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DARACH Ó SÉAGHDHA started the Twitter page The Irish For back in January 2015.
The page, which has over 23,000 followers, does pretty much exactly what is says on the tin, offering translations and guidance on pronunciation.
The Irish For ✏ / TwitterThe Irish for white wine is 'fíon geal'.
— The Irish For (@theirishfor) August 18, 2017
Don't say 'fíon bán' unless you've already established a reputation for droll humour. pic.twitter.com/8pPnAuz3yf
Expanding from its humble beginnings, Ó Séaghdha’s project has grown to incorporate a podcast and a new book, called Motherfoclóir.
With a tagline of “dispatches from a not so dead language”, and a foreword from comedian Dara Ó Briain, the 39-year-old sat down with TheJournal.ie to explain why the Irish language can still be a vibrant thing that’s worth caring about.
Using Irish to make sense of the world
In the introduction to the book, Ó Séaghdha explains his love for the Irish language and how he went about trying to exploit the opportunity of social media to get a more positive message across.
He writes: “I set myself three rules for running this account.
1. Don’t get involved in debates about state policy on Irish language – teaching, signage, constitutional controversy, expenditure and so on… The Irish language doesn’t belong to any government or party and its many charms exist whether it is promoted correctly or not.
2. It must be pleasing to those with no Irish, as well as to those with more than myself.
3. Build a palace from the rubble of everyone’s else smashed expectations. People who expect the Irish language to be confined to things they aren’t interested in talking about – smash their expectation.
So what is it in the Irish language that Ó Séaghdha describes as “the amazing buried treasure”?
“If you find a quiet space to look at the Irish language itself,” he said, “away from the associations that people have with it, you discover what a great language it is.
What it’s trying to do is show people how they can make sense of the world around them through Irish. There are words and phrases that we don’t have in English, and you can sometimes use Irish to sum up a situation in a better, more satisfying way. So we should do it.
In one example in the book, Ó Séaghdha writes: “Turscar is more specific; it means ugly, dead seaweed that the sea has abandoned on the shore.
Cleverly, this is also the Irish word for spam email.
Some more examples of interesting quirks of the Irish language that Ó Séaghdha uses in the book include:
Maynooth University / Twitterand the soft pawed King of the, inexplicably Ireland based, sect of Ninja Racúin is Raciúnas
— Maynooth University (@MaynoothUni) August 21, 2017
Interestingly, Ó Séaghdha has found that a lot of words develop organically, away from the classroom, and he said that is something that helps to keep the language alive.
“With language, I’m not sure it it’s advisable or preferable for people sitting in a room deciding what is a word and what’s not a word,” he said. “There are words being formed right now in gaelscoil playgrounds.”
Grá don Gaeilge
Darach’s passion for the language came from his father, a multi-lingual school inspector.
“Both my parents were Irish speakers,” he said. “But my brother and I recoiled from it a bit as teenagers. It was only later I realised the value of it to be honest.”
As his father’s health deteriorated in later years, Ó Séaghdha found himself attracted to the Irish language more and more.
After he passed away, I think it was a way to keep a connection with him.
Now a father himself, Ó Séaghdha said that the process of writing the book involved a lot of introspection.
“It was tough to write this book,” he said. “It was roughly a year after my father died, and my daughter had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome.
Writing this book was a way for me to process all that was going on.
The married father keeps the Twitter account up-to-date during his commute to work in Dublin, when his wife is watching the TV and after his daughter wakes up for early morning feeds.
“I’d love my daughter to learn Irish too as she grows up, but it’s about getting her the right supports in place,” he said.
Motherfoclóir is dedicated to his father and his daughter Lasairíona.
Taking the politics out of the Irish language
Ó Séaghdha cited common criticisms made of the Irish language – the quality of teaching in schools, the cost of translating it for the State – and said that it was these issues that he wanted his project to remain separate from – both on Twitter and with the Motherfoclóir book.
