When is an island an Inis and when is it an Oileán? In the second of our look at recurring words in Irish placenames, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar consider islands. Why do some inland locations have island-based names? Why are there three places in Ireland called Lady's Island, each with a different name in Irish? What about the island that Charles J Haughey bought in the Gaeltacht - does anyone know how that got its name? For some reason, University Challenge enters the discussion. --- Support ...
Jan 29, 2021•46 min•Ep. 162
A lot of placenames in Ireland begin with Kil-. Sometimes this is a reference to a church, sometimes it refers to a woodland. Sometimes both. What's going on? Did the early Christians steal holy sites from the pagan druids or something? In the first of a set of episodes, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar look at some of the recurring features in Irish placenames. This week it's Cill and Coill. There's also some discussion of the Luas Red Line, the airport bus, the Germans and fax machines. It's all q...
Jan 22, 2021•46 min•Ep. 161
2021 has gotten off to a fairly spicy start and yet again the spotlight has been shone on online communities in light of events in America But what makes one community a supportive safe space but another a radicalising echo chamber? Unrelated, perhaps, are a number of recent viral tweets where learners have told of disappointing experiences using Irish on social media. Is it fair to compare Irish speakers on social media to a noxious fanbase? Are Irish speakers on social media even a homogeneous...
Jan 15, 2021•44 min•Ep. 160
You may have see promos for Nicholas Cage's new show on Netflix all about swear words. Well, we had the idea first. While Darach was slaving over Christmas dinner, Peadar and Gearóidín sat down with Dr. Megan Figueroa from the Vocal Fries Podcast to discuss the history, politics and even the gendered nature of dirty words. Be warned this podcast contains wall-to-wall f*ks, b*ds, b**ks and more. Not for the fainthearted. Listen to Gearóidín's appearance on The Vocal Fries here: https://anchor.fm/...
Jan 08, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 159
As we take a break for Christmas and New Year, please enjoy this bonus clip from our recent Patreon discussion on all things Irish whiskey. For the full video and more visit https://www.patreon.com/darach Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 01, 2021•9 min
And so this is Christmas, and what have you done? Not much if you've been in lockdown, lad! Go easy on yourself and remember that getting this far has been an achievement in itself. This week Darach, Peadar and Gearóidín reflect on the year that was - highlights and lowlights online and offline. Will Wild Mountain Thyme be mentioned? Will there be speculation about the true identity of the TG4 intern? Will there be wild tangents when Darach tries to talk about Christmas? Only one way to find out...
Dec 23, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 158
As December staggers towards the manhole of time and we all wait for it to fall in, a lot of linguistically minded people around the world consider what the word of the year is. All the big dictionaries do. What word best describes these past twelve months? What words have people been using most frequently? And what new words have been added in this time? At Motherfoclóir we're not so different and in today's episode Peadar and Darach discuss 2020's foclóir nua and research by Kevin Scannell on ...
Dec 18, 2020•51 min•Ep. 157
Multinational companies like to appear somewhat local in each of the countries they are present in. This can take many forms, especially in the advertising that the business uses to communicate with the wider community. What do these ads say about the parties in that relationship? The sociologist Erving Goffman, in his influential research, wrote about how identity is deliberately performed, especially when it comes to language. What are the implications of this for Irish speakers and companies ...
Dec 11, 2020•49 min•Ep. 156
Bookshops and their proprietors thrive on browsers, on customers asking for recommendations,on book launches and on all the little interactions which the pandemic has robbed us of. So what's it like to run a bookshop in a pandemic? As well as being a Galway institution for eighty years, Kenny's Bookshop is a family business for three generations and counting. Tomás Kenny is part of that third generation. He tells Darach about the book business - battles with censors, noticing when a book has bee...
Dec 04, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 155
The Irish for chess is ficheall (wood wisdom). A gambit is fiontar…. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, or so they say. But what do we learn when we learn history? How do we interpret the change in a country like Ireland between two given dates and what to we attribute that change to? One of the prevailing theories is that the history of the world is ultimately the biographies of great individuals; their remarkable ingredients of character allowed them to become authors...
