Category: Submission - Reading the Signs

Search the site

Archaeology Only 6 Inches Deep

10/3/2019

Pothole Reveals the Ghost of the old Blackrock Tram.

I received these two photographs this morning from KH. They are of a pothole on the Blackrock Road between Ashton School and the CRK0001A postbox a bit up the road. But this pothole proves to be a revelation.

As if I was not photographing enough groupings, I have recently started photographing some old railways tracks that remain visible – maybe not for long with the developments in Docklands. So when a railway track is revealed as a ghost from under the tarmac, it was a double win.

I travelled past on the way home from my Irish walk but the rain did not help my photographs. I will be back for more photos.

When tracks were revealed when they were doing the plaza works in Blackrock Village, it was decided to incorporate them into the development. I suspect that the Blackrock tram track will be recovered and not exposed as an item of archaeology.

To Err is Human

22/10/2016

'To', 'Two' & 'Too' are not probably as deadly as Live, Earth & Neutral

Many thanks to NK who spotted this on his recent trip to the U.K.. He, correctly thought it would spark an interest hereabouts.

Once again, the construction sector confirms that spelling and building are not natural bedfellows.

Surfer Humour

8/7/2016

Thanks to Tadhg who took this photograph on his holidays – at Sandy Bay in The Maharees.

The modification to the message is very well done.

Flights of Fancy

27/6/2015

Not a sign that one sees often

Those birds have some high standards.

No garage or run-down shack is good enough. No.

Only the inner sanctum of Ballaghaderreen Golf Club will suffice for chosen residence – and without the necessity to cough up green fees.

Many thanks to SOK for the photo which set me down on two separate memory tracks.

Flight 1.

What is the connection between Ballaghderreen and Ballyvaughan?

Other than the obvious beginning with Ball?

Flight 2.

Can you read Cork?

ABCD Birds
DMRN Birds
DR Birds
OBJURI DR Birds

In Good Company

15/6/2015

Angry Old Man - 5

They were always my favourites on The Muppet Show – possibly a warning of what I might become.

So when KH sent me this photograph from Norway, it justified a trip down Statler & Waldorf memory lane.

Enjoy

Limited Irish

1/4/2015

Yesterday DH sent me this photo taken at Cork University Hospital. DH well knows my interest in signs and matters lost in translation.

It landed on the phone and I got thinking of the word ‘Teoranta’ which I have only seen used in respect of a Limited Company – such as Tinteain Mhuscraí Teo.

I registered a reminder to check the dictionary today as to whether it was used for in a sense of ‘limited supply’. I have learnt that it is.

What I had failed to spot in the photograph was the missing ‘r’ and the missing ‘síneadh fada’ in ‘Páirceáil’.

Once again, the HSE provide the thought for the day….

Lovely

19/12/2014

PM's pint

This is a first – a photograph that I could almost taste.

This arrived this evening – about three hours after the last of quite a few telephone calls with PM during the day; a day that went from bad to worse for both of us. A day when the hope of finishing up for the Christmas break on Friday disappeared around 11 and Tuesday is now looking like a work day.

The photo arrived with a single word – ‘Lovely’.

I couldn’t put it better…….

Bíonn Siúlach Scéalach

3/11/2014

Last April, this photograph arrived in my Inbox. It was beyond my Irish level of competency.

I asked of a number of friends with varying degrees of fluency and received a number of different suggestions:

Javelin Throwers

25/10/2014

I do like a walk in a cemetery.

Never before have I seen a headstone with a family tree engraved on it.

Sometimes, one might see the name of a surviving relative on a headstone but I do not think I have ever seen a headstone with so many living relatives.

I did not know that ‘Jardine’ translates as Javelin Thrower in Old Norse.

Many thanks to Doc for this photograph and education from his recent strip to Dunfriesshire on his way to the match in Sale.

King George

17/10/2014

A while back, I wondered as to a post box with the GR insignia and also that of Saorstát Éireann – which would be of an equal time – even if the castings were not of the same time.

Thanks to Doc who spotted this beauty in Sandycove outside Kinsale

Sept 28 - Shouting From The Mountain

4/8/2014

Made by Maids

30/7/2014

With thanks to Joan for the submission

It appears that in Wisconsin that the sweets are made at home by the maids.

Or is this another example of American English………

Limerick Changing

28/7/2014

I like.

Many thanks to IB for submitting the photograph from Athlunkard Street and advising of another new Wall Art installation recently completed on William Street.

I suspect that a visit to Limerick will not be too far away.

Throwing Shapes

11/6/2014

Cork has its differences – I always knew that.

I remember being at a concert in Coughlan’s on Douglas Street and Melojian was the warm-up artist. When he came to pronouncing the name of the venue, he said that (in Cork) 'ye say Coughlan' [caw-lan] and (in not Cork) ‘we say Coughlan’ [cock-lin] and wondered why. Someone in the audience quickly responded that ‘You’re wrong’ – enough was said.

Committee is another pronunciation that is somewhat particular to Cork.

Also in Cork, there are Rice Krispie Cakes – there are no Rice Krispie Buns that exist elsewhere.

A few weeks ago, I was watching the Great Irish Bake Off and was surprised by the Battenburg that they were requested to bake – square in profile with four coloured squares. I can only suspect that there are no Cork participants because they would have baked a cake of triangular profile with three tapering layers.

With thanks to KH for capturing the correct profile on camera…..

Haggard

18/5/2014

KH's panoramic capture of Devil's Bit and Horse's Glen

Cork to Innishannon Road

“On your right is the site of a battle in 1262 in which the McCarthys defeated the Normans. In the battle, Cormac McCarthy fell, thus giving his name to the place”

Walk Guide Southwest of Ireland – Seán Ó Súilleabháin (Gill & MacMillan 1978 – 2000)

tuairín, m. (gs. ~, pl. ~í). 1. Dim of tuar2. 2. Grassy plot; patch of lea. 3. Bleaching-green.

Foclóir.ie

haggard1, s. Iothlainn f.

haggard2, a. a (Dreach) fiata, fiáin. b Caite, snoite, deilfe.

Foclóir.ie

haggard adj 1 looking very tired and thin-faced, because of pain, worry, etc. 2 wild or intractable. 3 said of a hawk: untamed, having matured in the wild before being caught. noun, falconry an untamed hawk, or one caught when adult, especially a female. haggardly adverb. haggardness noun.
ETYMOLOGY: 16c: from French hagard wild.

Chambers Dictionary

haggard2 (ˈhæɡərd )

Definitions

noun

(in Ireland and the Isle of Man) an enclosure beside a farmhouse in which crops are stored

Word Origin

C16: related to Old Norse heygarthr, from hey hay + garthr yard

Collins Dictionary

On way to Mangerton

Last Sunday, a much finer day than today, four of us set of for Killarney and a walk up Mangerton. We parked and I spotted this plaque. I was well pleased to have a translation of Toureen – only since then I am not so sure.

I would have known of Toureen Terrace in Passage West – where John Spillane launched the commemorative song. Recently, I stopped on my way to Innishannon to record a plaque to the Toureen Ambush. The internet has also thrown up a Toureen at Burnfort by Mallow and at Peacaun in Co. Tipperary.

It was a name that did create some curiosity in the recesses of my thoughts – generally when out and about; not when at a computer when I could check it out. Last Sunday, I thought I had a Eureka Moment and that ‘Toureen’ translated as ‘haggard’ – although I was intrigued somewhat as a battle at or about a small farmbuilding.

Now I have more knowledge but am still confused as to Toureen being a haggard.

As for the walk – a great day out with such a clear sky.