Greetings to everyone who is struggling and for all those for whom life is going swimmingly, you are all welcome to the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
We might discuss it later, but one of the Bluffer’s rúin na hAthbhliana - new year’s resolutions is to get back to ag snámh - swimming.
The Bluffer has fond memories of his uncle’s attempts to teach him how to swim in the old Falls Baths. He well remembers boladh an chlóirín - the smell of chlorine, cultacha snámha déanta as olann - swimming costumes made out of wool, an phleist bhoilg - the belly flop as inexperienced swimmers landed in the water with the grace of an elephant on e-tabs.
On the other hand, there were the Pound Loney Mike Phelpses who swam with grace and power that made landlubbers like me green with envy.
It didn’t matter what they were doing, but it the snámh brollaigh - breastsroke, an crágshnámh - the front crawl, an snámh droma - the backstroke or, the weirdest of all, an snámh féileacáin - the butterfly.
Then there were the long poles that the gardaí tarrthála - lifeguards would use to haul in any miscreants who refused to leave the pool at the designated time.
This was of course, before the Falls Baths was transformed into the Falls Leisure Centre.
The old building had folcadáin - baths, because opening in 1896 in one of the more deprived areas of the city, it was a time when the local population lived in two-up, two-down houses, bhí an t-airgead gann - money was scarce, bhí an dífhostaíocht an-ard - unemployment was huge and the idea of having a bathroom as opposed to a small room with a WC would have seemed like the lap of luxury.
Many people will remember as children being washed in a tin bath in their little living rooms while The Black and White Minstrel Show was on the television.
If you didn’t have a tin bath, then you would go to the Baths to have a, em, bath once a week or a fortnight.
As we say in Irish, is den ghlóir an ghlaineacht - cleanliness is next to Godliness and the Sunlight soap took you a step further up to heaven while the Jeyes Fluid kept your surroundings clean.
Things were primitive for the swimmers too, as Brian O’Neill (of Slugger O’Toole fame) wrote in Belfast History (although he’d be too young to remember: “Patrons of the swimming pool were issued with a similar towel and a pair of swimming trunks consisting of two triangles of rough red material emblazoned with the name of the Corporation. Two corners of the triangles had been sewn together while the third had tapes for tying the pants at the side.
“These trunks came in three sizes and their cut was so economical that if the customer got a small pair, decency was barely satisfied.”
Nowadays, the Falls Baths (or the swimmers as we called it) is a stunning building (especially at night) and the thoughts of having a sauna and a steam room would have been beyond the imagination of the doffers and the other mill workers who toiled around it. Times have deffo changed for the better.
Cúpla Focal
rún na hAthbhliana (rooin ne hahvleeana) - new year’s resolutions
ag snámh (ag snaow) - swimming
boladh an chlóirín (buloo un khloreen) - the smell of chlorine
cultacha snámha déanta as olann (cultaha snaowa janta as olan) - swimming costumes made out of wool
an phleist bhoilg (un flesht willig) - the belly flop
snámh brollaigh (snaow brollee) - breastsroke
an crágshnámh (un cragnaow) - the front crawl
an snámh droma (un snaow droma) - the backstroke
an snámh féileacáin (un snaow felakaan) - the butterfly
gardaí tarrthála (gardee tarhaala) - lifeguards
folcadáin (folcadaan) - baths
bhí an t-airgead gann (vee un targid gaan) - money was scarce
bhí an dífhostaíocht an-ard (vee un jee-awsteeakht an-ard) - unemployment was huge
is den ghlóir an ghlaineacht (iss den glore un glinyakht) - cleanliness is next to Godliness
