The Joys of Language: favourite quotes, etc.

[QuantumSync]

^ No probs, Quantum S ! That's a good, uplifting quote for everyone.

I only once dipped into Marcus Aurelius' famous book, but I bet it's full of quotable lines. Even less have I ever explored medieval Afghan poets - but I recently read a book where the author had done the work for me, because she put, right on the opening page of her memoir, the following quote:-

"The wound is the place where the light enters."

- that's apparently from Rumi (or full name, Jalal Al Din Muhammad Rumi) and for me, it reminds us that painful experiences are often the ones that we learn from most. 

I bought the meditations book recently. Read book one and it's really nice

[Lisnaholic]

I hope it's ok if I copy this conversation from the "Annoying Things" thread, because the discussion swung round to things we like about language: 

As a native Dubliner I don't dislike Dublin expressions or pronunciations at all. I mostly find them amusing, such as:
sending the childer to sku-al.

Ah yeah they're great. I love the way we say "I got drowneded" and I'm pretty sure the phrase "Driving me up the wall" is unique to Ireland? My brother told me when he was in Boston he was trying to explain the concept of "yer man" and nobody could understand. They kept saying "but why is he MY man?" Some things just don't translate: yer man knows what I mean, wot? So does yer wan.

'driving me up the wall' is not unique to ireland at all lol

I adore "yer man" and try to incorporate it into my vernacular often.

^ I also really like "yer man". I love the way it seems to subtly pass on a responsibilty to the person you say it to - or at least that's my understanding:
"Now, yer man Bill Clinton would have..." and I am now answerable for anything Bill Clinton has done.

Other language out of Ireland that I love: in the book The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, a tenant in a Dublin boarding house is threatened with eviction by her landlord:
 "You'll be out, Miss Hearne, bag and baggage!"

And a phrase I've heard on Derry Girls, which is a wonderful sitcom set in Derry/Londonderry, in Northern Ireland: Catch yerself on!
It seems to mean; "You're deceiving yourself with ideas that are too ambitious" or "Don't give yourself airs!"
The accents and the political situation might be an obstacle at first, but Derry Girls is a really funny program, chiefly about the dramas that go with mid-teen childhood. Highly recommended.

[Wonky]

I love this German quotation that William S Burroughs put in Naked Lunch.  jeder mAcht eine klien dummheit.  "Everyone makes a little dumbness".  It's great as a put down,  or for self depreciation   

[Buck_Mulligan]

That Derry Girls phrase had to be adapted for an international audience, otherwise it would make even less sense. The original is "cop on" or 'cop yourself on".

Another one is the milder version of F*** off.
If you were winding me up, and I was getting mildly irritated, I might say "Ah wouldya Feck off outta dat".

[Trollheart]

We also used cop-on in this sense: "Why don't you just go down to the Belcamp (pub) and ask the barman for a large bottle of Cop-on!" 

I must say, I love the Northern Irish greeting "What about ye?" It sounds both dismissive and sort of confrontational at once, but all it means is "how's it goin'?"