A chairde, re Irishisms, may I recommend ''English As We Speak It'',by P.W.Joyce where many of the variations of English spoken in Ireland are discussed. Expressions such as ''I'm after having a great time'' for ''I had a geat time'' are direct translations of Irish. My favoutites Irishisms are one like ''excuse me are you reading that paper your sitting on'' ? or'' I saw you going to work this morning, but by the time I caught up with you, you were gone.''What about ''it is to lose it I did (I lost It )or somone reading a paper '' Is it reading it you are'?. This type of speech is sometimes mocked as being stage Irish, but I wonder why it is then that the Irish excell in writing in the English language. Is it because language is more influenced by imagination than mere vocabulary? ---thats the question for ye now to be setting your minds on and to be thinking of that very self same question and to be finding for yerselves some kind of answer to it, by the way, and to be taking all the time in God's earthly world to be sortin it out.