Leana mo chroi's dog (just like)

PMBC · 29-08-2018 10:30am #1

Im wondering if anyone remembers this phrase; used in newspaper in mid 60s, I think, and possibly by West of Ireland journalist John Healy.
I do understand the original Irish - leanbh mo chroi - and its use in this phrase to mean everyman/everywoman.
It went something like ....'just like leana' mo chroi's dog, going down the road a bit with everyone' and I think referrred to politicians who tried to please everyone.
Can anyone refresh my memory?

Jellybaby1 · 29-08-2018 3:27pm

I would have translated 'leanbh mo chroi' as 'child of my heart', or 'the child I love', but then my Irish is very poor.

kildarejohn · 03-09-2018 10:53am

PMBC wrote: »

I do understand the original Irish - leanbh mo chroi - and its use in this phrase to mean everyman/everywoman.
It went something like ....'just like leana' mo chroi's dog, going down the road a bit with everyone' and I think referrred to politicians who tried to please everyone.
Can anyone refresh my memory?

I heard the phrase in conversation in 1970's/80's. But I would not have thought that "leana mo chroi" was used to mean "everyman". From the way I heard it used, I thought "leana mo chroi" referred to a child or childish person. So "leana mo chroi's dog" would have been a dog that was poorly trained and would follow any stranger on the road.

CrabRevolution · 05-09-2018 10:08pm

"Leanbh mo chroí" as said above is literally "child of my heart", and would be synonymous with "beloved" or "darling". I'd find it very strange for a very specific and strong term of affection to be used to refer to a generic everyman.

There must be a mistranslation or someone got the wrong end of the stick somewhere. "Leana" doesn't seem to appear in any Irish dictionaries. It's most likely a form of "lean" which is follow (which would kinda fit with the dog up the road phrase), but i can't find any instances of it anywhere.

There's also a chance it's a phonetically written version of some accents pronunciation of "leanfadh" or "leanadh" but the first would make no sense grammatically, and the second would give "leanadh mo chroí", or "The following of my heart".

pedroeibar1 · 06-09-2018 12:34pm

CrabRevolution wrote: »

"Leanbh mo chroí" as said above is literally "child of my heart", and would be synonymous with "beloved" or "darling". I'd find it very strange for a very specific and strong term of affection to be used to refer to a generic everyman.

I agree the expression is "Leanbh mo chroí". I’ve never heard of the idiom 'just like leana' mo chroi's dog, going down the road a bit with everyone' nor indeed of ‘Leanbh mo chroí’ or variations being used as a term of anything other than endearment. It also appears quite frequently as a term of endearment in Hiberno-English literature and song.

kildarejohn · 06-09-2018 3:07pm

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

I I’ve never heard of the idiom 'just like leana' mo chroi's dog, going down the road a bit with everyone' .

Pedro may not have heard it, but confirmation that the saying is a very old one is provided by the following entry from the Duchas Schools Collection (c. 1939) https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4770038/4768539/4817158
"A person who was over-anxious to please everyone was said to be ''like Lanna Mochree's dog'' who went part of the road with everyone."
The use of capital letters suggests that "Lanna Mochree" was perhaps a particular character in a song or story well known at that time.

pedroeibar1 · 07-09-2018 12:03pm

Good find KJ.

PW Joyce (he of the Placenames book) in his ‘English as we speak it in Ireland’ (1910) in Chapter VIII has

A person who is too complaisant—over anxious to please everyone—is 'like Lanna Mochree's dog—he will go a part of the road with everyone.' (Moran Carlow.) (A witness said this of a policeman in the Celbridge courthouse—Kildare—last year, showing that it is still alive.)

It must have been rare in 1910 for PW Joyce to specifically mention that it was still alive.

Dolan’s Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English does not mention the dog but has several examples of allanna mo chroí/variations being used only as a term of endearment and quotes O’Casey, James Joyce and Kickham as using it that manner.

James Joyce in Ulysses uses a similar expression but has “ like Lanty McHale’s goat”.

PMBC · 09-09-2018 3:21pm

Thanks for that. Thought for while there I might have dreamed it up.

skinthegoat · 17-08-2021 10:57pm

My late mother, born 1904, used the phrase "He'd go a bit of the road with anyone, like Lanty McHales's dog" all her life, to describe a person whose expressed opinions altered to match those of the person they were talking to. Joyce used the same construction in 'Portrait.'

Leana mo chroi's dog (just like)

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