Motherfocloir

With thanks to the Bram Stoker Festival, the Motherfoclóir Podcast was resurrected for one afternoon in October 2022 to discuss the translation of Dracula into Irish by Seán Ó Cuirreáin. In this recording of last year's live show Darach is joined by Peadar and Siún as they consider the different motives of the politicians who commissioned the translation and the writer asked to carry out the work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Motherfocloir is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network and there are lots of other shows on the network we think you might like. Words To That Effect is a show that tells stories of the fiction behind popular culture and if you're a fan of Motherfocloir we think there's a very good chance you'll like this show too. Here's a full episode, all about the history of dragons in fiction and popular culture. Enjoy! For more, and all the eps of Words To That Effect, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com

Thank you for your support over the last four years.  Thank you for inviting us into your headphones and into your head. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.  Thank you to Brian and Kirsten for making each episode look and sound amazing. Thank you to Éimear, Clodagh, Caitlín, Siún and Ola, and all the members of the extended Motherfoclóir family.  Thank you to our guests for teaching us so much. Much love to anyone who sent us messages of encouragement.  Go raibh míle maith agaibh.  --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: Darach - @theirishfor Gearóidín - @GaRoDean Peadar - @TheKavOfficial Kirsten - @KirstenShielART --- Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/jZSJZKN2 --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

If you follow Darach's Word of the Week project with the Irish Arts Center in New York, you'll have seen the artwork of Amy Louise O'Callaghan - @amylouioc on Twitter, Instagram and Etsy - who reimagines Irish mythology in the style of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. More recently she has reimagined the iconography of tarot cards using well-known tales and characters from Irish mythology. She chats to Darach about her influences, her work process, her interest in Japan and her favourite Irish and Japanese words. https://irishartscenter.org/event/irish-word-of-the-week-chapter-3

Every artistic/visual representation of Cúchulainn presents him as a hulking, ultra-masculine figure. But is this interpretation justified by the text? In the Táin, Cúchulainn is frequently described as a small lad, girly in some ways, a person who has to change his appearance to present as a "normal man" but does not wear this disguise when he does not have to.  In today's episode of Motherfoclóir, Darach talks to Masters student Finn Longman about queer readings of the Táin. Once we suspend assumptions about binary genders when considering a work of literature that predates this construction, we are free to engage with the deeper meanings of the Táin. Why is the "pillow talk*chapter only in one version of the Táin? What is the significance of Cúchulainn's relationships with Ferdiad and Laeg? And why does this Irish legend talk about bodies and feelings so much?  --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

The re-release of Professor Terence Dolan's Dictionary of Hiberno-English didn't happen by accident, but was nudged into existence by a writer who also happens to be one of the most seminal and relevant voices in Irish podcasting. And he's our guest this week!  Before we folded the podcast forever, we are delighted to bring you this conversation between Darach and Blindboy Boatclub, one half of the Rubber bandits and author of two collections of short stories. Blindboy talks to Darach about the Dictionary of Hiberno-English, the idea of resistance in language through dialect and satire, the origin of his love of Flann O'Brien and the future of Irish podcasting.  Check out his books and his podcast! --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

In terms of literary prestige, romance novels don't get no respect, ranking lower than sports biographies and screenplay novelisations on the scale of respectability - according to people who don't read them, anyway. But what about people who do?  Since Covid, sales of romance novels have shot through the roof, largely on account of the #BookTok hashtag on Tiktok. And one of #BookTok's stars joins us on today's episode. You might remember Róisín McNally from episode #122 - she's back to tell Darach all about romance novels, how Ireland and Irishness are represented in the genre and even the bits where Gaeilge turns up.  We also have a very special appearance from Peadar and a chat with Gearóidín about Bridgerton. --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Four years ago we started this podcast off with a discussion of the letter V. There's been much water under the bridge since then and while we always meant to give the other seven “forbidden” letters their own episode, there was always something a bit more urgent to attend to. Like translating smutty novels and so forth.  But on today's episode, Dr McEvoy and Mayor Pete assist Darach in a whistle stop tour of the letters J, K, Q, W, X, Y and Z. Where do they come from and what do they want? Can they ever truly belong? Are they the Casa Amor new arrivals in the Love Island villa that is the Irish language, fighting for inclusion by pushing an incumbent letter out of the way? Does it even matter? What happens if you need to put a séimhiú on karma? Are Darach and Peadar in a musical? All this and more in today's visit to the wild and wonderful world of Motherfoclóir. --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Everybody is talking about Twitter sensation Séamas Ó Reilly and his hilarious yet moving memoir "Did You Hear Mammy Died?" And rightly so - it's a sensational telling of a remarkable story of a boy with ten siblings losing his mother far too young and being reared by one of the most memorable Irish Dads in the history of memoir. Can a movie be far behind?  Séamas didn't just appear out of nowhere, of course, and between his Rush Hour Crush skits, his infamous anti-capitalist satirical prank involving a chocolate spread and a professional encounter with a beloved ex-president, he is arguably the Cúchulainn of Irish Twitter.  In this week's episode, Séamas chats to Peadar about his book, his journey to becoming a writer… and his favourite Irish word.  --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

