Comments on: Fáilte go fústar

By: copernicus

copernicus — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:31:02 +0000

we had latchies in Limerick when I was lad – o sweet alliteration – another word for scanger. I presume the dismissive phrase “Go way you fucking La”, oft heard among north circular road schoolboys was a derivation of latchiko.

By: foolhardy

foolhardy — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:28:13 +0000

favourite Hiberno-English word of the day: latchiko

latchiko – disagreeable person, bit of a coward, only one ball (this last meaning presumably based on the fact that ‘latchiko’ sounds like an anglicisation of the Irish compound ‘leath-tiochog’, meaning half-bag, a half-ballocks); ‘Who are you calling a latchiko? Watch yourself!’

I’m particularly fond of the “one-ball wonder” definition. By all accounts there’s a Mayo man currently writing his memoirs with the catchy title: “confessions of a latchiko”

By: fústar

fústar — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:26:53 +0000

Back to "Mallafooster" (or "Mallafoosther"). The good ol' Hiberno-English Archive has this to say:

Mallafoosther - v. to give a beating (to someone) < F mal + Ir. fústar. 'If you don't stop that messing I'll mallafoosther the both of you'.

A handy phrase if either of you bowsies get out of control...

By: copernicus

copernicus — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:21:15 +0000

hmnn, that reminds me, I must pop in to Tom Fool Turf Accountant on Main St. Castleconnel.

By: foolhardy

foolhardy — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:07:13 +0000

If you can find a bookie Tom-fool enough to be offering odds you stand to make a forchun.

By: copernicus

copernicus — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:05:23 +0000

I bet you will.

By: foolhardy

foolhardy — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:04:29 +0000

It seems, Copernicus, that you have a feel for this sort of thing. One must also consider the, oft neglected, STD level – Subject’s Transient Desperation. Once the trials are complete and all of the data is collated we should have a clearer grasp of the ins and outs of the issue.

By: copernicus

copernicus — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:03:33 +0000

I’d be interested to see statistics generated on key indicators such as HAR HAR – Herder Attractedness Ratio to Herd Attractiveness Resonance.

By: foolhardy

foolhardy — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:02:32 +0000

How right you are, the lashes are indeed key. Efforts are currently focusing on generating sheep with an increased batting quotient (IBQ). Clinical sheep-trials are nearing completion and the results are promising to say the least.

By: copernicus

copernicus — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:01:38 +0000

Interesting. I know a geneticist working in Crete who is engineering a prettier sheep for graziers in the remoter parts west of Ballina and north of Mulranney. It’s all to do with the eyelashes apparently.

By: foolhardy

foolhardy — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:00:38 +0000

I believe the American equivalent is “date-rape” if that clarifies things. Followed, in this case however, by a hearty meal as opposed to the other way round. A slight but vital difference.

By: copernicus

copernicus — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:59:31 +0000

what does the phrase “i’d malifooster a sheep” – oft heard on Belmullet Sound – mean?

By: foolhardy

foolhardy — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:57:50 +0000

have you heard the term malifooster (I’m unsure of the correct spelling, if indeed there is one)?
Might be heard in a west of Ireland chipper in the small hours of Sunday morning as follows: “I’d malifooster a snack box”. Could also be assigned to the thrashing of someone within an inch (2.54 cm) of their life but, then again, what couldn’t?