Sir, – In response to Derek Mac Hugh’s letter, I do indeed remember the insertion of the syllable into words which made speech all but unintelligible to the uninitiated. But with a little patience it was possible to break the code. Egin fegact egit wegas egeasegy. Gottit? Gegottegit? Yours, etc,
DAVID MONKS,
11240 Alaigne,
France
A chara, – While the boys of south Dublin may have had difficulty understanding English with an added syllable (August 11th), we Waterford boys and girls had no such difficulty. We babbled happily away adding “eg” to every syllable, blithely thinking no adult could understand us. Of course, everybody quickly cottoned onto it, egexcegept egof cegourse thege pegoor begoys egof segouth Degublegin. – Is mise,
RÓNÁN DE PAOR,
Whitefield,
Annestown,
Co Waterford
Sir, – Derek Mc Hugh’s letter regarding teenage language patterns reminded me of first hearing (many moons ago) one young chap saying to another “I’ll give you a bell.” I subsequently telephoned one of them to ask him to “translate” ... ahem. – Yours, etc,
TOM GILSENAN,
Elm Mount,
Beaumont,
Dublin 9