“It’s an ongoing thing,” he said. “It’s like an episode of Murder She Wrote. It’s the exact same story each time, with a few minor changes on who’s involved.
I feel like every time there’s a debate about the Irish language on the news, it’s exactly like that. I didn’t want to be a part of that. Why can’t the conversation just be about the words themselves?
“And even in education, Irish has become a placeholder for everything people didn’t like about school. And the Twitter page and this book were ways to try to change that.”
Ó Séaghdha has had a great deal of success in doing exactly that with his The Irish For Twitter page, creating an online community where people engage on a daily basis with the Irish language.
“I had one a few weeks ago,” he said, “comparing uachtaran (president) and uachtar reoite (ice cream). Some of the puns that came in were brilliant.”
He said that he gets the odd negative comment and feedback from people online, but doesn’t let that faze him.
You get the odd person who’ll come along say ‘Irish is a dead language’. I just think ‘judging by your punctuation, English isn’t far off either’.
For the father-of-one, having this space where people can ask questions and speak about the language is a positive thing.
“Getting into the Irish language community isn’t something that will cost you to do,” he said. “It’s not school-driven. And people really seem to have a genuine interest in it.”
As Ó Briain puts it in the foreword: “Enjoy the journey. There’s no exam in the end.”
Motherfoclóir is published by Gill Hess, and will be available to the public from 7 September.
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They should take the Pope down for a look when he’s over.
He could give the nuns absolution and all would be ready to start over again with a clean slate.
@Gerry Ryan deG: he should certainly be taken there to visit, but nobody gets a clean slate on this. When he visits he should personally hand over compensation to the countless victims of religious abuses that are still awaiting payments.
The hope for the church when it comes to compensation is to drag it out long enough until all the victims are dead, the only thing the church cares about is itself and its pockets.
@Barry Somers: Bernard law to get a cardinals send off in St Peters with the PR pope attending.. That’s what Rome thinks of its victims http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/12/20/cardinal-bernard-law-funeral-pope-francis-statement/
Dunno who is worse. The government or the Catholic Church.
@Trevor W: governments can be good or bad, &they can cause hurt or pain as well as do good things.. .we all know that but people expected much more of the catholic church because it was supposed to be holy, godly &Christian. People believed it was caring, truthful, loving Christ -like &compassionate & instead found it to be anything but. in short the catholic church was much worse because it showed itself up as lacking in basic morals, deceitful, uncaring, unloving &concerned only with protecting its image & grabbing money every chance it could get
@Trevor W: Sinn Fein arevtge worst. Then the church then the government
@Trevor W: There was a time that they were one in the same.
When he says “We are all now complicit”, I sincerely hope he is referring to elected representatives who are paid to look after these matters and have the platform to do so, and not the majority of us who spend most of our time working to keep the country running and pay their wages
@JimmyMc: we are all complicit though. We are not forcing the issue with the representatives who are meant to work to achieve what we want.
It’s an absolute disgrace so many places are sold off and bulldozed and the horrors that happened within all but forgotten. It’s not just magdelene laundries but all the mental institutions. People were locked away for all their lives and forgotten by the world. Their treatment was horrendous too. Now no one speaks about those poor people and the institutions are sold off and turned into things like luxury hotel. We have whole sections of society we locked up and treated badly and neglected. We should remember them all properly.
@Catherine Sims: The industrial schools, the Magdalene laundries are all a thing of the past. They were horrendous places, but they belong to history now, those injustices against men, women and children do not happen today.
@Catherine Sims: yes, curious there was enough will and money to develop them into exclusive/elitist/yuppie housing complexes/gated communities acceptable and desirable for the few who could afford them but not for the unfortunate inmates dealing with barrack like vast nightingale wards… Look up Friern Barnet hospital, north London and see how it evolved from an institution to an, eh, institution…
@Tom&Gerry: there should never be forgotten. Burying heading in sand will not make this go away.
