By way of an explanation...

"We gave up our language, and that created a kind of scission that has never healed," he says early one recent Sunday morning over a glass of water. "But it has produced an extraordinarily rich and pliant literary tool in what we call Hiberno-English. People think it's English, but it's not. My theory is that the Irish language is a very oblique language; it's a means of evasion rather than communication. So it's a very poetic language. We're a very basic people. We don't like to say things directly, we don't like telling the truth."

Bert Archer takes stock of the state of Irish literature in today's Star. The International Authors Festival at Harbourfront is focusing this year on the Emerald Isle. The above quote is from author John Banville. I find it curious as I have always explained my style of writing in similar terms to those (few) who complain they have no idea what I'm saying in my in-paper columns. I, however, never knew the style had a label...so I'm a Hiberno-English writer. Sweetness. I guess I had better start communicating in Canuckster English otherwise I may lose my vast and learned audience.