Irish Translation Forum

On a northern dialect site I came across this phrase which is really quirky!


Comh práidhneach le madadh ag baindheis
As busy as a dog at a wedding



I suppose it must have related to times when dogs lived off scraps- then on a wedding day there would be loads of left-overs?

Any other ideas

Would there be a few bitches around?


where is Tadgh these days?

that's a good one...think your description might be right

on the site I suggested about Irish culture there were a lot of odd wedding customs that really scare me off of the idea of getting married there...

I don't want to have shoes thrown at me and then get cake smeared on my head by my mother-in-law! The oats and salt I could deal with...

Although I must say Germany is just as bad with their 'Polterabend'. The night before the wedding the people invited to the wedding throw old porcelain against the front of the house of the couple to be married, or a pub where a pre-wedding party is. The bride and groom have to sweep up the mess no matter what the weather - in snow it's a huge bother! The people in the village are also invited to play along, and whoever throws something has to get invited in by the groom to have drinks until the whole mess is cleaned up!

Okay, useless nonsense post number 1001 by me, sorry folks

I do lean to the food aspect, first. Just had a thought (i have so few)

dogs sense of smell is thousands of times stronger than ours. Can you imagine the dogs running around smelling all the new people, where they have been & so on?

C-

YEAh Brilliant idea Corvus

Pól wrote:Would there be a few bitches around?

At a wedding? All those bitter unmarried aunts? Of course. Couldn't resist.

Back to writing now.

Patrice

All those people posing for photos, looking straight ahead at the camera...all those legs standing still...

blah
I don't want dogs on my wedding

but maybe the phrase means that dogs have to smell all the new (and old ) people AND eat all those left-overs together
and maybe do something else too
who knows what a dog has on it's litle mind

A chairde,

They'd be there for the drink (sorry, make that 'food') and to settle old scores, of course. Hmmm...

Seriously, Pól, I haven't come across that expression myself but it has a nice sort of Donegal feel to it, all right. I'll make enquiries to see what I can find out about it.

Seriously, I think it has to do with scraps but not in the sense of scavenging for them. At weddings people usually give the family dog a bit of food off their plates. Therefore, the dog is 'busy' because he's going around getting as much 'free' food as anyone is willing to slip under the table. That's my take on the expression for what it's worth.

Yeah, mine too. Plus, if you've ever watched a dog go at leftovers, they snarf them down like there's no tomorrow. Mine do!! Give a dog a leftover and then throw him something else, he either leaves the first one to see if the other one is better, or gobbles it down so he can move on. PLUS, if he's a friendly dog, maybe he's socializing