Tag Archives: Fintan O’Toole
Pronunciation Follow-up to the “Cúig Fhocal gan Mhaith” Series Posted by róislín on Jan 17, 2012
(le Róislín) The last few blogs have dealt pretty intensely with meaning and slight differences among comhainmneacha (synonyms). Here we’ll look at a much more down-to-earth aspect of some of the same words – how to say them. We’ll look at a few of the longer and more complex ones (tláithíneacht, neamhghontacht, m. sh.) but…
Cúig Fhrása (Béarla) Gan Mhaith (De Réir Fhionntán Uí Thuathail aka Fintan O’Toole) (Cuid 4/4) Posted by róislín on Jan 14, 2012
(le Róislín) Faoi dheireadh, an starr dheireanach! Finally, the home stretch! Cuid a ceathair as ceithre chuid (Part 4 of 4 parts). Today’s blog will deal with the fifth of the cúig iontráil in Fintan O’Toole’s “Wasting Good Words on a Terrible Situation” (www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0103/1224309734610_pf.html). I’ll repeat the SPOILER ALERT though. You might want to wait…
Cúig Fhrása (Béarla) Gan Mhaith (De Réir Fhionntán Uí Thuathail aka Fintan O’Toole) (Cuid 3/4) Posted by róislín on Jan 11, 2012
(le Róislín) So, we’ve now covered the first three words i liosta Fhionntán Uí Thuathail a d’fhoilsigh sé ina alt “Wasting Good Words on a Terrible Situation” ag http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0103/1224309734610_pf.html In case you’re just joining this dúshlán focal midstream, that means we’ve matched “austerity” with “déine” and “gátar,” “bailout” with “tarrtháil,” and “difficult” with “deacair.” Admittedly…
Cúig Fhrása (Béarla) Gan Mhaith (De Réir Fhionntán Uí Thuathail aka Fintan O’Toole) (Cuid 2/4) Posted by róislín on Jan 8, 2012
(le Róislín) Remember what gátar, déine, and tarrtháil have in common? Hmmm, the first two have related meanings and are nearly interchangeable (beart gátair, austerity measure; cáinaisnéis déine, austerity budget) but “tarrtháil” is completely different in function as well as meaning. It’s an ainmfhocal briathartha, not a gnáthainmfhocal (ordinary noun). We could also note that…
Cúig Fhrása (Béarla) Gan Mhaith (De Réir Fhionntán Uí Thuathail aka Fintan O’Toole) (Cuid 1/4) Posted by róislín on Jan 4, 2012
(le Róislín) Noted journalist Fintan O’Toole recently published his list of five phrases that he thinks should be outlawed in 2012 (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0103/1224309734610_pf.html). Not that words are typically actually outlawed as such, but he feels these five phrases “distort or conceal” reality and are misleading. For example, we constantly discuss “austerity,” but meanwhile certain individuals are…