Preposition soup of directions from Moville
This was rescued from the old CraicOn website and is from 2007.
Moville Directions
I was talking to a well-known local couple recently and told them that I had gone up to Greencastle.
“You don’t go up to Greencastle” they said. “You go down to Greencastle”.
“Even though it’s north of here?” I asked.
“Yes”, they replied.
Moville Directions
They had previously corrected me when I said I was going down to Derry (Well, you are going south).
It seems that you go up to Derry rather than down.
Upside Down
So, is the whole of the map of Ireland turned upside down, I wondered.
“What about Dublin?” I asked. “Would you go up to Dublin”.
“No you wouldn’t” was the reply. “You would go down to Dublin”.
Belfast
“What about Belfast” I asked. “Would you up or down there?”.
There was a little conversation there before it was agreed that you would go up to Belfast.
So, to get to Dublin you would have to go up to Derry, then up again to Belfast and then down to Dublin.
Carn
Confused?
I certainly was.
“What about Carn?” I asked. “Up or down”.
“Neither” was the reply. “You would go out to Carn – unless you were going from Gleneely from where you would go in to Carn”.
Buncrana
“So, presumably you would go out to Buncrana, then” I said, feeling that I was now getting this.
“No, you would go over to Buncrana” was the reply.
“What about Magilligan or Portrush?”
It seems that you would go ‘across’ to Magilligan but ‘over’ to Portrush – after going down to Greencastle of course.
Muff
“What about Muff?” I asked. Would you go up or down to Muff”?
It seems that you would do neither. You would go ‘through’ Muff.
Donegal Town
“Now what about Donegal Town”, I wondered. “Would you out to Donegal Town like Carn, or over to Donegal town like Buncrana”?
“Neither” was the reply. “You would be ‘away’ to Donegal Town”.
No Logic
You work it out – I can’t.
There doesn’t seem any logic in it.
For the benefit of outsiders it would be useful if someone could produce a map of Donegal with arrows between the different places and the preposition used sitting above the connecting arrows.
Just so we don’t get lost.
Anyone know if I should go out, over, up, down or be away to Letterkenny?