The origins of this humorous expression of amazement is explained by EILEEN CASEY

 

Growing up in the midlands, it was inevitable ‘That beats Banagher’ or ‘That beats Banagher and Banagher beats the devil’ would surface often in robust conversation. As a child, I had no idea of its origin or how it spread globally….indeed, as far away as Bombay.

The provincial rapidly became the universal. William Maginn (1794-1841), editor of Fraser’s Magazine, was equally as puzzled. In 1835 he wrote that “he was baffled all through his life as to the origin of ‘That beats Banagher’.”

Maginn was extremely precocious, entering Trinity College, Dublin at the age of eleven. Among his associates were fellow Fraserians such as Coleridge, Thackeray, Southey, Macauly and Carlyle.

Maginn was keen on linguistics and philology. Fraser’s Magazine, February edition, 1835, reproduced a poem in rhyming couplets, called ‘Tour of Oliver Yorke’s Rhyming Cousin’. Among the hundreds of couplets is the following: ‘Come view Versailles with me and swear/It beats the world and Banagher.’

Thanks to the dedication of two local heritage advocates, James Scully and Kieran Keenaghan, the mystery of source is satisfactorily solved. Accompanied by a large measure of vigour and style in the process.

Meticulous research, original documentation and beautiful examples of cartography, hallmark this pleasing-to-the-eye hard back edition.

The phrase relates to a time when the borough of Banagher was available to buy or swop. Unfortunately, democracy did not always reign supreme when it came to electing representatives to the Irish Parliament.

The authors can also date the saying back to 1785 when the term appeared in ‘A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue’ by Francis Grose. This dictionary was a compilation of ‘slang and colloquial expressions.’

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own