Poet Denise Blake muses on a few wee Donegal and Derry sayings - for Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ One, listen to Our Way of Talking above.
Occasionally there are polls on social media asking, what is your favourite Irish accent? The result is often the Donegal accent. And I wonder, what exactly does that mean? Which Donegal accent is the favourite? The Inishowen accent sounds like a first cousin of Derry; the Rosses accent holds the roll of the ocean waves; the Lagan is rooted in Scottish-English; and south of the gap as it moves towards Ballyshannon, that accent slightly smooths towards Sligo. We speak in a range of voices and phrases that echo other places and other counties. The way we talk doesn't always make it easy for people who are not from the area to understand. It can take a while to decipher what is being said.
In the counties of Ulster, we use slang that is natural to us but can be unknown to others. Some of our words are carried from Scotland. We are foundered in the cold; can be fierce thrain when in stubborn times; we can face into so many handlins in our lives; and there are moments when I am just scunnered with the way something is turning out...
Listen to more from Sunday Miscellany here.
