My mum was from Birr. Left Ireland in the 1930s after having my sister in Blackrock and never going back. She swore in Irish, and said some other phrases that made her giggle! She spoke Irish and didn't learn English until she went to school. 😍
After the lovely explanation of the Irish word for willow giving rise to Hiberno-English salley you reminded us of the wonderful poem by WB Yeats 'Down by the Salley Gardens' set by at least six English composers, not least of which was Benjamin Britten, but my favourite is by Ivor Gurney. So all that led me to choose my favourite Irish seanfhocal as "Is fear lúbadh na briseadh"
She settled here in Edinburgh and there was one thing I kind of remember that meant something like there's no fireside like your own...no place like home ? I have no Irish but the ending sounded like "mora hin thon fein...??"
Hi Trish, hope you are well. Greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪 to Scotland 🏴. The phrase your mother used was “níl aon tintéan mar do thintéan féin”. It means, as you said, there is no fireside like your own fireside. I wish you a great weekend 👍🙏. Michael
Níl aon tínteán mar do thínteán féin... there's no hearth like your own hearth. Phonetically... Kneel ane (like "lane") teen-tawn morr (like "or") du heen-tawn fane (like "lane")... (",)
