IRISH EXPRESSIONS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I am rarely in Ireland without being struck by some expression which, though not Hibernian, in the usual sense, seems peculiar. Why should I, who worship in the Scotch Church, become, when I cross the Channel, a "black-mouth Presby- terian "? " Black-mouth " or "black-mouthed," in the sense of slanderous or foul-tongued, one can understand. But I am assured in Ireland that the epithet is applied there only to Presbyterians, and why this should be so it is not easy to discover. Can the expression be synonymous with " sour " or "whey-faced," and have crossed from England in the time of the Commonwealth? Perhaps some of your readers can enlighten me. A curious word I heard the other day in Belfast, when I was offered "pamphrey " at lunch, where it figured on the restaurant bill-of-fare. It turned out to be a local name for spring cabbage. It is not mentioned in Murray; but Wright's Dialect Dictionary quotes it as used in Antrim and Down, no derivation, however, being given. Could it have anything to do with the French pampre, a vine leaf or shoot ? In any case it seems odd the word should be common in Ulster and nowhere else.—I am, Sir, &c., H. M. W.
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