In a Word

In a Word...Homonyms

How do you explain to a foreign national the meaning of the word ‘grand’, as we use it?

In a Word...Food

When it came to food, we lived in a very monochrome Ireland, spuds with everything, cabbage and carrots with most, plus meat or fish

In a Word...Patrick

When I joined this newspaper years ago, I announced: ‘I am Patsy and by this name shall I be known heretofore. Hear ye me!’ And, lo, so it has been

In a Word... Coffee

A coffee shop experience something of a trial - here is some advice to navigate those exotic menus

In a Word ... Generation

You might say that, by any objective standard, the current designation of ‘a generation’ has become absurd

In a Word ... Youth

A report has found that Irish 15-year-olds smoke less, drink less alcohol and exercise more than their European peers. This is disgraceful

In a Word ... Cork

Cork people believe they have it so good they are not bothered about making an impact on the national consciousness at all. To them, clearly, Cork is all

In a Word... Language

It may be English. but the Irish version of English can be confusing

In a Word ... Word

‘Words are like leaves and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found’

In a Word...Collective

For instance, why ‘a murder of crows’? It seems too harsh. Or ‘an unkindness of ravens’?

In a Word...Verisimilitude

Good grammar can be seductive

A joey is the perfect description for a word within a word

‘Masculine’ contains within it the word ‘male’. Another is ‘chicken’ with ‘hen’ within, and ‘honourable’ with ‘noble’ within. Isn’t that thrilling?

In a Word...Caesar

You still have an awful lot of fans out there. They gave me an insight into how you probably felt that March day in the forum

Brace yourself, Brigid: Tips to look after your husband from a 1950s publication

‘Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure’

When Roscommon girls were ‘useless for cooking or anything else’

There was fury at an educational committee meeting in the 1930s about women training to enter the workforce

Give it up for Pope Gregory. Even though it isn’t Lent

In a Word ... Leap Year

Thanks to democracy, I’ve become a has-been in my own house

In a Word... Rubbish

Santy, I want to grow up to be free of cares. Can you arrange it?

In a Word... Puddle: Coming towards me was a happy little girl in her shiny new wellingtons with her happy young father. They were passing a puddle and she just jumped right into it

When we invaded Ballaghaderreen in the 1960s, the town did not suffer blow-ins gladly

In a Word: Infamy

In a Word ... November

Scorpios can be ‘complicated, needy and just plain difficult to get along with’. Be careful out there!

Is the demise of the Irish pub upon us?

In a Word... Demise: A relentless series of pub closures represents a fate worse than death for many. At least death is a conclusion

Words are like leaves? On the contrary, Alexander Pope

A letter sent to Hollywood executives in 1934 by a young New York man looking for a job as a screenwriter proves the English satirical poet was fallible

In a Word... Cat

What is it about cats that gives them such innate, superior confidence?

In a Word ... Karma

Judging by the number of August birthdays in our family it would seem November is a favoured month for indulging the family passion

In a Word ... Clandestine

My grandparents fell in love, decided to get married secretly in the local church, went to a céilí and then returned to their homes, separately

In a Word ... Roscommon

Not many people know this but the Roscommon Sheep is utterly unique

In a Word ... Somme

The soldiers that some believed were best left unknown

In a Word ... Fame

Pity the high-profile person who may cross that certain threshold of public attention

Men’s underpants are a dismal science indeed

In a Word: Briefs. The Men’s Underwear Index is seen as an indicator of the health of an economy

An alcohol-free bar? In Ireland? Risky business indeed

In a Word: The Virgin Mary Bar in Dublin has closed due to lack of interest

In a Word ... Daffodil

Most people think of Wordsworth when the words ‘poetry’ and ‘daffodils’ are linked, but 17th century Herrick was there first

In a Word... Dublinese

I realised years ago that even a proficiency in Irish, English and the vernacular was nowhere near enough for communicating with Dubliners

In a Word...Fool

On this first day of April, and along with Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice, let us play the Fool

In a Word... Wake

Enjoying innumerable stiff drinks to the mark the passing of an unloved year

In a Word ... Malapropism

One of the great mangler’s of the King’s English is former taoiseach Bertie Ahern

In a Word... murder

I don’t approve, but am prepared to make exceptions

In a Word... Granny

An increasingly common marvel

In a Word... Seduction

Timing is quite something

In a Word... Suffragette

Putting Beauty Men in their place

In a Word... Te Deum

A good date guide, not necessarily a guide to good dates

In a Word ... weight

Weight, and its deceptions

In a Word ... Sin

People used talk of little else

In a Word... Cool

Stay cool forever. Come to Ireland

In a Word . . . hell

Hell

In a Word...

Weary

In a Word . . . Grand

It is not always easy being green when communicating with the neighbours

In a Word . . . May

The beloved month is much celebrated, including by Christy Moore in song

In a Word... phone

Humankind lived for millenniums without the phone – I have to remind myself

In a Word ... Complaint

A story about Brendan Behan’s lighthouse painting days is amusing enough to be true

In a Word. . . Hope

In turbulent times it is necessary to remember that hope is the greatest virtue

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