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Conference tallis::celt

Title:Celt Notefile
Moderator:TALLIS::DARCY
Created:Wed Feb 19 1986
Last Modified:Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1632
Total number of notes:20523

1434.0. "Local Irish Humour" by BELFST::MCCOMB (I'm glad I live in Carrickfergus....) Thu Nov 24 1994 12:22

I was browsing in the library recently and picked up a paperback called

STAND UP AND TELL THEM ( A link with Irelands Past in Humorous Verse )

Just to prove we do have a wealth of wit in Ulster as well as our problems here 
is a taste of a non-political monologue written by Crawford Howard.

It is written in Belfast dialogue hence all the (')s.

Anyone know any others from the other Provinces 

THE DIAGONAL STEAM TRAP

Now they built a big ship down in Harland's-
She was made for to sell to the Turks -
And they called the Yard's chief designer
To design all the engines and works.

Now finally the engines were ready
And they screwed in the very last part
An' yer man says, "let's see how she runs, lads!'
An' bejasus! the thing wouldn't start.

So they pushed and they worked and they footered
An' the engineers' faces got red
And the designer he stood lookin' stupid
An' scratchin' the back of his head.

But while they were fiddlin' and workin'
Up danders oul' Jimmie Dalzell.
He had worked twenty years in the 'island'
And ten in the 'aircraft' as well.

So he pushed and he worked and he muttered,
Till he got himself through till the front
And he has a good look roun' the engine
An' he gives a few mutters and grunts,

And  then he looks up at the gaffer
An' says he, 'Mr. Smith , d'ye know? 
They've left out the Diagonal Steam Trap!
How they hell d'ye think it could go?'

Now the enginner eyed the designer
And the designer he looks at the 'hat'
And they whispered the one to the other,
'Diagonal Steam Trap? What's that?'

But the Gaffer, he wouldn't admit like 
To not knowin' what this was about,
So he says, 'Right enough, we were stupid!
The Diagonal Steam Trap's left out!'

Now in the meantime oul' Jimmie had scarpered,
- away down to leave in his boord-
And the Gaffer comes up and says 'Jimmy!'
D'ye think we could have a wee word?'

'Ye see that Diagonal Steam Trap?
I know it's left out - it's bad luck
But the engine shop's terrible busy
D'ye think ye could knock us one up?'

Now, oul' Jimmy was laughin' his scone off.
He had made it all up for a geg
He seen what was stoppin' the engine -
The feed-pipe was blocked with a reg!

But he sticks the oul' hands in the pockets 
An' he says , 'Aye, I'll give yez a han'.
I'll knock yez one up in the mornin'
An' the whole bloody thing will be grand!'

So oul' Jim starts to work the next morning
To make what he called a Steam Trap,
An' oul' box an' a few bits of tubing
An' a steam gauge stuck up on the top,

An' he welds it all on till the engine
And he says till the wonderin' mob,
'As long as that gauge is at zero
The Steam Trap is doin' its job!'

Then he pulls the reg outa the feed pipe
An' he gives the oul' engine a try
An' 'bejasus! she goes like the clappers
An' oul' Jimmy remarks, 'That's her nye!'

Now the ship was the fastest seen ever,
So they sent her away to the Turks
But they toul' them, 'That Steam Trap's a secret!
We're the only ones knows how it works!

'But the Turk's could not keep their mouths shut
An' soon the whole story got roun'
An' the Russians got quite interested -
'Them boys has their ears till the groun'!

So they sent a spy dressed as a sailor
To take photies of Jimmy's Steam Trap
And they got them all back to the Kremlin
An' they stood round to look at the snaps.

Then the head spy says,, 'Mr. Kosygin!'
I'm damned if I see how that works!'
So they sent him straight off to Siberia
An' they bought the whole ship from the Turks!

When they found the Steam Trap was a 'cod', like',
They couldn't admit they'd been had
So they built a big factory in Moscow
To start makin' Steam Traps like mad!

Now Kosygin rings up Mr. Nixon
And he says, 'Youse'uns thinks yez are great!
But wi' our big Russian made Steam trap
Yez'll find that we've got yez all bate!

'Now oul Noxon, he nearly went 'harpic'
So he thought he'd give Harland's a call
And he dialled the engine-shop number
And of course he got sweet bugger all!

But at last the call came through to Jimmy
In the midst of a terrible hush,
'There's a call for you here from the 'White House!'
Says oul' Jim, 'That's a shop in Portrush!'

There's a factory outside of Seattle
Where  they're turnin out Steam Traps like Hell
It employs twenty-five thousand workers
And the head of it - Jimmy Dalzell  
  

T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1434.1BLKPUD::CHEETHAMDFri Nov 25 1994 04:242
      
                               :-)
1434.2notesIt is English, honest!BELFST::MCCOMBI'm glad I live in Carrickfergus....Fri Nov 25 1994 05:177
    Dennis,
           can you not understand the 'Queen's English' and are you going
    to Nice to the ONC the week after next,
    
    Rgds
    
    Gareth
1434.3We want moreBELFST::HANNAFri Nov 25 1994 09:229
    Gareth,
    
    Where did you find the sense of humour! Have you any more of those
    little ditties, why not make the next one a little more political?
    
    Dermot
    
    PS Gareth says to add the fact that I am actually a "Feinian" but that 
    he talks to me anyhow!
1434.4Here's more thenBELFST::MCCOMBI'm glad I live in Carrickfergus....Fri Nov 25 1994 09:2647
OK Dermot,
          here is one by the same author with a bit of politics:

THE REBEL RECORD PLAYER

Wee Willie John McFadyean was a loyal Orange 'Prod',
And he thought that Ian Paisley was just one step down from God.
He thought they ate the 'childer' in the backwoods of Ardoyne,
And he knew that history started with the battle of the Boyne!

