Description
Dispatches from a not so dead language. Hosted by Darach O'Séaghdha and The Irish For… @theirishfor (https://twitter.com/Motherfocloir) Follow the show on twitter @motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org
Episodes
- 2026 / 1 / 21Introducing | GaylinnGaylinn dives into the weird, wonderful, and messy sides of life from sports to dating in Dublin all with humor, hot takes, and plenty of Irish language thrown in. It’s perfect for learners and fluent...
- 2024 / 12 / 20Introducing | The Greatest MatterAn audiodrama for fans of Motherfoclóir! The Greatest Matter is a new gothic crime tale set in Victorian Dublin, about a criminologist who arrives in the city and gets caught up in a murder investigation with...
- 2024 / 9 / 24Mother Tongues and Other Tongues: Behan, Doyle and Rooney in TranslationWe're back! Well, sort of. In March 2024 Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar were reunited for a live Seachtain na Gaeilge event in Clondalkin Library (a home advantage for Peadar!) On the occasion of the...
- 2023 / 10 / 27Back From The Dead: Translating TransylvaniaWith 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...
- 2022 / 3 / 14Introducing | Words To That EffectMotherfocloir 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...
- 2021 / 9 / 2186: #186 | Last Orders - The Residents' BarThank 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...
- 2021 / 8 / 28BONUS | Amy Louise O'Callaghan and the Irish Arts Center NYCIf 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...
- 2021 / 8 / 26185: #185 | Last Orders - The Grass Beard: Finn Longman and Queer Readings of An TáinJoin us for the final episode of Motherfoclóir, live on Zoom tonight: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55377967 --- Every artistic/visual representation of Cúchulainn presents him as a hulking, ultra-masculine...
- 2021 / 8 / 19184: #184 | Last Orders - Motherfoclóir Meets BlindboyThe 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...
- 2021 / 8 / 12183: #183 | Last Orders - 32 Shades of Salach: Romance Novels with Róisín McNallyIn 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,...
- 2021 / 8 / 5182: #182 | Last Orders - Seven Deadly Letters - J, K, Q, W, X, Y, ZFour 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...
- 2021 / 7 / 29181: #181 | Last Orders - Parenting Is An Irregular Verb - Séamas Ó ReillyEverybody 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...
- 2021 / 7 / 22180: #180 | Last Orders - Diabhal ScéalWhen 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...
- 2021 / 7 / 15179: #179 | Last Orders - Créatúrs, Sliabhíns & DigressionsWell, 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...
- 2021 / 6 / 4Teaser | Darach Meets ... The Europeans!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/darach The Europeans podcast can be found at...
- 2021 / 5 / 13178: #178 | Fatal DeviationDarach 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:...
- 2021 / 5 / 6177: #177 | Let’s Start With Komets-Alef: Learning About Yiddish With Meena & Arun ViswanathRecently, 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...
- 2021 / 5 / 5176: #176 | BONUS: Irish Sign Language with Caroline McGrottyWatch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsORJSesv48 In 2017, Irish Sign Language (ISL) was officially given legal recognition in Ireland. Of course, it has a long history prior to this and in...
- 2021 / 4 / 29175: #175 | Up The Lagan In A Bubble: Line of Duty and the Irish Cop TropeJesus, 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...
- 2021 / 4 / 22174: #174: Ceci N'est Pas Une Gickna - Louise Selkies Ní ChuilinnWhen 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...
- 2021 / 4 / 16173: #173 | The Bramble: Oein De BhairduinThere’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 way And another to...
- 2021 / 4 / 8172: #172 | By The Banks of My Own Orinoco: The Wonderful World of @EnyaCommentsOne 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...
- 2021 / 4 / 2171: #171 | Please, Mr Postman - Colm McEvoy on An Post & EircodesEvery 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...
- 2021 / 3 / 26170: #170 | Well, Well, Well: Vampires, Evil Fish and Holy WellsAre 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...
- 2021 / 3 / 19169: #169 | The Subh Milis Not Taken - What Is The Best Loved Poem In Irish?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...
- 2021 / 3 / 12168: #168 | Last Train To Eel Town: Thoughts On Baile In Irish PlacenamesWhether 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,...
- 2021 / 3 / 5167: #167 | A Fiadh By Any Other Name: The 2020 Baby NamesAt 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...
- 2021 / 2 / 26166: #166 | Turscar-red For Life: Spam In IrishGreetings 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...
- 2021 / 2 / 19165: #165 | To Claim The EmeraldIn 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...
- 2021 / 2 / 12164: #164 | May The Forts Be With You - Sinéad Mercier on Ringforts & Fairy FortsWe'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...
- 2021 / 2 / 5163: #163 | An Ace Up Your Sliabh: Recurring Styles in Placenames Pt. 3Could 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...
- 2021 / 1 / 29162: #162 | Inis or Oileán? Recurring Styles in Placenames Pt. 2When 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...
- 2021 / 1 / 22161: #161 | Cill or Coill? Recurring Styles in Placenames Pt. 1A 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...
- 2021 / 1 / 15160: #160 | Cliquebait: Gaeilge & Internet Subcultures2021 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...
- 2021 / 1 / 8159: #159 | Swear It All Over Again: Megan Figueroa & the Politics of ExpletivesYou 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...
- 2021 / 1 / 1The Angels' Share (Teaser)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...
- 2020 / 12 / 23158: #158 | 2020 Hindsight: MoFo Seasonal End Of Year ReviewAnd 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,...
- 2020 / 12 / 18157: #157 | Focal Point : Ireland's Word of the Year 2020As 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....
- 2020 / 12 / 11156: #156 | Passing Irish: Performed Identity Through LanguageMultinational 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...
- 2020 / 12 / 4155: #155 | Ochtó Bliain Ag Fás: Tomás Kenny & Kenny's BookshopBookshops 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...
- 2020 / 11 / 27154: #154 | A Great Bunch Of Lads? Info-tainment and the Great Man Theory of HistoryThe 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...
- 2020 / 11 / 20153: #153 | Ghosts and Dark Flames: Doireann Ní GhríofaShe'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...
- 2020 / 11 / 13152: #152 | Meet-Cutes and Cute Hoors - Ireland and the Hollywood Rom-ComThe 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...
- 2020 / 11 / 6151: #151 | After The Silent Letters: Louise O’NeillLouise 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...
- 2020 / 10 / 30150: #150 | Hallowe’en Special 2020 - Is Maith Sin, PumpkinIt’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...
- 2020 / 10 / 22149: #149 | Dolphin De SiècleKeep 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...
- 2020 / 10 / 15148: #148 | Inglorious Blaskets: Peig vs The Peig MythPeig 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...
- 2020 / 10 / 8147: #147 | (Almost) Nothing Rhymes with MonthEver 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...
- 2020 / 10 / 1146: #146 | A Fine Bed-Mate: The Story of “Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire”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...
- 2020 / 9 / 24145: #145 | OMG is Dia Dhuit Religious?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...