Re: 'a rib broke in the devil"
- From: Michael O'Neill <onq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:50:38 +0000
Egbert White wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:08:47 -0800 (PST), "Cat(h)"
<cathy_ie@xxxxxxxxx> said:
On Jan 22, 1:45 pm, Michael O'Neill <o...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Egbert White wrote:
Someone in another group has asked about the expression "A
rib broke in the devil." It seems to be an Irish
expression. Would anyone in soc.culture.irish like to tell
us what it means?
Any other information about it would also be appreciated,
like how old it is, how widely it's found, and so forth.
Nope. Sounds Midwest Merkan Baptist to me.
M.
Oh, I don't know. I think it essentially depends on context.
I can picture Moss Keane's Mammy being concerned about him tearing
head down to tackle some poor Welshman saying something like that,
though she would probably have added "poor" to "divil". Though
somehow, I can't see Paul O'Connell's Mammy saying it. A matter of
generation, perhaps.
Cat(h) (Prof Antrop Emeritus - speciality: Homo Hibernicus)
I should have given more information. The phrase "a rib
broke(n) in the devil" as quoted in the initial posting
seems to be a stock phrase. You can see the thread on the
subject at Google Groups starting with
http://tinyurl.com/2plaqv , which is short for
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_frm/thread/440ef858aaae73b4/ea51f066525c2da4?lnk=st&q=#ea51f066525c2da4
The initial posting, by Tony Cooper, quoted from a journal
called "The Bookman" published in 1903:
"In Donegal one holds in high honour the robin
redbreast, who, when the soldiers came in search of
him, lay on every drop of blood that marked his
track! But an outcast is the wren, and every one
killed is a rib broken in the devil for the rude
trick it once played on great "Sent Calmoille" a
matter of two thousand years ago!"
Can't you imagine the exams people will sit in sociology in 2150.
The questions they will ask about internet online discussion.
The eejits [look it up] they will put on pedestals.
Fjuckwits all...
M.
.
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