The Waterford Dictionary

At his age, Vincent O'Toole did not need such a shock. He's 80 years of age, a hotel keeper in Waterford city, and in his former occupation of master mariner he must have come across a brothel or two. If what they say about sailors is true, of course.

Imagine arriving at that ripe old age, comfortably semi-retired, minding your own business, and then it all crashes down. Out of the blue, a guest arrives late at night, you let him in because that's how you run your hotel, quite friendly-like, and the next thing you know, the guest is asking about the girls. Not once, mind, but over and over again. Men arriving at all hours, ringing the bell, waking up the house, looking for a room and a paid companion.

On the web, and reported in the Sunday World, was a website that supposedly was a Waterford-English dictionary. All in fun, of course, as the people of Waterford are perfectly capable of communicating clearly. What came through loud and clear from the item lifted from the website and cited in the article was the definition of The Maryland, which happens to be the name of Mr. O'Toole's hotel. According to the website, and explained in the newspaper, that is reputed to be a local term for a brothel, taken from an "infamous hotel in the red light district of Waterford city."

Despite the fact that men were calling at all hours, counsel for the defense tried to argue that a reasonable person would see that the article was a spoof, perhaps in poor taste, but not to be taken seriously. However, there were those who did indeed take it seriously, and Mr. O'Toole was repeatedly calling the Garda to roust the randy rascals.

Mr. O'Toole was awarded 50,000 euro in court, with a jury of his peers agreeing that he had been libelled. The gentleman is absolutely not a brothel-keeper, as was implied by the article, and anyone reporting on such nonsense had best check the facts. It isn't much of an award, and the Sunday World did issue an apology, but Mr. O'Toole has been vindicated.

Anyone looking for the location of the red light district in Waterford city would be wise to double check the results of a Google search. What was on the website is now in print, a vanity publication, and anything self-published must be regarded with a great deal of scepticism.