Sir, – May I add to Frank McNally’s research into the publication history of gobshite and gobdaw (An Irishman’s Diary, December 7th)?
The only appearance of gobshite in the august pages of the Financial Times occurs in interviews with Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, whose scorn for members of the European Commission lights up the pink pages.
Just as Myles na gCopaleen added “gobdaw” to The Irish Times lexicon, the Abbey Theatre brought it to the stage, in PV Carrol’s 1944 production of The Wise Have Not Spoken, starring Cyril Cusack and Denis O’Dea.
By 1945, the sports pages of The Irish Times record The Gobdaw running round Harold’s Cross and Shelbourne Park at high speed. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.
Sir, – Frank McNally in an entertaining piece on the term “goblin mode” uses the word “captious”, which I hadn’t heard before and now can’t wait to use.
Meaning a “tendency to find fault or raise petty objections”, it would be the perfect name for a new social media service, partly because it meets the working definition of free speech on many of these platforms, but also because it sounds a bit like “captive” and so might serve as a subliminal warning to potential users of the addictive nature of inane trolling. – Yours, etc,
COLIN WALSH,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.