Sir, – Further to Frank McNally's "The lost art of paper pushing" (An Irishman's Diary, September 4th), the custom of newspaper boys calling out their wares in the street has not died out in Ireland.
On a recent visit to Cork I heard the sound of “Eeco” all over the city centre as the “Echo Boys”, as they are known, sold their papers on the streets. A very evocative sound indeed for someone brought up in that city, although I wonder what the tourists make of it. – Yours, etc,
JJ MURPHY,
Glencormac,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – All of us from Cork will surely remember the particular call of the Evening Echo boys. It sounded like "Aye yack ooh wah". – Yours, etc,
NED MONAGHAN,
Siwanoy Lane,
New Canaan,
Connecticut.
Sir, – When I was growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I can well recall that the cry of one particular paper boy who would ply his trade walking the length and breadth of Dún Laoghaire’s George’s Street – a then bustling thoroughfare – was “Heral-a-Mail-or-Prezz”. I can state this without fear of contradiction, for I was that newsboy! – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Beacon Hill,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
