I've been away from the Mudcat for months... much too long... a few things have intervened including a heart attack before Christmas and starting a blog site (http://news-opinion.blog-city.com if anyone's interested) in an effort to do what little I can to outsource the jobs of those God-awful Bushies and send them packing out of Washington in November.

Anyway, I get a weekly email newsletter from the Arizona Irish Music Society and in today's issue a lady asked a couple of questions. I was tempted to just email her and refer her to the Mudcat, but then thought "I haven't been there in a long while, so I'll just ask her questions myself.

She wrote: "In the song 'Rocky Road to Dublin'
-Down among the pigs
-I played some funny rigs
-Danced some hearty jigs
-The water round me bubblin'

I know that jigs are lively dances or music in triple time but what is a rig?"

Also, "-"Hurrah my soul," sez I
-My shillelagh I let fly

The word shellelagh -- how do you pronounce it? sha-lay-lah or sha-lay-lee ?"

I've always said "sha-lay-lee", but I feel safer in relying on someone from the Mudcat to answer that as well as defining "rigs". I remember a thread several months ago where that word was discussed in the context of a stack of grain, ("Corn Rigs are bonnie", etc.) but that doesn't seem to fit in this context. Any help will be appreciated, and then I'll give the lady definitive answers, making sure to give full credit (along with a link) to the Mudcat Cafe!

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