Tom

>Mark;
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>I have relatives from Cork and Galway, and those from Galway are by far easier to understand. I must say that I truly enjoy hearing the Irish speak English, as it adds color and beauty to an otherwise dull language!

My paternal family come from Galway. My surname is quite rare in England (although there's a US aircraft company named after me :-) but in Galway I hear it's as common as Jones in Wales.
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>Then there are the “blessings” such as, “May God bless you and the devil take your soul”! It would be improper to just call someone an SOB as we would in “proper English” (American version or otherwise). Tell someone where to go, how to get there, express you feelings, and not swear. Beautiful!

Where I come from, Liverpool, where tghe accent is heavily Irish influenced, we use a lot of "irish hyperbole".
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>Don’t get me wrong about Dubliners. They too have a distinguishable accent, although I have no problem understanding them. I have a friend named Ronnie Drew, who started a well known music group called “The Dubliners”.

Next time you speak to him, can you ask him what are the lyrics of the 6th and 7th drunken nights, and perhaps email them to me? I remember when the song came out they declar4d that they could only go as far as Friday. Now I've looked up the lyrics on the interweb but they haven't come close to those that a guy in a folk club told me years ago. And I've forgotten Saturday's :-)

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Terry