It's Mickey's

 When we moved here, we sometimes started going to the grocery store in the next village, which is about 1 1/4 miles from us. On one side of the building, it says 'Gallagher's' and as I recall, that's how the letting agent referred to it when we came to look at this place. But from the first time we went there, we were puzzled about what these words meant:

I knew 'siopa' is 'shop,' but what about the word underneath? I looked in three different Irish dictionaries. Nothing. I tried online. Nope. I experimented with other possible spellings--Irish words sometimes change depending on what comes before them, so I looked up every alternative I could think of and I came up short. I finally remembered to ask the bus driver, who grew up here, what the word means. It's Mickey. This used to be Mickey's Shop until the Gallagher family came back from the US and bought it. They expanded it, but when they redid it, they put Mickey's name back on the building. 

The bus driver talked a bit about Mickey and the practice of calling people by three names. For example, there is a bar/restaurant in Dungloe called Patrick Johnny Sally's. Since many people have the same names, they add on the names of the mother and father. This reminded me of when I was in Village, Alaska. When children would come to play with my friend's grandson and my friend didn't know them, she would always ask, 'Who's your mother?' Not once did she ask, 'Who are you?' or 'What's your name?' 

The specifics are different but both of these examples serve to identify people in a certain way--within their family unit. This makes sense in a village, particularly when there are people going away for a time and then coming back again. I am not sure whether this practice still goes on in larger towns or the few cities that exist in Ireland. I never noticed it until we got to Dungloe, even though we lived in very small towns. Here in the Gaeltacht, though, there are cultural differences that are sometimes subtle. The anthropologist part of my brain is quite drawn to these and I find them interesting. It's just a different vibe, even as there are commonalities as well.

Anyway, now we know that it's either Mickey's Shop or Gallagher's, depending on who is doing the talking or which side of the building we stand on! 😉

Share