A review of Darach Ó Séaghdha’s 'Motherfoclóir: Dispatches from a not so dead language'

genre of “superficial similarity” was born. A fada can
make all the difference!
What could otherwise have offered a valuable insight
into a unilingual English speaker’s perspective on the
Irish language has been tainted by overtones of
cultural appropriation arising from a complete
disinclination to engage with the actual Irish
language public. Constructive criticism generously
levelled at some of the more misguided tweets from
@theirishfor, for example, is bitterly dismissed in
Motherfoclóir as having emanated from “purists”,
“gatekeepers”, “the translator’s frying pan”,
“exasperated sighs from the linguistics faculty”, or
from “seething rage at the other end of the
internet”.
You’ve heard of Instapoetry, now hear of fake news
foclóireacht!
Considering this aversion for the experts, the
unabashed Anglocentrism, a dependence on Twitter,
and a bizarre passage from the book in which
choosing between translation methods is likened to
ways to cook a steak, I have no option but to hereby
consign Motherfoclóir to the category of fake news
foclóireacht. These harsh words enter a tradition of
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