HEART OF THE WREN comes out on Friday, 3rd October, and is my first book set in my native Ireland. It includes a glossary of commonly used Irish words and phrases that crop up in the story, and I’ve added them below, for easy reference.
The book is set in Co. Kerry, in 1985, and references some people and events that will be familiar to Irish people of a certain vintage. In case you’re not, here’s a quick rundown of some of the highlights:
One of the main characters, Dara, is likened in part to broadcaster Derek Davis. Derek was a mainstay of Irish television and radio for many years. A big man from Northern Ireland, he exuded warmth and charm, and in hindsight must have made quite an impact on me when I was a child in the 80s. Especially considering I grew up and married a big man from Northern Ireland who is warm and charming. The clues were all there from early age, honestly.
Lorcan Fitzgerald (the lonely farmer at the centre of the strange happenings in HEART OF THE WREN) confesses to having a soft spot for a radio DJ, Ronan Collins, and it’s not hard to see why. A good-looking man, famous for his ronnie (check the glossary!), Ronan has been a mainstay of Irish radio for decades. He once graced the cover of Hot Press, semi-naked, which I can only assume made Lorcan very happy indeed. You can read more about that over on the Hot Press website.
In a quiet moment, Lorcan mentions the first time he remembers seeing a gay man. It was David Norris (now Senator Norris) being interviewed on Last House in 1975. This was very probably the first time an openly gay man had been interviewed on Irish television. You can watch the interview over on RTÉ’s website. David Norris was the chairman of the Gay Rights Movement and was instrumental in overthrowing the anti-homosexuality law in Ireland. He remains a pivotal figure in Irish politics.
Wren Day (the 26th December) and the Wrenboys are an ancient tradition still seen in some parts of Ireland. I covered them in a previous blog post, which you can read here.
Ireland’s police force is An Garda Síochána (“Guardians of the Peace”), also known as the gardaí, the garda, or simply “the guards.” They are hardly ever referred to by terms like “cops” or even “police” though people have been known to use some other colourful terms.
Hurling is a national sport in Ireland, and it’s something that, I’ll be honest, I knew very little about before writing this book. Okay, I’d picked up a bit of it here and there. It’s impossible not to if you grow up in Ireland. I’ve even held a hurley once or twice, but I didn’t know anything about the actual rules of the game. I’m not a sporty person (shocking, I know) but Lorcan is and so it’s included in the book, in a scene that turned out to be very fun to write. I’ll never play it, though. Look at those hurleys. They look like they’d hurt. (That’s called foreshadowing.)
Irish Glossary
Here are some common words and phrases used in Ireland that appear in the HEART OF THE WREN
- After (e.g. after finding out) or Have just (e.g. I have just found out)
- Aul – Old
- Bejaysus – (Bejesus) Used for surprise or emphasis
- Bold – Naughty, misbehaved
- Bollocks – Literally testicles, used in conversation to mean “nonsense”. (e.g. He’s talking bollocks.)
- Céile – (pronounced kay-lee) Traditional social gathering with music
- Craic – (pronounced crack) A good time, fun, entertainment, enjoyable conversation, gossip. (Used in various contexts, e.g. “What’s the craic?” – “How are you doing?”)
- Delf (also delph) – Earthenware, crockery, dishes
- Diviliment – Devilment, reckless mischief, wild spirits
- Eejit – A stupid person
- Feck – Used to express annoyance, frustration, impatience, or surprise. Can be used in place of fuck in many cases but never in a sexual connotation. E.g. one can be told to feck off but one cannot feck one’s boyfriend in the stairwell of a poorly lit Dublin nightclub.
- Fierce – Very
- GAA – Gaelic Athletic Association. Used in conversation to refer to a number of Irish sports including hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, Gaelic handball, and GAA rounders.
- Gas – fun, funny, entertaining. (Someone fun to be around is “gas craic.”)
- Gobshite – see eejit
- Grand – Fine
- Gardaí (also Guards or Garda) – (pronounced Guard-ee), Irish police force. An individual officer is known as a guard or garda.
- Go on outta that – (Go on out of that), an expression of disbelief
- He did in his bollocks – No, he didn’t
- Hoosh/hooshed – boost/ed, hoist/ed, lift/ed
- Hurley – a stick used in a game of hurling. Similar to a field hockey stick but shorter and with a wide, flat, oval blade.
- Hurling – a game resembling hockey played with hurleys. One of Ireland’s national sports.
- I’m after/I was after – I have (done something)
- In the nip – Nude
- Jacks, the – toilet, usually public toilets
- Jaysus – Jesus (Christ)
- Langer – Penis (pronounced lang-er)
- Mickey – Penis
- National School – a primary school funded by the state
- Poitín – (pronounced pocheen) Literally means “little pot”, a traditional Irish distilled alcoholic beverage. Very strong and very illegal in 1985.
- Press – Cupboard
- Ride – (n) attractive person (v) to have sex
- Ronnie – Moustache
- RTE – Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland’s national broadcaster
- Santy – Santa Claus
- Slagging – Making fun of, insulting
- Sliotar – a hard, leather-covered ball used in the game of hurling
- Sure – a discourse marker commonly used at the beginning of sentences to express various nuances like agreement, emphasis, or to introduce new information
- Yer man – That man, the man being discussed
- Yer one – That woman, the woman being discussed
- Yis/Yis’re – You all / You all are
- Yis/Youse – Plural of You
- Yoke – Thing
- Youse – You (plural)
I hope you found this helpful and I really hope you enjoy reading about Lorcan and Dara in HEART OF THE WREN available in eBook, paperback, and Kindle Unlimited.