Nov 27, 2020•55 min•Ep. 154
She's the woman of the moment: after a sequence of acclaimed and award-winning poetry collections in both Irish and English, Clare poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa has delivered a sensational non-fiction book, "A Ghost In The Throat", nominated in two categories in the Irish Book Awards. In today's episode, Doireann joins Darach and Peadar to talk about her career. She chats about her first poems and the writers who inspire her, including her collaboration with Choctaw poet LeAnne Howe. She tells of the...
Nov 20, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 153
The romantic comedy, as we understand it, is a Hollywood form as specifically American as the Western, especially in how it shapes and exports America’s image of itself. Although romantic comedies were the favoured form of some of Hollywood’s most acclaimed writer-directors (like Frank Capra and Billy Wilder) in the mid 20th century, the genre has often been seen as lower prestige than those genres marketed at men. This was especially true in the first two decades of the 21st century when romant...
Nov 13, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 152
Louise O’Neill, Clonakilty’s literary superstar, has never been content to limit her phenomenal writing skills to a single genre. Her latest work, “After The Silence”, sees her apply her gift for world-building, Swiss-watch plot intricacy and clear-eyed empathy to the crime genre. Agatha Christie set her murder mysteries in spaces where a range of characters could neither get in or out, and O’Neill has chosen an especially fascinating stage for her tale: a Gaeltacht island off the coast of West ...
Nov 06, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 151
It’s that time of the year again when Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar turn out the lights, hold torches under their chins and tell spooky stories from around Ireland. Horror is, of course, often more about what you don’t see than what you do. What memories or untold dreads stir in your subconscious, woken by our tales of black rabbits, the League of Ireland, bishops in their libraries, supermarkets in Laois and mad monks? Detail on Irish fireworks laws are here: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...
Oct 30, 2020•56 min•Ep. 150
Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you’re destined for. But don’t hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you’re old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn't have set out. She has nothing left to give you now. Ithaca, C.P. Cavafy In Kerry, the sun sets over the ocean. As the county comes to terms with the possible loss ...
Oct 22, 2020•52 min•Ep. 149
Peig Sayers (1873 - 1958) is one of the most remarkable figures in twentieth century Ireland. Her journey to publication is a story of beating the odds. An outsider from the Dublin literary scene by geography, language, gender, education and even literacy (she could write in English but not Irish), she gives a glimpse at the multitude of stories that never got told in a rapidly changing Ireland. It is a story of hardship and personal tragedy, but tells of an extraordinary community and their sto...
Oct 15, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 148
Ever notice how Halloween is a month long nowadays? Darach and Peadar discuss the Irish names for months of the year and days of the week, as well as Halloween songs, whether we should rename January, working in a chocolate shop and the ancient Celtic festivals. And the word is poioumenon. Trust us, you'll get it later. If you're still reading this send me a voice memo <3 --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt...
Oct 08, 2020•43 min•Ep. 147
It’s not often that an eighteenth century poem finds itself in the news, but thanks to the rave reviews and public demand for Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s “A Ghost In The Throat”, this is the situation we are now in. Ní Ghríofa’s work is a memoir in which she considers her relationship with the masterpiece “Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire” and tries to discover the story of its author, Eibhlín Dhubh Ní Chonaill. How can the person who wrote the greatest poem of her century disappear from history? Why do we...
Oct 01, 2020•55 min•Ep. 146
Every human society has a tradition of bereavement and a tradition of language which, while technically bespoke to its particular needs, changes at a different speed to that society. So it goes with mourning as an immigrant or minority and so it goes with the condolences we pass on to the bereaved. As America and the world mourns the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a recurring debate returned - is it appropriate to say “rest in peace” to someone from a tradition with a different concept of the a...
Sep 24, 2020•47 min•Ep. 145
In this week’s episode, Peadar and Darach are visited by Manchán Magan, the creator of the Gaeilge Tamagotchi project, Gaeilge Amháin and author of “Thirty Two Words For Field”, his new book about the Irish language and the ecological and social wisdom contained in its precise vocabulary, wisdom that would be lost if the language is lost too. Manchán tells the lads about his travels, his encounters and even those plays he wrote. It's pure wild stuff so be sure to subscribe! --- Support Motherfoc...