When we say that a child is full of divilment, are we saying that they are possessed by Satan? No, we are not.  In today's episode, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar consider the concept of the devil in the Irish language. Why does diabhal scéal (devil a story) mean no story? What's the deal with the devil being buried in Killarney? Were politicians aware of the term Taoiseach An Bháis (Lord of Death) when the term Taoiseach was chosen to mean Irish Prime Minister? And with all these terms, how much weight should we give to "fear dubh", which entered The Discourse this July?  We also talk about Protestants and the Zoo, for some reason.  --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Well, it couldn't last forever; Motherfoclóir will be ending forever before this autumn. Before we go on our separate ways, we'd like to bring you some topics and guests that we always meant to, but put on the long finger because we wanted "do more prep" or "wait until X was available" or some other excuse. Anyway, there's no time to procrastinate anymore… First up, our Gearóidín tells Darach all about her PhD thesis in advance of a viva. What's a viva? What's a thesis? We will explain. Gearóidín explains how certain concepts recur in how minority language users and people with disabilities interact with the legal system in general and policing in particular.  Are there digressions? Yes, one or two.  --- Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Darach chats to Katy and Dominic, the hosts of popular podcast "The Europeans".To hear the full episode and much more visit  https://www.patreon.com/darachThe Europeans podcast can be found at https://europeanspodcast.com/

Darach is joined by Mira Adama (@LostWolfling), along with a cast of other contributors, to discuss a cult classic of Irish cinema.Watch Fatal Deviation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPne3Wh0lqkThis is our last episode of the season! You can join us on Patreon for bonus content throughout the break. ---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Recently, Yiddish became the fortieth language to join Duolingo, an achievement that followed hot on the heels of Harry Potter being translated into Yiddish. And would you believe that a brother and sister were responsible for these separate accomplishments? Well, when we found out about it we were struck by how many of the same kinds of conflicts and considerations that faced Irish came up again in thre context of Yiddish. So we had to find out more.On today’s episode, Darach chats with siblings Meena and Arun Vishwaneth about their family’s relationship with Yiddish. They tell him how the phenomenon of Yiddish loanwords in slang has a downside when promoting the language, about the sense of post-assimilation loss that defines the relationship some American Jews have with the language. Meena (who worked on Duolingo) talks about dialects and the struggle to pick a flag to represent Yiddish on the app. Arun (who translated Harry Potter) tells of the process involved in translating house names, Quidditch itself and picking a dialect for Hagrid - as well as the matter of a major plot point hinging on an acronym.You can find the Yiddish duolingo module on the app now.You can follow Arun on Twitter at @a_a_vishwaneth---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsORJSesv48In 2017, Irish Sign Language (ISL) was officially given legal recognition in Ireland. Of course, it has a long history prior to this and in today's episode, Darach and Gearóidín meet Caroline McGrotty (@CarolineMcTweet), an ISL translator and presenter, to find out more. Where did ISL come from? Is it different in Northern Ireland? What is Caroline's favourite ISL word? Find out all this and more. ISL interpretation in this episode is provided by Catherine White. This production was made possible by the show's generous supporters on Patreon. ---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the Wee Donkey.Everyone is hooked on “Line of Duty” at the moment, the latest reinvention of the cop show genre - and, fittingly, a reinvention of the “Irish cop” trope which is even older than television. But why did this format - a legacy from the era of segregation and McCarthyism - survive when westerns, Elvis movies, and musicals either die off or get resurrected beyond recognition?More than any other part of the state, policing is understood in the context of police shows. Its shortcomings are explained in the context of the internal conflicts of relatable protagonists while teachers and politicians continue to be antagonists, doctors and lawyers are allowed save the world from the private sector, and nurse/librarian protagonists in mainstream drama are outnumbered by their porno equivalents. The cop show is not going anywhere, absorbing bits of other formats in its path, and the Irish cop is a part of it.In today’s episode, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar discuss the evolution of the cop show and the Irish cop trope and consider how Hastings has brought significant chunks of Hiberno-English to a large audience. And as Gearóidín admits to a strange crush, Darach takes a surprising perspective on one of the 20th century’s most notorious criminals. ---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

