IRISH WIT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 132, 27 January 1932, Page 2

IRISH WIT

DOES IT. SURVIVE • • • -'V.'H IRELANI) BECOMfNG MODERN SAYS 'NOTED^ IRISH AUTHQR. * INFECTED BY MECHANICAL AGE Liam O'Flaherty, noted Irish author, was asked, "Are the Irish as witty as ever?" — and he is doubtfui'.' The Irish still h&ve more leigure than the English, for instan'ce ; ' aiid ccrtainly they place a' far higher value o.i leisure than the • Americans,., the Fcench, the Germans, or the' F'iveY ear-Planned Russians.' ' * .THCref ore, they are easily 'more 5 witty ihah • all tliese peoples, O'Flaherty writes. But I doubt very much if they are' as witty themselves' for they are beconr.ng infected with this niodern bug of intensive labour. The whole civilised world is becoming an unattractive lunatic asylum, in which there is only room for machines and mechanical noises; even to the extent of abolishing conversation in favour of the radio, . And I can see the day not far ah'ead. when even the Irish will buy wibeless sets and pay yearly subscriptions'' in order to have dull foreigners to do their talking for them. Less Talk in Tr eland. • •' They, talk less in Ireland now, in common with the rest of Europe. Of course, in America, they never talk at all and have not done so for yearsj just that yelling thdt might go on between two people riding at^ftinety rniles an hour on a motor cycle. And this is very sad, for I think the old lioman provefb abolit eating and living should be changed td':"*'We do not talk to live. but we live to talk." In Ireland, before the Shannoll scheme and the Hospital Sweepstake turned us into a Big Business tJdmmunity, we lived to talk and that was the origin of our wit. Recently I was at a well known Dublin tavern, where it is dangerous to sit unless one enjoys a constant bombardment of quips and irans. There I saw a famous wit at table, staring at two half-crowns. One was a Free State coin with a 'horse as motto. The other was an ^English piece, adorned with his" Majesty's head. The two coins lay side by side, with the man staring at them in silence. He sat thus for a long time, until at last he had attraeted everyone's attentio.n. Then he sighed, and said in a m'elancholy fashion. "The Sport' of ' kings." Within twenty-four hours every ■ ambitious fellow in Dublin that could :

•: ' -V . x find two half-crowns and an audience Was repeating this same Wittieism. •(-. Sad Cometjians. ». .• On the other hand, the wit df the plain multitude is» "spontaneous ahd impossible to repeat. .1 don't'mean the wit of that , artificial Irishman with the |pig and the ciay pipe,! whb nevqr really>- -nxisted at-.->all,- exeeptwhen he dressed up during the tourist seaSon to play that part in the neighbourhood t)f big hotels and at the Abbey Theatre. . . The reaf Trish wit is not at all a funny fellow; " Like all" true' eomedians, he fs a sbur, meian'dholy, bitter ikan, who ean't belp being"- witty, even \Vhen h'e jnfet" ldoks. at ydu withoht saying a word. * For wit -is- a critic-ikm'-of life, and- more especialiy of huihah follyf which' is bf^en so 'far beyond wdrds 'that only the raising of an, eyebrow bari describd it. ■- The form of wit' 'T like b'esfis that twisting of^ sp'eech which 'is peculiar to our people;. using ' extraordinary phi*ases to "d'escribe'some comnidn or garden thing. l* "" ' I 'Keard'a' Dublin slum dweller refer to a perambulator as "a matrimonial wheelbarrdw.-^ ■ * • • 1 . i can imagine, of course, some some- \ thing worse might happen than the cpmplete disaippearance of our wit. We might standardise -that also and market it to Europe and America as the mass product of a heavy industry. v The most profpund philosophy of life was uttered by a humorous but lazy fellow I knew at home. Seeing him at work one day in a field, I congratulated him; on his energy, for he was digging at a great rate. He halted suddenly, leaned on his spade, and said: "Why?" Did ye realiy think I was in earnest about itf'V. V * "Of course:" ; : • / • •. .'Faithj heen, yelre wrong," he said, "for;' I'm only joking. it's not my own-

field\ at alb.i..; J m. only passmg ttie time, for I had nobody to talk to."

— xr. wr--77^— . • .• : The memorial to be er'ected at Waitara to the memory of the late Sir Maui Pomare will take th'e form of four columns rising from the tomb containing the casket. These columns tak'e on" the ajjp'earance of Mabfi wai- • cahoes, ■ cleverly- conibinirtg' a sliggestibn ' of European' and Mabri culture. The memorial has hberi- desigued by Mr. Llewellyn E. Williams, A.R.I.B.A., of Wellington. Th6 Government,« in conjunction '>with 'the Maori' "Trust Board, have" the matter in' hand. It' is pos'sible that: the '-niemorial as originally designed will have to be somewhat lesserted in size owing to the eost, bpt it is considered that this"can be done without detractiiig from its dignity and grace.