Dear Laoise,

Much obliged for the charming examples of Irish slang!

Knew from "The Seder Nite Rap" thread that tha' wer'a "landsman." Like many in the colonies, I'm a mutt; religiously Jewish, ethnically a Euro-American crazy-quilt of French, Scots, English, Welsh, Irish, and German.

In fact, though my Maternal Grandfather died a British citizen, and "kvelled" all his life long, that his Scottish mother was DISTANTLY related to the Queen Mum, I know virtually nothing of Gaelic, except that, like Yiddish, Gaelic can be guttural and silken by turns, and that some dandy tunes have Gaelic lyrics. Every time you post a greeting, or sign off in Irish, I ache to know what you have said. Do, please, in future, give a translation for those of us who are linguistically challenged!

As we're on about the funeral, wouldn't have seen it all myself, as it was Shabbos here, but for a nifty little gadget called a VCR. Heard you have them in the "mitherland" as well; bet someone you know taped the whole "megillah" for a keepsake!

Shalom Aleichem,

Shula