beitza "Irishman"

[Gerald Cohen]

At 11:06 AM -0800 2/6/04, Sarah Bunin Benor wrote:
>Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004
>From: Sarah Bunin Benor <sbenor at stanford.edu>
>To: jewish-languages at jewish-languages.org
>Subject: Server, "beitza," seal
>
>...Here's an interesting anecdote. A friend came across the word "beitza"
>(Heb. 'egg') as a name for a non-Jew in Ireland. He was told that it comes
>from Yiddish "eyer" ('eggs') through phonetic matching with "ire"
>('Irish'). ...


This is of course very interesting, but how widespread is the usage?
Where did the friend come across it? Does it have any currency beyond
the creative humor of one or two individuals?

Gerald Cohen