Pronouncing Portlaoise

Madam, - In the 1920s and 1930s, trains on the Dublin-Cork line were greeted on arrival at the county town of Queen's County …

Madam, - In the 1920s and 1930s, trains on the Dublin-Cork line were greeted on arrival at the county town of Queen's County by indecipherable shouts from railway porters of "Marra Barra, Marra Barra". Passengers wishing to alight at what they knew and pronounced as Maryborough (particularly cross-channel visitors) were understandably confused.

Station signs in those days were small and not easily read (particularly after dark), and many found themselves carried onwards towards Dublin or Limerick Junction. - Yours, etc.,

DAVID FERGUSON, Sycamore Walk, Dublin 18.