I hope you have an enjoyable and suitably spooky day today, whether you’re dressing up, trick or treating, or staying in with some horror movies. To celebrate, I’m going to have a look at some of the words we associate with this day. Continue reading
It feels like ages since I’ve written anything, but I’ve had a well-earned holiday. First a few days in Barcelona, which is a fantastic vibrant city full of great sights and food, which is really all I ask for.
I arrived back in Dublin on Sunday evening, but I didn’t go straight back to Galway. Instead, I extended my holiday with a few days in Northern Ireland. Even though it’s ridiculously close, it was actually only the second time I’ve crossed the border. I think the main reason for that is because when I was young, there were regularly stories about the violence and terrorism taking place there. Even though the situation’s vastly improved now and it’s all very peaceful up there, I think I’ve still been influenced by the less-than-attractive image of the region’s past. I think before I continue, a (very!) brief history is in order. Continue reading
The above is the longest place name in Ireland, and is obviously quite a mouthful. It’s an Anglicisation of the original Gaelic name Muiceneach idir Dhá Sháile, which, as you all know, means “pig-shaped hill between two seas.” Most modern placenames in Ireland are similar Anglicisations. For example, many Irish towns begin with Bally- or Balli-, coming from the Irish word Baile (town) being part of the original name. A town like Ballycastle would have originally been name Baile an Chaislean (town of the castle).
Such Anglicisation can lead to redundancy. This is often the case with rivers, as many of them begin with Owen-, from the Irish word abhainn, meaning river. So Abhainn Buí, meaning the Yellow River, was translated to the River Owenboy.
Some pretty ordinary sounding placenames have such origins, but some can be a bit of a mouthful due to some clumsy translation: Continue reading
I thought today I’d write a short post about some common names, and their origins. I’m always interested in names, where they come from, and the links between names and other names, and words in general. Here are a few of my favourites: Continue reading
Are you watching the football?
Many of you living in Europe will hear some variation of this over the next few weeks. Actually, now that I think of it, those of you in the Americas will probably be asked that too, with the Copa América on, but perhaps not so often in the USA!
Football does tend to take people’s lives over during major tournaments. I’ve lost a lot of interest in football in recent years, mainly due to my perception that roughly 99% of professional footballers are arrogant, petulant manchildren, but I do love the atmosphere of major international tournaments.
Partly it’s because they signify summer to me, and partly it’s because I’m lucky to have some great formative memories of football tournaments. My first ever sporting memory is of Ireland beating England at Euro ’88 thanks to Ray Houghton’s legendary header. I had no idea what it meant, but I knew it was good!
English-Language Thoughts 