When he’s not beavering away at this very podcast, Darach does a bit of work with the Irish Arts Center in New York as part of their word of the week project. This allows him to collaborate with some exciting and talented artists, such as today’s guest Louise Ní Chuilinn (as known as Selkies). Louise, an Irish speaker living in Brussels, tells Darach and Peadar about that city’s artistic scene, such as the bandes dessinées which French learners in Ireland love so well. She talks about her collaboration with our own Gearóidín on the Peig masks, the mythological background to her illustrations for Darach’s words of the week, considers the culture of bilingualism in her new home and explains what a gickna is.The Irish Arts Center Word of the Week is here: https://irishartscenter.org/event/irish-word-of-the-week  Gearóidín’s masks are here: https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/Fualainn ---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

There’s a song in the Mincéir tradition (made famous among settled audiences by Luke Kelly) called the 40 Foot Trailer which ends with the line“There's a bylaw to say you maun be on your wayAnd another to say ye can't wander”The implication is clear: the Traveller Community are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Despite the visibility of the Travelling Community in Irish life, in political pamphlets and bad-faith documentaries, the fact remains that the wider community in Ireland remains unfamiliar with the detail and context behind many Mincéir traditions and the community’s contribution to preserving folklore.In this week’s episode, Darach and Gearóidín are thrilled to be joined by Oein De Bhairduin, a writer and academic who celebrates and shares his Traveller heritage. His book, “Why The Moon Travels”, is a beautiful collection of Mincéir folklore and deserving of a wider audience. Oein tells Darach and Gearóidín about the right way to tell a story, the significance behind funeral traditions, the importance of female financial independence and invites us to consider that the wandering protagonists of Irish mythology might not be settled folk at all. Do yourself a favour and buy a copy of his book: https://skeinpress.com/product/why-the-moon-travels-by-oein-debhairduin-copy/ ---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

One of the finest new accounts to join Twitter during the pandemic has been @EnyaComments, a deceptively simple twitter handle that shares comments written under Enya videos on the YouTube.These range from the ridiculous to the sublime.But what is it about Enya that draws such a wide fanbase from around the world? Why do her fans feel such a close connection and associate her music with healing, grieving, solitude or mysticism? Why is she so big in Syria? And as for Enya Economics, what can we learn from the difference between how we see her compared to other Irish superstars, the ones with big opinions on every topic?This week Darach and Peadar are joined by Aileanóra from @EnyaComments who has all the answers.---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle

