Scots Gaelic Poem in Praise of Snuff

Just found this in Michael Newton’s The Naughty Little Book of Gaelic (Cape Breton University Press: 2014). This Ode to a Snuff Box was first printed in 1780, but Newton says it could well be older. It’s originally in Gaelic, but I’ve omitted that here.

Welcome to you, O box

And your good powder along with you:

Good, sharp, brown tobacco

Which causes a workhorse to fart.

Stripped, crushed and roasted:

It will sidestep the nose

And reach the brain:

It will revive the spirit of the old woman

Who lost it seven years previous.

There is no disease of the blood

Or repeated swelling

Or any nature of sickness

In a person

Thanks for that. Snuff was highly popular in the Highlands because the weather made it hard to smoke they say.

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The work horse reminds me of an old Spoonerism.

What is the difference between a knights steed and a brewery dray horse ?

A knights steed darts into the fray.

A brewery horse farts into the dray.

:)) =))

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Nice one! I feared turning 40 this year, but woke up the next day and found I was still able to laugh at fart jokes. :))

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@ArgentOrangeOK

40 years is nothing to worry about.   

 I just worked out, I was told that joke by my physics teacher in 1970.      That was 47 years ago. 

It seems to have stood the test of time.

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