We are all probably somewhat guilty of not listening enough to our parents as we grow up and move into adulthood. Seamus and Sean Kelly are brothers from Co. Kildare who are both retired with a bit of time to write and think back a little. Seamus lives in Leixlip, Sean lives in Portlaoise.

 

We were born in Monasterevin and reared in Rathangan, in County Kildare. Dad was from Wexford town while Mam was from Rathangan, with a strong Tipperary background,
Our parents have long passed on. We often reflect on why we did not ask our parents more about this or that. Below are some of their words of wisdom told to us. We did listen a little bit!

This article is an attempt to capture some of the sayings and phrases of our parents as we now remember them.

For example, the weather was mainly a source of negativity to them. ‘It never rains but it pours’ or ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’. Even good fortune was greeted with ‘it’s an ill wind …’ When we got lucky we were said to be ‘on the pig’s back’.

If we left the door open we would be greeted with ‘were you born on the Curragh?’ If we forgot something one of the parents would say ‘you’d forget your head if it was not tied onto you’. If someone did a bad deed, both parents would say ‘they will get their comeuppance’ or ‘it’s a long road that does not have any turn’.
If we were giving out we were told to ‘hold your breath, to cool your porridge’.

Mam took great satisfaction in the phrase ‘the hay is saved and Cork is bet’. This was mainly due to her father being a hurler from Tipperary. He played in an All-Ireland Hurling Final for Dublin against Tipperary but sin scéal eile.

Our rearing as kids was based on the notion of being mannerly and respectful to adults. ‘Speak when your spoken to’ was the name of the game. ‘Children should be seen and not heard’ echoes in our heads to this day. Praise for many of us born in the 1950s was, as our parents would say, ‘as rare as hen’s teeth’.
When we got a quiz-type question from Dad and if we got it right he’d say, with approval, ‘go up first and give out the slates’. A reference to his youth when kids got the honour of giving out the slates to the class.

Dad was a fitter and workshop foreman in Bord Na Móna but he did not try to pass on those skills.
The phrase ‘dig deep and throw well back’ was borrowed from the bog, not surprising when we lived in a Bord na Móna house in Rathangan. How long will the bog last? Dad’s response always was. ‘Ah! It will see me out anyway’. It did.

Dad worked in the Credit Union too. He was in charge of loans and often said ‘he met lots of people with Rolls Royce ideas and push-bike wages’.

He reminded us that ‘a job was never finished until the tidy up was done’. Mam was into early intervention. ‘Nip it in the bud’ and ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ she’d say while Dad would pipe up with ‘procrastination is the thief of time’. Carrying too much in our hands was greeted with ‘that’s a lazy man’s load’.

We were told ‘to stay at the books as we were never going to achieve anything with our hands’. We didn’t achieve anything with our hands except in the garden and the disco. As he’d say ‘we can’t change a plug’. We were urged to be careful with money. ‘Neither a lender or borrower be’.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own