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In EilÃs Dillonâs novel The Bitter Glass, set in west Co Galway during the Irish Civil War, there is a line of dialogue that is quietly extraordinary in showing some of the turns the English language has taken in Ireland: âWasnât it herself told me ye were coming today . . .â
Few Irish people would bat an eyelid at this â or pause to deconstruct it, such is the storyâs momentum. And it borders on cryptic for readers uninitiated in Irish English dialect; certainly its nuances and cadences are likely to be lost en route. So humour me while I marvel at some of its features.