Flitterjigs

Flitterjigs is a description of an item of clothing that is in tatters or ribbons. This word has its origins in the 19th century English spoken in county Donegal in north west of Ireland where the local people are reckoned to possess the largest lexicon of both English and Gaelic in Ireland. Unused for over a century, the word experienced a renaissance in the early 1990s when it was seized upon by a group of middle class Dubliners and a rogue Clareman and subsequently used as an endearing icon of their rapidly fading heritage.

ources

*Traynor, Michael, 1953. The English Dialect of Donegal, A Glossary, Incorporating the Collections of H. C. Hart, M.R.I.A. (1847-1980), Dublin: The Royal Irish Academy.