Greetings and salutations

Sir, – Over the last 65 years, my older siblings have reminded me of my response, as a four-year-old, to a close elderly neighbour in Co Wexford, who would regularly enquire, “How are you?” My response invariably was, “I’m better, thanks”, no doubt influenced by my grandmother’s ailing health, and copying her response. After a time, my siblings used say to me, in a traditional Wexford saying, “You must be quare well by now.” My response quickly ceased. – Yours, etc,

IVAN DEACON,

Templeogue,

Dublin 16.

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Sir, – On a cold and windy St Stephen’s Day, I met an old friend, originally from Mountmellick, who greeted me with, “That’s no day to even put the fox out of the henhouse.” – Yours, etc,

IAN ELLIOTT,

Belfast.