 21:28:27 GMT, "Padraig Breathnach" <padr...@iol.ie>
wrote:
>Not only is it possible -- it is a near-certainty that Irish-Americans hold
>on to expressions which are now rare in Ireland (and some which might
>always have been rare here). There are other instances of which I am aware,
>but memory fails me at present, except for the instance of "mavourneen"
>("my little love") which is not commonly used in English here.
"Ce'ad mi'le fa'ilte" and "Ocho'n!" spring to mind. These picturesque
phrases provide instant local colour for those who like their
knowledge of other cultures in bite-sized nuggets.
>The biggest St. Patrick's Day parade each year is in New York, and nearly
>every member of our government is out of the country on our national
>holiday, helping the Irish diaspora be more Irish than the Irish
>themselves.
Mind you, there is something to be said for getting the buggers out of
here, if only for one day ....
bjg
Brian J Goggin
On 9 Nov 1997 07:02:24 -0500, lrud...@panix.com (Lee Rudolph) wrote:
>To complete the circle, my neighbors Tom and Lynn Moriarty down the
>lane have a boat named "Pogue mahone" (with the second element spelled
>a bit differently, but due to the failure of whose Gaelic, theirs
>or Joyce['s character]'s I don't know).
"Pogue mahone" is an attempt to represent the Irish sounds in English.
The Irish-language version is "Po'g mo tho'n".
bjg
Joseph C Fineman
"Padraig Breathnach" <padr...@iol.ie> writes:
>Literally, "O pulse of my heart" -- a term of endearment not common
>in the Irish language, and just about never heard in English as
>spoken in Ireland.
>It's not obvious to me how you might interpret it in the piece which
>you quoted.
>There is, of course, redundancy in preceding the phrase with "Ah" as
>the initial "A" in the term itself is a vocative: a chuisle mo chroi.
The form without the redundant A will be familiar to Americans of a
certain age on account of the comic strip _Barnaby_ by Crockett
Johnson, which appeared in the newspaper _PM_ during the war and later
in book form. In it, the little boy's fairy godfather, Mr. O'Malley,
a rather vulgar Irish-American with a porkpie hat & skimpy but
functional wings, exclaimed "Cushlamochree" when perplexed. The
degeneration of a term of endearment to one of exasperation is not
hard to explain.
The expression seems to be known in England as well:
The roll of the railway made musing creative:
I thought of the colleen I soon was to see
With her wiry black hair and grey eyes of the native,
Sweet Moira McCavendish, acushla machree.
-- John Betjeman, "A Lament for Moira McCavendish"
--- Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
||: Sex is an impediment to reproduction whose function is to :||
||: complicate life. :||
Lee Rudolph
kci...@cpcug.org (Keith C. Ivey) writes:
>In any case, Joyce used the expression in _Ulysses_. I found this on
>the Web (http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce/ulys9.htm):
>
># There he keened a wailing rune:
># --Pogue mahone! Acushla machree! It's destroyed we are from this day!
># It's destroyed we are surely!
>
>And there was apparently a ship that brought immigrants from
>Galway to New York in 1849 called Cushla Machree
>(http://www.rootsweb.com/~irish/passlist/49cushla.htm).
To complete the circle, my neighbors Tom and Lynn Moriarty down the
lane have a boat named "Pogue mahone" (with the second element spelled
a bit differently, but due to the failure of whose Gaelic, theirs
or Joyce['s character]'s I don't know).
Lee Rudolph
pauline.mcd...@gmail.com
it means - "Darling of my heart" "Cushla ma Chree,"
Curlytop
the space-time continuum:
appear in the song "The Eriskay Love Lilt", that complete the line
beginning "Harp of joy". One source on the web [1] gives the entire line
as:
> "Harp of joy, o cruit mo chruidh;"
It is pronounced something like "o crooch macree" which sounds close enough
to your subject line.
[1] http://www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_eriskay.htm
--
ξ: ) Proud to be curly
Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply
James Hogg
spelling of "a chuisle mo chro�" (my heart's pulse).
--
James
James Hogg
James Hogg
James Silverton
": "(of) my heart", hence "my dear". There is a typically sentimental
Irish song called "Mother Machree".
--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)
Extraneous "not" in Reply To.
Joe Fineman
> It's well known as an Anglo-Irish term of endearment, an anglicized
John Betjeman, "A Lament for Moira McCavendish":
The roll of the railway made musing creative:
I thought of the colleen I soon was to see
With her wiry black hair and grey eyes of the native,
Sweet Moira McCavendish, acushla machree.
comic strip called Barnaby (more recently anthologized) about a little
boy who had a fairy godfather called Mr. O'Malley, a rather vulgar
Irishman with skimpy but functional wings. His favorite exclamation
was the distorted form "Cushlamochree!". It signified consternation
rather than endearment. I never knew what it meant till I saw the
correct form in Betjeman's poem, which enabled me to look it up.
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net
||: Never believe anything until it has been officially denied. :||
musika
spelling of "a chuisle mo chro�" (my heart's pulse).
--
UK
James Hogg
--
James