The children were great pets with their grandmother: 'She wouldn't let anyone look crooked at them': i.e. she wouldn't permit the least unkindness.
'Can he read a Latin book?' 'Read one! why, he can write Latin books, let alone reading them.' Let alone in this sense very common all over Ireland.
A person offers to do you some kindness, and you accept it jokingly with 'Sweet is your hand in a pitcher of honey.' (Crofton Croker.)
When a man falls into error, not very serious or criminal—gets drunk accidentally for instance—the people will say, by way of extenuation:—''Tis a good man's case.'
You may be sure Tim will be at the fair to-morrow, dead or alive or a-horseback.
'You never spoke but you said something': said to a person who makes a silly remark or gives foolish advice. (Kinahan).
'He will never comb a grey hair': said of a young person who looks unhealthy and is likely to die early.
Two persons had an angry dispute; and one word borrowed another till at last they came to blows. Heard everywhere in Ireland.
The robin and the wren are God's cock and hen.