In like manner with the pronouns _sé_, _sí_ (he, she), of which the accusatives _é_ and _í_ are in certain Irish constructions (correctly) used for the nominative forms, which accusative forms are (incorrectly) imported into English. _Do chonnairc mé Seadhán agus é n'a shuidhe_, 'I saw Shaun and _him_ sitting down,' i.e. 'as he was sitting down.' So also 'don't ask me to go and _me_ having a sore foot.' 'There's the hen and _her_ as fat as butter,' i.e. 'she (the hen) being as fat as butter.'
The little phrase 'the way' is used among us in several senses, all peculiar, and all derived from Irish. Sometimes it is a direct translation from _amhlaidh_ ('thus,' 'so,' 'how,' 'in a manner'). An old example of this use of _amhlaidh_ in Irish is the following passage from the _Boroma_ (_Silva Gadelica_):--_Is amlaid at chonnaic [Concobar] Laigin ocus Ulaid mán dabaig ocá hól_: 'It is how (or 'the way') [Concobar] saw the Lagenians and the Ulstermen [viz. they were] round the vat drinking from it.' _Is amhlaidh do bhi Fergus_: 'It is thus (or the way) Fergus was [conditioned; that his shout was heard over three cantreds].'
This same sense is also seen in the expression, 'this is the way I made my money,' i.e. 'this is how I made it.'
When this expression, 'the way,' or 'how,' introduces a statement it means ''tis how it happened.' 'What do you want, James?' ''Tis the way ma'am, my mother sent me for the loan of the { 36} shovel.' This idiom is very common in Limerick, and is used indeed all through Ireland.
Very often 'the way' is used in the sense of 'in order that':--'Smoking carriages are lined with American cloth _the way_ they wouldn't keep the smell'; 'I brought an umbrella _the way_ I wouldn't get wet'; 'you want not to let the poor boy do for himself [by marrying] _the way_ that you yourself should have all.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) You constantly hear this in Dublin, even among educated people.
Sometimes the word _way_ is a direct translation from the Irish _caoi_, 'a way,' 'a road'; so that the common Irish salutation, _Cad chaoi bh-fuil tu_? is translated with perfect correctness into the equally common Irish-English salute, 'What way are you?' meaning 'How are you?'
'This way' is often used by the people in the sense of 'by this time':--'The horse is ready this way,' i.e. 'ready by this time.' (Gerald Griffin, 'Collegians.')