One night he took a brick in hand, and he wandered up the 'Falls'.
He was mutterin' 'Up the Rangers!' and humming 'Derry's Walls!'
He bust a big shop window, to annoy the Pope of Rome
And he took a record-player out and then he staggered home.

Next night they held a 'hooley' in the local Orange Hall
And Willie took his record player to make music at the ball.
He chose a stack of records of a very Loyal kind,
But when the music started up he nearly lost his mind!

For the Fenian record-player was a rebel to the core,
It played the tunes that Orange Halls had never heard before.
For 'Derry's Walls' and 'Dolly's Brae' it didn't give a fig,
And it speeded up 'God Save the Queen' till it sounded like a jig!

It played the 'Boys of Wexford' and 'The Wearing of the Green'.
Such turmoil in an Orange Hall had never yet been seen.
It played the 'Woods of Upton' and 'The Men of '98',
But when it played 'The Soldier's Song' it sealed wee Willie's fate.

For the boys went clean demented - to the ground was Willie thrown,
And they kicked his ribs in one by one to the tune of 'Garryowen'.
They threw him out the window to 'A Song of Old Sinn Fein',
And they kicked him all down Sandy Row to 'A Nation Once Again!'

Wee Willie's up in Purdysburn -  he's crazy as a coot,
He just sits there in his padded cell and tootles on his flute,
And when he tries to play 'The Sash' he always gets it wrong,
For halfway through he always finds he's playing 'The Soldier's Song'.

There's a moral to this story - what it is I cannot say,
It may be just the ancient one that crime will never pay.
If you ask wee Will McFadyean he says, 'Ah crime be blowed!'
'If you want to pinch a record-player do it up the Shankhill Road!'
 
Gareth
1434.5UP THE RAKOALA::HOLOHANMon Nov 28 1994 10:018
 re. .4

  Isn't that the Fenian Record Player, sung by the Irish Brigade.

  My personal favorite would be Coalisland Calypso.

                      Mark
1434.6I knew it was there !BELFST::MCCOMBI'm glad I live in Carrickfergus....Mon Nov 28 1994 10:2257
re. .5


Mark,
     good so see you have a sense of humour, maybe we should 
stick to this note and leave the messy stuff to the politicians,

8>). 

Hope you had a good holiday

Here's another and where are yours!

rgds

Gareth

THE YOUNG REBEL

( This can be sung to the air: 'Down by the Green Bushes')

As I was a-walking through Belfast one day
I met a young a rebel who to me did say,
'I bet you a "fiver" one thing you won't try!
Wear your sash up the "Falls" on the 12th of July'.

Says I, "My young shaver I bet you I will'.
Says he, 'If you do then it's you they will kill
For there's one thing to do if you're ready to die -
Wear your sash up the "Falls" on the 12th of July'.

So I walked up the 'Falls' from beginning to end.
With my sash on my back I was greeted a friend
I collected my 'fiver' and still didn't stop 
With my sash on my back and my coat on the top!!!

'Now, says I my young rebel 'now here's my reply'.
'You can have your cash back if three things you will try'
'Shout "Up the Republic!" and "The Border must go!" '
'And " To hell with King Billy!" going down Sandy Row!'

'Ah', says he, 'sure that's easy ! I'll do it today!'
And I prayed for his soul as he wandered away.
He was back in an hour (without the police)
And to my surprise he was still in one piece!

So I gave him his money and shook him by the hand
And said. 'How did you you do it, for I don't understand?'
'If you shouted those things they'd have kicked you to death!'
Ah', says he, 'Sure I shouted them under my breath!.

Now the moral of this story is plain to be seen.
There are many smart fellows, both Orange and Green.
Be it St. Pat's day or the 12th of July
If you play with the head, sure you'll always get by!

1434.7British Intelligence Foiled Plot Against AdamsKOALA::HOLOHANMon Apr 10 1995 14:4344
  I figured I'd put this joke in the humour section, where it belongs.

                      Mark



RTw  4/8/95 4:45 PM British Intelligence Foiled Plot Against Adams

                         *********************************



              British Intelligence Foiled Plot Against Adams

RTw 4/8/95 4:45 PM

    LONDON, April 9 (Reuter) - British intelligence agents foiled a plot by
IRA hardliners to assassinate Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, the Observer
newspaper said on Sunday.

     The newspaper, citing security sources, said the assassination was
planned by dissidents in the Irish Republican Army who were angered by a
ceasefire called by the guerrilla group last year in its fight to oust
Britain from Northern Ireland.

     The sources said the plotters were kept under surveillance until just
minutes before the attempt was to take place in January against Adams,
leader of the IRA's political wing.

     Early warnings had been received by Britain's MI5 security agency, the
paper said.

     "A faction of IRA people in South Armagh (the border county known as
"Bandit Country") had been determined to wipe Adams out because they
thought he was leading them nowhere. The thing was uncovered and dealt
with," one source said.

     Adams has accused the British government of stalling the peace process
in Northern Ireland, now enjoying its first protracted ceasefire in the
25-year conflict that took more than 3,000 lives.
  REUTER


1434.8BONKIN::BOYLETony. Melbourne, AustraliaWed Apr 12 1995 04:475
    >LONDON, April 9 (Reuter) - British intelligence agents foiled a plot by
    
    I think you received this press release 8 days too late.
    
    Tony.