Sep 17, 2020•42 min•Ep. 144
Once upon a time there was a young woman from Derry called Emma who loved dogs, baking and movies. She didn’t think about politics very often. Then she met a Californian called Jake and fell in love. She had no idea that she was about to find herself in the middle of a half-decade-long legal battle which would open a can of worms at a time when Anglo-Irish relations were already being tested. On today’s episode, Emma De Souza joins Darach and Gearóidín to talk about how applying for a residency ...
Sep 10, 2020•42 min•Ep. 143
Earlier this year when AOC guest starred in a Donkey Kong Twitch stream in which she declared trans rights to be human rights (while batting off criticism from greying 90s pop culture warhorses like Aaron Sorkin and Graham Linehan), it felt for many that a generational Rubicon had been crossed. Computer games. Físchluichí. They've come a long way since Darach was playing Pole Position on his Atari. In recent years games have reached a new level of technical sophistication such that ideas like st...
Sep 03, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 142
It's summer again. You know what that means. In this episode, Darach, Peadar and Gearóidín look at this year's hot takes about the Irish language --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ --- Contact the show: twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Learn more abo...
Aug 27, 2020•52 min•Ep. 141
Darach chats with musician and writer Thom Dunn about how perceptions of Irish America have evolved rapidly in his and his father’s lifetimes, and what he hopes Irish America will be like when his newborn is old enough to understand it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 20, 2020•51 min•Ep. 140
If you stood on Henry Street with a big smile and asked a hundred Dubliners who it was named after, it’s unlikely you’d get a single correct answer. If you walked into a history tutorial in one of the city’s finest universities and asked the students who Westmoreland was, you’d definitely get a few blank stares. And what’s the significance of Nassau Street - does Dublin have a Caribbean connection to celebrate? Is it unusual that Dubliners are so ambivalent about the origins of these street name...
Aug 13, 2020•50 min•Ep. 139
On the week that saw the world said goodbye to civil rights hero John Hume, today’s guest and topic feel especially apt. Maev McDaid is a Derry woman in London, completing a PhD on retired Irish people in that city, as well as being very active in Clapton Community FC. On today’s podcast she talks to Darach and Peadar about the problems with “the UK” as a concept, and how the confusing term raises issues for researchers, policy makers and discussion of local and national issues. When a young wom...
Aug 06, 2020•57 min•Ep. 138
Eid al-Adha shona daoibh! Why are some bilingual teenagers seen as a triumph of aspirational middle-class parenting, but others are treated as a problem to be solved? This is a matter that strikes to the heart of discussions around the Irish language as it forces us to think about what monolingualism and multilingualism really tell us about intelligence, culture and community. In today’s episode, Darach talks to writer and law student Fadilah Salawu. She talks about balancing her Muslim, Nigeria...
Jul 30, 2020•39 min•Ep. 137
Taylor Swift broke the Irish Internet today when she wore a geansaí. It launched a thousand versions of the same joke - she looked a bit like one of the Clancy Brothers. In today's BONUS episode we look at the history of the Aran sweater, what knitters know that the others don't, diddly-eye erasure and much more. --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ --- Contact the show: twitter - @mot...
Jul 24, 2020•36 min•Ep. 136
Back in episode #74, Darach and Clodagh discussed Scots Gaelic in general and a book of transgressive verse called “An Leabhar Liath” in particular. One poem they shared - Bhruadair mi leat a-raoir - got a particularly huge response from listeners and the wider twitter community. Nearly eighteen months later, Motherfoclóir has finally managed to track down the poet who created it. Niall O’Gallagher/Niall Ó Gallchóir is a journalist for BBC Alba by day and a poet by night, as well as being Glasgo...
Jul 23, 2020•42 min•Ep. 135
Tea. It’s a national obsession - just ask Irish emigrants to America about the first time they tred to get their hands on a kettle. While the infusion of tea leaves in hot water might unite the city dweller from her country cousin, the tiny differences in the way it’s prepared can speak volumes. This week Darach chats to Sligo’s Laura Gaynor, formerly the tea critic with Raidió na Life. She tells Darach about how she landed in Dublin’s hippest radio station and the doors it opened for her, how l...
Jul 16, 2020•31 min•Ep. 134