Perhaps you should receive compensation from the tax payer for having to grow up near a Magdelan Laundry. Speak to a solicitor. You are a victim too after all!
@Don Shavago: Dumped Christian White already?
Everyone reading this should be aware that this memorial will cause more pain and horror to the men and women who were in orphanages and are still living today, the grown women who made and had choices are thought of more than the kids imprisoned for 14years by courts, we are the children of these women
@David Dineen: what??
@David Dineen: Catholic Church is a corrupt institution and always will be, Why,!! Because it puts its Trust in Wealth, making Money from every conceivable angle, from the day your born to the day you Die. The only way to break that cycle is, break out of it don’t let yourself be ‘Used’ ‘Abused’ by this profiteering religion. And now to Insult us all, our Government is going to pay out €20 millions on the visit of the leader of this Rich money making Machine. !!!
@Mairtín: so how do the church make money out of people? €2 in a collection plate on a Sunday?
Think about it.
You’re talking absolutely bollixxx
@David Dineen: what choices did these women have?
@Mairtín: No The church is paying for the visit
@Steph Duffy:
These women had no choices but the men who made them pregnant definitely got away with not facing up to their responsibilities.
@marg fitzgerald: and where does the church get their money?
@Tom Burke: two plates passed around per service, paying money (€50) to have someone remembered in a mass, more again to have a mass said for them. Christening, Education, Communion, Confirmation, Wedding, Funeral. At every step there’s the church with the hand extended for a bit of wheel grease. Indulgences haven’t entirely gone away either
@Dave O Keeffe:
None of which are compulsory .
@Mairtín: The problem for you is that Ireland is a Catholic country. For me and my family and millions of Catholics in this country, it would be an honor to have the pope visit.
@Dave O Keeffe: And why not, are you saying that priests should not be paid for their time. . Priests have living expenses the same as everyone else. You are not forced take part or participate in any way with anything to do with the church, you are obviously anti catholic. So i suggest you stop bothering yourself with the affairs of a church you have no time for. Just walk away, nobody will stop you.
@Mairtín: I would imagine that all churches survive on donations from their congregations. How else would they survive?
@Tom&Gerry: so your saying a priests wages comes solely from the voluntary offerings of the parish in which he serves? That’s absolute bull. I’m not anti-catholic at all, Catholicism does a world of good for a lot of people but there is no denying the organisations obvious wealth and the corrupt nature of the business side of it. The fact that anyone not donating would have to do so in view of the whole congregation brings another element to it.
@Dave O Keeffe: bullxxxx Dave.
You get a mass said and it’s typically €10 but you decide what you give.
Yes you make a contribution for a wedding or a christening but it’s nominal and if you can’t afford it it’s no problem.
For the wedding the couple and guests will arrive at a clean heated church which is provided.
Go to your local village tomorrow and walk into any premises shop, pub, restaurant, solicitor etc. Very soon you will be approached and the goal is to get your money.
Walk into your church. No charge.
You can go into that church every day of your life and never pay 1c, and you will be as welcome the next day.
You are not being truthful and you know it.
someone please ask micheal woods doctor of tomatoes what sort of crack cocaine he was smoking when he did a lousy deal to help the church out with its compensation deal to the victims of anal rape rape of women and imprisonment of it s flock .
ask michael martin why he voted for its approval maybe.
I wonder about places like this being preserved, “lest we forget.” If you visit “Auschwitz,” apart from the “Work Will Set You Free” over the entrance gates and a huge warning sign shortly after that, the amount of people laughing, joking and taking selfies, you have to wonder if you haven’t stepped into another (albeit morbid,) section of Disneyworld. The visitor’s centre full of memorabilia, dvds, cards and keepsakes also serve to dilute the horror of the place. There has to be a better way of putting a stop on man’s inhumanity to man…
How much would it be to get a few clothes washed? I need a dog bed cleaned too.
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