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.