- bit of skirt — (("a woman; esp. an attractive one" slang – OED.))
- saffron — traditional colour for the Irish kilt.
-
Scotch cap — probably a Glengarry. - gallused trousers — trousers with braces or suspenders attached. ((galluses: "men's braces" – Slanguage.))
- palace of varieties — a type of Music-hall. (("a variety theatre" – OED.))
- Whitsun — a curruption of "White Sunday", the usual name in Britain (though not now in Ireland) for Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter. It was traditionally an occasion for young women of the parish to wear new white dresses attending church. ((Wikipedia.)) gauds — (("showy ceremonies, 'pomps and vanities'" now rhetorical – OED.))
- moidering — ((moider: "perplex, worry, fatigue" – Slanguage.))
- stuck in his lapel ... — the priest is wearing the badge of the Gaelic League.
- uniformis — an apparent pun on "in uniform" and "uniformly", i.e. "looking alike" and "playing together". It's hard to see how the Latin uniformis can hang this together.
- Dia agus Muire dhaoibh — a usual greeting in Irish-Gaelic, meaning "God and Mary with ye [plural]" (roughly pronounced: dee-a oggus mwirra gwiv).
- Dia 's Muire dhuit 's Pádraigh — Irish greeting, specifically in reply to the above, meaning "God and Mary with you [singular] and [Saint] Patrick [also with you]" (roughly pronounced: dee-ass mwirra gwit iss paw-rig). (Father Taylor's greeting was correct and studied: Doyler's reply is elided and sounds more "natural".) a hathair — Irish "father" (as a vocative) (ahah her).
- sigh síos — Irish "sit down" (as an imperative) (sig shee-uss).
-
embrace of the Roman Empire — the Roman historian Tacitus recalls that his father-in-law Agricola, conqueror of Britain, often claimed that Ireland could be subdued with "a single legion and a few auxiliaries". Gibbon in a note remarks "The Irish writers, jealous of their national honour, are extremely provoked on this occasion, both with Tacitus and with Agricola" – Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1782. - gimcracks and kickshaws — ((gimcrack: "a showy, unsubstantial thing" – OED.)) ((kickshaw: "something dainty or elegant, but unsubstantial or comparatively valueless" – OED.))
-
euterpean — (("Euterpe ... one of the nine Muses in Greek mythology, associated especially with lyric poetry and flute playing" – Oxford Dictionary of Allusions.)) - made a fist of it — made an attempt at it. ((EDD.))
- galliard — (("lively dance ... in simple triple time" – Oxford Dictionary of Music.)) (("The tune [spec. "God Save the King"] is in rhythm and style a galliard" – Oxford Dictionary of Music.)) cf < Ch3.1.
| UK | US-h | US-p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pages | 90-93 | 85-88 | 76-79 |
| POV | Jim | ||
| Where | Band practice, Presentation College, Glasthule | ||
| When | Friday evening, May 14 1915 | ||
