About the English Language

I was born into an Irish family living in London. This has left me with an Irish name, an English voice and an extra trove of words and phrases that have passed down from the Irish language.

Cat (a): dreadful, no good, awful, very bad. Or for a more emphatic version, Cat melodeon (Sounds like 'melojen')

gossoon Irish a boy [C17:fromOldFrenchgararçon]

Few will be surprised to discover that Shakespeare (transcribed Shashibiya) never visited China. Nor was his work widely known there until comparatively recently.