Sir, – I’m intrigued by Frank McNally’s account of how Beckett, an artist notoriously fastidious regarding adherence to his words and stage directions, was delighted by a reference to Godot as “yer man” being changed without his imprimatur to “himself” (An Irishman’s Diary, December 14th).
What interests me partially is Mr McNally’s view that the two terms might be regarded as identical, and that a Corkonian distinction between the tone of the terms might have inspired the adjustment.
While I’ve lived in Cork for over 10 years now, I would consider the fine but real line between these two third-person pronouns as being clearly evident in Dublin and around the country.
To my ear, “yer man” has a comedic implication.
Matt Williams: Take a deep breath and see how Sam Prendergast copes with big Fiji test
New Irish citizens: ‘I hear the racist and xenophobic slurs on the streets. Everything is blamed on immigrants’
Jack Reynor: ‘We were in two minds between eloping or going the whole hog but we got married in Wicklow with about 220 people’
‘I could have gone to California. At this rate, I probably would have raised about half a billion dollars’
If in a story, a phrase like “up stands yer man” or “in comes yer man and says” is used, a punchline is about to follow, typically at yer man’s expense.
Conversely, if you encounter someone after a long absence and they ask of someone “how’s himself?”, the tacit implication is that this is an individual whose importance is sufficient that they need not specify identity, that his welfare would be of concern, and that they might have spoken of him often in the interim.
It could be, of course, that I’ve spent too long in Cork by now, despite having grown up a short walk from Beckett’s home. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork