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#the irish for
# the-irish-for - Sunday 5 January, 2020
The Irish For: The word 'dote' was used in Britain before it came to Ireland - and that's ok
Word usage is like a conga line at a wedding – nobody thinks the person at the front is an artistic visionary, but the second and third people to join in create the legitimacy for others to attach themselves
# the-irish-for - Sunday 29 December, 2019
The Irish For: Reflecting on the decade Gaeilge and social media found each other
Let’s look back on some of the Irish words of the 2010s.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 15 December, 2019
The Irish For: Cabbage in bed and fruit in a sock - a few lost rituals to help find a suitor
Here are some traditions described in an Irish poem that claim to help find a suitor.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 8 December, 2019
The Irish For: Don’t like Ulster Scots? Catch yourself on
When seeing Ulster Scots writing, many people are surprised by how much of it appears readily intelligible to them.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 1 December, 2019
The Irish For: How a fada can make all the difference
The Royal Bank of Scotland did not mention the meaning as Gaeilge of their online banking app Bó.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 24 November, 2019
The Irish For: The enduring genius of artist Louis le Brocquy
The Irish artist’s painting Táin was sold for €102,253 at an auction earlier this week.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 17 November, 2019
The Irish For: Are Irish names really that difficult to pronounce?
We should look at names we don’t understand as something exciting to be figured out, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 10 November, 2019
The Irish For: Notes on the naming of a still-contentious Irish-themed cocktail
In Ireland, the Irish Car Bomb is rarely called anything at all, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 3 November, 2019
The Irish For: How did Irish céilí dancing end up with a waltz but no tango?
Dances and words travel between cultures in a similar way, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 27 October, 2019
The Irish For: Rings, cloth and matchsticks - the secrets of the bairín breac
Oíche Shamhna (Halloween) is fast approaching, which means it’s nearly time for a slice of brack.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 20 October, 2019
The Irish For - Doomed tales of unrequited love in Irish literature
The tale of Úna Bhán and Tomás Laidir is one of many sad stories in Irish literature, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 13 October, 2019
The Irish For: The varieties of cailín and the deductive Coleen Rooney
Coleen is derived from cailín, the Irish word for a girl, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 6 October, 2019
The Irish For: Vegans, vegetarians and the battle of translating modern words
It’s easy to lose the wordplay on English words when translating into Irish.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 29 September, 2019
The Irish For: Cuddly mammals and furry predators
The Irish language has many names for different creatures in the wild.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 22 September, 2019
The Irish For: How has censorship affected Irish language books?
The banning of Irish language books was less frequent even though the authors produced writing which dealt with provocative themes.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 15 September, 2019
The Irish For: The weeds and wildflowers that bother and delight the countryside
Do you know your banshee thimbles from your blue hatreds?
# the-irish-for - Sunday 8 September, 2019
The Irish For: Cartoons, propaganda and the words children learn
How much do TV shows influence children’s pronunciation and phrases?
# the-irish-for - Sunday 1 September, 2019
The Irish For: Guns and Gaelic - the history of the right to bear arms
The Irish constitution drew inspiration from others, but did not include the right to bear arms.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 25 August, 2019
The Irish For: Rising rents mean many prospective tenants are giving Dublin a goodbye 'cíos'
Designating certain areas far away from Dublin as Gaeltachtaí, and then denying them investment so they’d stay that way- was a dreadful mistake.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 18 August, 2019
The Irish For: How a familiar tale can help young bookworms become bilingual
Translating well-known books to Irish could be the best way to get pre-teen bookworms learning Irish.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 11 August, 2019
The Irish For: Teaching toddlers Gaeilge through the art of storytelling
Story-time is a great way to teach preschoolers píosa Gaeilge, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 4 August, 2019
The Irish For: Bank holidays and Lú, the god of August
In Irish, August is Lúnasa, named in honour of the ancient god Lú, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 21 July, 2019
The Irish For: An astronaut is a star-sailor, a comet is a paintbrush star
The calling to travel beyond the Earth owes itself to mythology as well as science, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 14 July, 2019
The Irish For: The perception that Irish is intimately linked to Catholicism is too widely held
