In the Name of the Fada sounds strange

I WAS reminded by my gaelgóir friends to watch Des Bishop’s Irish language programme, In The Name of the Fada, on RTÉ (March 13).

The effervescent, high-pitched tone baffled me.

This new Irish word starting with ‘ph’ and ending with ‘k’ in phonetic sounds kept coming into his delivery of newly-acquired Irish; in fact it was used almost twice in some abairtí gearra.

I was at a loss and reached for my bíobla na Gaeilge (Ó Domhnall), but failed to find such a word.

However, this f..k focal kept ‘adorning’ each Irish sentence, and as it was not in keeping with the rich, flowery blas of the gaeilge that I learned, I lost interest and switched my TV to ‘balbh’.

I was reminded of that old saying “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”.

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