O, My Dimber Wapping Dell
White thy fambles, Red thy gan!
Wait, what?
Find out what this phrase and much more means in this episode as we continue our discussion of "Proteus," the third episode in James Joyce's Ulysses. Topics covered in this show include: what Stephen means by "red Egyptians," background on the Romani and Irish Travellers, Stephen's class insecurity, Terry Pratchett's Mort, strolling morts more generally, the distinct language of Romani and the Travellers, The Our Father in Shelta, the secret language of thieves in 17th c. England, strolling morts, The Rogue's Delight, she-fiends, bawd pimps, whores, an example of too-polite annotations, Stephen's morose delectation, Thomas Aquinas' nicknames, and Stephen's realization that all words are his comrades.
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Poetry in Ulysses: White Thy Fambles, Red Thy Gan
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Media Mentioned in This Episode:
Rothenburg's translation of the Rogue's Delight
Stuff You Should Know, How Gypsies Work
Further Reading & Listening:
Ahlstrom, D. (2017, Feb 9). Travellers as ‘genetically different’ from settled Irish as Spanish. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/travellers-as-genetically-different-from-settled-irish-as-spanish-1.2969515
Bakker, Peter. (2002). An early vocabulary of British Romani (1616): A linguistic analysis. Romani Studies. 12. 10.3828/rs.2002.4. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20111004125822/http://www.marston.co.uk/RSPP/LUPRSV012P02A00075.pdf
Budgen, F. (1972). James Joyce and the making of Ulysses, and other writings. London: Oxford University Press.
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Johnson, S. (2011, Nov 14). Gypsy Paradise Lost. Vice. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/ppqp3z/gypsy-paradise-lost-0000047-v18n11
Keefe, A. (2016, Aug 17). Life With the Irish Travellers Reveals a Bygone World. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2016/08/irish-travellers-uphold-the-traditions-of-a-bygone-world/
O’Leary, P. (2017, Sep 13). We Travellers must take a stand against racism, for the sake of our children. The Guardian.Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/13/travellers-racism-hate-speech-discrimination-irish
Reidy, J. (2017, Aug 11). The harmful history of “Gypsy.” Bitch Media. Retrieved from https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/gypsy-slur-netlflix
Russell, C. (2017, Feb 9). Study on ancestry of Irish Travellers details genetic connection to settled community. The Journal. Retrieved from https://www.thejournal.ie/traveller-community-study-rcsi-3231070-Feb2017/
Van Huygen, M. (2016, Sep 20). Uncovering Thieves’ Cant, the Elizabethan Slang of the Underworld. Mental Floss. Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/article/86148/uncovering-thieves-cant-elizabethan-slang-underworld