"rush the growler"--(its derivation)

[Daniel Cassidy]

Gearradh: speedy
O/l: drink
Leor: plenty of


as i wrote yesterday: growler is from the irish compound gearradh o/l leor -
which means "plenty of fast drink."

+++

but of course, why wd. the irish have any influence on american language or
slang?

everyone knows the Irish have no gift for language or literature.

and of course the Irish never spent any time in the slums or at the
crossroad, where slang was born.

growler is as irish as the irish compound that gave us  bootlegger.

same gestalt really in growler and bootlegger.

booze. delivered. fast.

the middle class dictionary dudes and swells assert that bootlegger is
derived from "stuffing bottles in boots."

whose boots? what kind of bottles? middle class mini-bottles of chardonnay? a
growler of 1890 merlot?

has anyone tried to stuff a fifth of jameson's  or a quart of schaeffers in
their Doc Martins lately?  you wd walk straight to a podiatrist. and then need
a drink.


there are some "linguists" whio have tried to make a career guessing at
wing-nut etymologies for irish words and phrases in english and american. they are
wasting our time. guessing is not scholarship. even educated guessing.

the time when those who study american dialect can ignore the irish and
scots-gaelic languages is over. now. 2003.

i suggest a pocket dictionary. like focloir po/ca. it literally fits in your
pocket,  has 30,000 words and phrases, and  phonetic breakdowns and a
grammar!!!

Or scholars will keep "rolling the growler"
instead of the gerradh o/l leor
up the slippery slopes of American demotic speech ... over and over again...
only to slide back down...
like an anglo-saxon sisyphus.

study irish and scots gaelic. then read eugene o'neill and listen to Mae West
and Jimmy Cagney and Al Smith speak

i am going to "blow the joint" (the list) once again. i am not interested in
computer searches. i leave that to google. i am interested in the 100s of
langauges that make up American speech, from gaelic to athabascan.

best wishes,
beannacht

daniel cassidy

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