One stylistic choice that James makes in “Two Gallants” is to accurately capture a Dublin dialect in the dialogue between Corley and Lenehan. He does this by including a significant amount of Irish slang, as seen in the following passage (when Corley tells Lenehan about his relationship with the maid):
– One night, man, he said, I was going along Dame Street and I spotted a fine tart under Waterhouse’s clock and said good-night, you know. So we went for a walk round by the canal and she told me she was a slavey in a house in Baggot Street. I put my arm round her and squeezed her a bit that night […] one night she brought me two bloody fine cigars – O, the real cheese, you know, that the old fellow used to smoke.
When Corley refers to the maid as “a fine tart” he is using sexually objectifying slang meaning “attractive woman.” “Slavey” was Irish slang for a female servant or maid. (Though it sounds like “slave,” these women were paid, just very little.) When Corley says he “squeezed her a bit that night,” he means that he was sexual with the maid. He also uses the phrases “bloody fine” and “the real cheese” when describing the cigars the maid brought him, slang that translates as “excellent” or “the real deal.”
All of this place-specific language adds to the realism of the story—helping readers understand that “Two Gallants” accurately depicts the aimless and sad situation of many young Irish people in the early 20th century—and also shows the sorts of sexist language that the young men are comfortable using.