Every few weeks, a story goes viral in Ireland: a letter, addressed to someone like "that lady with the yellow baseball cap who owns a cat the size of a dog and a dog the size of a cat" is posted and finds its intended recipient. It's a tribute to the affection and esteem with which Irish people regard their postal service. It hints at one of a number of reasons why Ireland resisted postcodes for so long - because our postal workers had such deep local knowledge that they didn't need them. It's a family affair this week on Motherfoclóir as we welcome Gearóidín's Dad, Colm McEvoy, to the show. Colm tells us about how postal workers interpret ambiguous addresses, deal with defensive dogs and all the other little tricks that are known to the people who get your post to you. There's also chat about Irish language envelopes, bilingual addresses, rural Post offices and much more.And this week's favourite Irish word is a cracker! ---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Are things holy because we need them or do we need them because they're holy? This is something that we consider on this week's episode when holy wells are discussed. Are the legends and myths about holy wells just a roundabout way of explaining what their purpose is? Why are there so many in Limerick? What does Ryan Tubridy's surname mean? We also discuss the theory that zombie movies are more popular under Republican presidents and vampire movies are more popular under the Democrats.  Check out Siúcra by Roxanna Nic Liam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp8MvBgb10k---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Back in 2015, the Paris Review ran an article on Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” and concluded that it is - by some distance - the best known and most widely referenced poem of the twentieth century. Nothing else comes close. And yet, it is as misunderstood as it is famous. Many poems, or extracts from poems, are misread outside their original context - like Frost’s other line, “good fences make good neighbours” and Beckett’s “Fail Again, Fail Better”. And what of Irish poetry - are the best known Irish poems well understood? What is the most searched for Irish poem anyway? In this week’s episode, Darach and Peadar consider the pitfalls that face such research but march in regardless. They also reflect on the most popular song lyrics in Irish and what those words say about us.Listener mail this week from Belgium and Tipperary! For more comments see @EnyaComments on twitter.---Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ ---Contact the show:whatsapp - +353894784713 twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishforemail - motherfocloir@headstuff.org ---Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Whether it's Flann O'Brien, the Book of Kells, Dindsenchas or An tOileánach, the Irish literary and literary historical traditions respect the idea of the digression - the idea that knowledge information, truth itself does not respect the artificial categories that limited human minds try to trap them in.  Just as crabs think that eels are flying because they don't understand the concept of water, humans do not always immediately understand the profound links between topics. But to set information free, such as in the art of conversation (which is the stock cube of Irish literature), you allow it to scurry where it wants to go. Not your academic subject categorises, but everywhere.  Darach, Peadar and Gearóidín started to talk about baile/bally- placenames in this week's episode but that journey took many turns, including trains and eels.  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

At the end of February, the CSO released the 2020 baby name statistics and after a long run, Emily is no longer the top girl name in Ireland. How should we interpret this? What does it mean for existing Emilys, especially the ones who rejoiced in the name before it became so popular in the noughties? Grace is the new top name, but how much of that is a global anglophone phenomenon and how much it is linked to its Irish associations - Grace Gifford and the song that bears her name, for example?  And what about Fiadh, the breakthrough Irish language name of the last decade - what kicked that off?  In this week's episode, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar discuss the latest baby name stats and try to get to the bottom of it all. We hear from an Emily (@EmilyAM) who describes the process of watching one's name go from unique to ubiquitous. We hear from Sophie and Jen of the Mother of Pod podcast about the considerations when picking names.  And we hear about Peadar's dirty secret.  Check out Sophie White's new book "Corpsed" published by Tramp Press. --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Greetings agus Salutations, I am Motherfoclóir, prince of words, Irish, Irish words and words from Ireland. I have a very special request to make of you. If you listen to this podchraoladh about spam as Gaeilge, I will send twenty millionty squillion US Dollars in gold bullion into your earphones. Please send me your bank details by WhatsApp voice note to +353 89 478 4713 and tell me I'm pretty. Seriously, though. Don't answer spam emails. --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

In Thin Lizzy's tune Emerald, Phil Lynott tells a tale of marching men who wish to overthrow overlords, fighting a fight they believe to be right. But they bring horrible destruction in their pursuit of this goal - children never playing again, for example - as they seek The Emerald, a talisman not unlike Tolkien's ring.  Lynott never explains what the Emerald is nor does he need to. The Emerald is intimately associated with Ireland, the Emerald Isle. But where did this name come from? Did Ireland have it first?  In this week's episode, Darach and Peadar discuss the history of this term: its appearance in "When Erin First Rose" by physicist-doctor-poet-rebel William Drennan, the context in which this ballad was written and the intentional references in it to the well-known lyrics of "Rule Britannia". They consider other emerald isles, including Lesbos in Greece and Geziret El Zabargad in Egypt. They wonder why the Irish word for an emerald sounds a bit like the ancient Greek one. And other precious commodites of note, such as salt and silver, get a mention.  As for the Vikings, their shameless travel agents get a mention.  FUALAINN, Gearóidín's mask project is on Etsy:  https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/fualainn  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

We've spoken about fairy forts before. However, in the context of our recent discussion of placenames and bearing in mind the widespread incidences of Ráth and Lios in towns across Ireland, we decided to bring an expert in.  Sinéad Mercier, co-author of "The Men Who Eat Ringforts", drops in to tell Darach and Peadar all about these structures which link Ireland to its past. Is the word "fort" unnecessarily militaristic? If the deference for "fairies" has contributed positively to the preservation of archaeological and ecological phenomena, then why can't we just say "because fairies" in a planning permission objection?  Sinéad tells the lads about Ireland's record for preserving its built heritage and archaeological inheritance to date… and her favourite Irish words.  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

