Meaning of "hawkin' twang" and "traycle depot" Hello. What does it mean here? "Come listen to my story, it's about a nice young man When the militia wasn't a wantin', he dealt in hawkin' twang He lov

Search from various English teachers...

Razororjkee

Meaning of "hawkin' twang" and "traycle depot" Hello. What does it mean here? "Come listen to my story, it's about a nice young man When the militia wasn't a wantin', he dealt in hawkin' twang He loved a lovely maiden as fair as any midge And she kept a traycle depot one side of the Carlisle bridge Well, another one came a courtin' her and his name was Mickey Baggs" This is from old Irish song "The Twang Man"

Aug 1, 2020 5:25 AM

Answers · 5

I'm no Dubliner, but I can try and help you out. Hopefully you'll get an answer from someone that is Irish and knows what they're talking about. I think twang means toffee, as far as I remember. Hawkin' is an abbreviation of Hawking and means selling (to sell). He was selling toffee. I think that the Traycle depot is some kind of shop that she owned near Carlisle Bride, but I'm not 100% sure about what kind of shop. Maybe a Treacle shop, or a sweet shop? That is a guess though. Just so you know this is a hard song to translate because it's full of a lot of very Dublin specific slang.

August 1, 2020

THE TWANGMAN (C.O'L.,1, p.231) — A lighthearted murder story from the middle of the last century. I am told that twang man was a kind of sweetmeat (Partridge's definition cannot be admitted to holy Ireland) and that Treacle Billy was a kind of toffee made from treacle. Carlisle Bridge is now O'Connell Bridge.

Aug 18, 2025 10:46 PM

Still haven’t found your answers?

Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!