Some languages are intimately associated with religions but not Gaeilge, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 7 July, 2019
The Irish For: There's a bit of alchemy involved in translating Harry Potter into Irish
Book series translated from one language to another can lead to complications as the plot thickens, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 30 June, 2019
The Irish For: If you can’t say anything nice about someone, tar isteach
If you’re going to insult someone, do it properly, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Friday 28 June, 2019
John Cleese versus the Irish language: Don't mention the 'bh' war
Cleese said that Irish names look like deliberate attempts to mislead innocent people but this is not the case, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 23 June, 2019
The Irish For: Cockwombles and the decline of British insults
The Brexit process should be a golden age for satirists and comedians, but unfortunately, something else has happened, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 16 June, 2019
The Irish For: A Bloomsday Breakfast with extra Subh Milis on Father’s Day 2019
In some ways, it is serendipitous that these two events should happen on the same Sunday, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 9 June, 2019
The Irish For: Cans, Tans and Summer Plans
Samhradh comes with a sense of disappointment, rarely delivering on its promises of sunshine and gaiety, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 26 May, 2019
The Irish For: Don’t Be Such A Gorilla-Whale-Daughter-In-Law
To translate the meaning of Bridezilla effectively we need to pop the bonnet of the word and look at the moving parts, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 19 May, 2019
The Irish For: Let's settle the 'crack' versus 'craic' debate by looking at the evidence
The word appears to originate before 1900 in parts of Ireland where spoken Irish was high and literacy was low, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 12 May, 2019
The Irish For: Hiberno English is a feature not a bug
Sometimes Béarla and Gaeilge are presented as being in conflict in Ireland, but they’re both part of our cultural heritage, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 5 May, 2019
The Irish For: Did the Irish language influence the names of Gollum and the orcs in the Lord of the Rings?
J. R. R. Tolkien once tried to learn Irish in Galway but he dismissed the language as suffering from “fundamental unreason,” writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 28 April, 2019
The Irish For: How Beyoncé is helping to get fadas in formation
Thanks to Queen Bé, April 2019 has been an interesting month for accessorised letters, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 21 April, 2019
The Irish For: Why do we remember things from TV and what does that mean for learning languages?
‘Thousands of Irish people know their rights if they’re arrested in America but not if they’re arrested in Ireland… and nobody would know what mitosis was if it wasn’t for Sabrina,’ writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 31 March, 2019
The Irish For: The Irish language version of Wikipedia is going strong
Sure enough, one of the longest, best laid-out and most carefully edited pages in An Vicipéid is the page on Star Trek, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 24 March, 2019
The Irish for: Irish is the first language of the constitution. Here's some legal terminology as Gaeilge
Bannaí means bail and is not to be confused with banaí which means a womaniser, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 17 March, 2019
The Irish For: The word Tory comes from the Irish word tóraí meaning a bandit or outlaw
If you’re doing your Irish oral exam next week – you’ll need to know how to say ‘confidence and supply agreement’ and ‘frictionless border’, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
# the-irish-for - Sunday 10 March, 2019
The Irish For: Some older words don't exist in English - clochscríbhinn means an inscription on stone
George Orwell said that history was a palimpsest – a chalkboard which could be scraped clean and reinscribed, exactly as often as necessary, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.
Your say
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Poll: Are you sticking to your new year's resolution?
SOME PEOPLE SWEAR by new year’s resolutions, while others find them pointless or just too hard to keep.
We’re now a few weeks into 2020 and for most people plans to give up smoking or join a gym are long forgotten. Experts argue that it can take 66 days to form a new habit or break an old one.
But there are ways to ensure that you achieve your goals, by setting realistic targets or making the resolution part of your routine.
Psychologist Niamh Hannan of MindWorks.ie says the best way to approach changing a habit is with a positive mindset. She recommends you focus on one habit, frame it positively in your mind, and start visualising the success.
So we want to know: Are you sticking to your new year’s resolution?
Poll Results:
I didn't make one (2567)
Yes (1771)
No (1055)
Almost (670)
Share your story: voices@thejournal.ie
Lise Hand: Will they? Won't they? Shades of Love Island as big parties can't avoid recoupling talk
By Lise Hand - @liseinthecity
Opinion: Young people don't vote? You may be right, but we might surprise you
By Adam Hallissey and Ben Quigley - @progressbrief
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