The people have an almost superstitious dislike for both: they are considered unlucky.
'I'll make him scratch where he doesn't itch': meaning I'll punish him sorely in some way. (Moran: Carlow.)
When flinging an abusive epithet at a person, 'you' is often put in twice, first as an opening tip, and last as a finishing home blow:—'What else could I expect from your like, you unnatural vagabone, you!'
'I'm afraid he turns up his little finger too often'; i.e.—he is given to drink: alluding to the position of the hand when a person is taking a glass.
My neighbour Jack Donovan asked me one day,
How many strawberries grew in the say;
I made him an answer as well as I could,
As many red herrings as grew in the wood.
When a person is obliged to utter anything bordering on coarseness, he always adds, by way of a sort of apology, 'saving your presence': or 'with respect to you.'