Lexicographer at Large – Frank McNally on Dinneen’s Dictionary and the Dáil row about unparliamentary Irish
Myles na gCopaleen blamed Dinneen’s Dictionary for his decision to stop writing columns in Irish
For Whom the Bells Toll – Frank McNally on the ups and downs of “sound baths”
It’s another organised way to relax, like yoga but without the stretching
The Real McCabe - Frank McNally on a great (and much-married) American newspaper columnist
He received the editorial equivalent of a 21-gun salute: “He was six columns ahead at his death”
Comic Stripped - Frank McNally on the cancellation of P.G. Wodehouse
His presumed crime was to make a series of broadcasts from Berlin in 1941
Signifying Nothing - Frank McNally on a new linguistic plague
A little bell had started to ring in my head every time he said ‘very significant’ again
Hardebeck Edition – Frank McNally on an Anglo-German musician who became the “blind bard of Belfast”
He travelled widely in the Gaeltacht areas of Ulster on a mission to save traditional airs from oblivion
Anti-social climber – Frank McNally on the pioneering cat burglar Robert Augustus Delaney
Handsome, charming, and well-dressed, Delaney was a popular figure in the West End of London
Digging Up History – Frank McNally on the McMahon, and other once-famous spades
You didn’t call a spade a spade – you called it a “McMahon”
In the name of the father – Frank McNally on the waning tradition of family nicknames
There was a ‘Boss’, a ‘Yankee’, ‘Pipes’, ‘Mick Miley’, ‘Wee Mick’, and ‘Slasher’, among others
Power ballad – Frank McNally on the case for an Irish ‘Wichita Lineman’
Has anyone ever composed a musical eulogy, country or otherwise, to Ireland’s electrical repair crews?
Austrians battle with Irish terrain and ‘local dialect’ in Storm Éowyn relief efforts
Austrian crew set out for Ireland on Monday at 5am in their own cars, travelled through the night, sharing driving duties, and arrived 1,900km and 27 hours later
Last Poll and Chorus – Frank McNally on the end of 400 years of Trinity College elections
Dublin University can claim to have elected Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy, or a bit of him
Hit (and miss) parade – Frank McNally on the mixed fortunes of a who’s who list from 40 years ago
These lists always give hostages to fortune
Cardinal Red – Frank McNally on a cultural history of wind colour
The concept of a Dulux-style wind-colour catalogue was well established here and elsewhere
Poison Pen – Frank McNally on the late-blooming Violet Needham, children’s novelist extraordinaire
She had spent a long apprenticeship as a storyteller to nieces and nephews