The term "bog trotters", has long been used in a contemptuous way, and is applied to the man who, in the speaker's opinion, does not know very much. Only those who have lived near one of the Irish bogs know how strenuous a form of exercise "bog trotting" may be, and how necessary an accomplishment it is to people who cross a bog for any purpose, be it business or sport.
Children brought up in some midland countryside, close to the Bog of Allen, never forget their first lesson in "bog trotting", when some elder took them far out on the trembling morass and taught them how to walk so as to avoid danger.
One golden rule must be obeyed by the bog trotter; "walk on the hillocks"; and anyone who has seen the springy gait of a real bog man as he leaps lightly from tussock to tussock and never makes a false step must be filled with admiration.
The Irish Times, June 20th, 1930.