Could the word slíbhín - a sly, sneaky so-and-so - possibly come from the word sliabh, meaning a mountain? Are mountain folk really that cunning, or do the people from counties with many a sliabh (counties where more Irish was historically spoken) just happen to have more fire in the belly when they move to the lowlands in search of work?  In the third of our series on the recurring Irish words in placenames, Darach and Peadar discuss sliabh and cnoc (mountain and hill). What’s the difference between a mountain and a hill? We’ll tell you. Is Sliabh Ailp so named because it looks like it belongs in the Alps? If McGillycuddy reeks, why doesn’t he take a shower? Why does the Irish for Sugarloaf not have the word siúcra in it? And what’s the deal with Ben Bulben? All will be answered! Music in this episode from  Súil Amháin and Bantum, available at: https://suilamhain.bandcamp.com/track/viva-liobarnach --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

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 Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

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 quite relevant.  The views expressed by Gearóidín McEvoy on this episode are not the views of Headstuff, its advertisers or clients.  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast?  Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 

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 group, coming from the same place and wanting the same things?  In today's episode, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar try to get to the bottom of this thorny question. They don't, so expect more episodes on aspects of this topic soon. --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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/the-vocal-fries/episodes/Irish-isnt-Just-Decorative-e9t9jk --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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

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, a chara - tune in!  This episode features a musical contribution from Aoife Scott - Oíche Chiúin (Silent Night). Check out Aoife on Bandcamp:  https://aoifescott.bandcamp.com/album/homebird  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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 word searches in the Irish language online. The lads look at words added to the tearma.ie database and reflect on what workers in that role have to consider when presenting a new word. They have their own suggestions too!  And as pop-culture in other languages grows in influence in the Anglo sphere and beyond we speculate wildly about the future of English.  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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 that want to indicate to the outside world what they are?  In today's episode Darach and Gearóidín talk about how people present themselves - pass, if you will - as Irish and how much performance is involved.  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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 been mentioned on TV and his shop's commit to Irish language publishing.  You can find Kenny's bookshop online at http://www.kennys.ie --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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 of the world's life story. The Reformation hinged on Martin Luther's depth of personality, and the vision unique to Churchill was the decisive factor in an Allied victory in WWII.  This theory - which is robustly contested - informs the historical dramas which critically shape public understandings of historical events. Such dramas have become increasingly popular in the 21st century as more and more TV shows and films have monarchs and presidents as protagonists. Are these contributions welcome? Isn't there a big difference between learning about diplomatic immunity from Lethal Weapon II and learning modern British history from The Crown?  In today's episode, Darach, Peadar and Gearóidín consider these themes with particular reference to Irish history and the speculation on what might have been if certain figures had not been taken from us so young.  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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 journey to publication and the delicate business of translation. And she talks about her love of Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire which led to the book which has readers enthralled. --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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 romantic comedies were at their commercial peak and Ireland had a disproportionately high amount of leading men at Hollywood’s top table. In today’s episode, we consider how Ireland and Irishness feature in this most American of storytelling traditions. How is Ireland treated as a setting in love stories, and how much has that changed since The Quiet Man? What do Irish characters in stories set elsewhere represent? Are they protagonists, or a “manic pixie dream people”? And what of our own romantic comedies - are our film stars too serious to make them? Darach and Peadar are joined in this episode by Caroline Siede (@CarolineSiede), who writes the “When Romance Met Comedy”series for the AV Club and is a world authority on the genre. --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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 Cork. In today’s episode, Louise tells Darach and Gearóidín about writing this novel - why she chose a Gaeltacht island and the research she did in preparation for this. She talks about public interest in real life murder trials and the effect they can have on an area. And she talks about getting both the Irish language and Hiberno-English included in a book marketed at an international audience and how she fought her corner. She has a favourite Irish word too! --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie

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/en/justice/criminal_law/criminal_offences/the_law_on_fireworks.html Haunted in Laois are on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/HauntedLaois/  And Duchas can be found at: https://www.duchas.ie/en or https://www.duchas.ie/ga  --- Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach  Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/  --- Contact the show: whatsapp - +353894784713 (https://wa.me/353894784713) twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org (mailto:motherfocloir@headstuff.org) --- Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie