I’m reading the latest Analog (or at least the one on top of my to-be-read pile, which grows faster than I can read it down, but which usually acts as a stack rather than a queue), and came across a story “Sand and Iron” by Michael Flynn. I noticed the name “Slugger O’Toole”, and immediately started thinking of the song “The Irish Rover”. And as I read further, I realized that all of the names in the story seemed to correspond to names in the song. Here is the mapping, in roughly the order they appear in the story:
| Story | Song |
|---|---|
| Nagaraj Hogan | Hogan, from Country Tyrone |
| Captain Amos January | ??? |
| Micmac Anne | Mick McCann from the Banks of the Bann |
| Slugger O’Toole | Slugger O’Toole, who was drunk as a rule |
| Maggie Barns (aka Maggie B) | Barnie McGee from the banks of the Lee |
| Fighting Bill Tirasi | Fighting Bill Tracy, from Dover |
| Johnny Mgurk | Johnny McGurk, who was scared stiff of work |
As you can see, I can’t figure out “Amos January”, and the only unused name in the song is “Malone”. And the Maggie B to Barnie McGee mapping isn’t exactly a slam dunk either. But everything else works so well, to the point where Mgurk hides from work as well.