Darach Ó Séaghdha 169 posts 0 comments

There's been a lot of talk about obstreperous women lately, so what better time to consider the fierce female characters of the Táin? In this week's episode, Éimear tells Darach about Cuchulainn's wife Emer (pronounced Ever in the old…

Host Darach and Motherfoclóir regular Siún share many obsessions, but the one they discuss on today's show is the writer Flann O'Brien... also known as Myles na gCopeleen... also known as Brian O'Nolan. As a displaced Northerner, O'Nolan…

The number 8 is full of mystery in the Irish language. There's the "hateful eight" letters that were added in the 20th century. There's a Eighth Amendment, which you may have heard of. And then there's Article 8 of Bunreacht na hÉireann.…

This week Darach is in London on Motherfoclóir business and is broadcasting from the British Library at Kings Cross rather than the HeadStuff studios. This setting is appropriate as this week's topic is An Vicipéid, the Irish language…

"Are we all just characters in a Roddy Doyle Facebook status?" Dublin City's official motto is Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas - obedient citizens, happy city. But do they obey because they're happy or are they happy because they obey?…

Today's episode is a game of two halves. In part one Darach chats to Jody Coogan about certain articles of Hiberno-English slang (specifically, Munster slang) and they discuss whether they have an Irish origin or not. Such slang words…

"Languages are like ogres; they have layers". Éimear Duffy knows a thing or two about Ireland and Irish in the rare aul' times (specifically the 7th to 9th century). In this week's episode, she tells Darach and Gearóidín about widespread…

Teresa Lynn is a computational linguist who specialises in technology and Irish language. She visits Darach, Gearóidín and Ola on today's episode of Motherfoclóir to defend machine translation from all the misguided criticism it's been…

It has been said that bookshops are the afterlife for good trees and the sound of turning pages is a kind of prayer to them. On this week's Motherfoclóir: Belfast bookworm Caitlín Nic Íomhair is the manager of An Siopa Leabhar on…

There's going to be a lot of talk about Bunreacht na hÉireann in the coming weeks, a document where the subtle differences between wording in English and in Irish can make a big difference. In today's episode, Gearóidín and Darach look…