Now We're Talking | Idioms and Expressions Blog

As part of our new engagement project with PRONI Now We’re Talking, PRONI is publishing monthly blog posts to highlight the ongoing activity taking place in the archives.

Idioms and Expressions Blog by Sean Hayes:

Cataloguing work began on the Now We’re Talking project at great pace with an initial focus on the archive of the folklorist, writer and broadcaster, Michael J Murphy. For over 40 years, Murphy worked as a folklorist for the Irish Folklore Commission (now the National Folklore Collection at University College Dublin). As part of this work, Murphy collected and recorded sayings and expressions from the counties of ‘old Ulster’ and beyond. The team identified the collection of approximately 1000 pages of idioms and expressions from various localities of Ulster as the starting point.

This overwhelming amount of material was broken down into manageable sections to be catalogued. Firstly, a small envelope of 85 index cards with sayings of Slieve Gullion were selected. This formed a natural starting point for this section of the archive.

Secondly, a bound script of “Idioms & Expression & Traditional Phrases from The Speech of North Tyrone in the Parishes of Greencastle: Rousky: Glenelly : Termonmagurk” forms a rare gem in this collection. The 145 or so typed pages are hand bound in repurposed cardboard, providing a rustic elegance that is uniquely Michael J. Murphy. The volume was brought for a conservation assessment by the PRONI Conservation team where it was cleaned and given a custom enclosure.

From here on, a mountain of loose pages was to be tackled. These pages were divided by locality and some by corresponding title pages made by Murphy. These places included Co. Fermanagh, Ravensdale, Co. Louth, South Armagh, Co. Antrim, and Clonallon parish, Co. Down. When reviewing the pages of idioms we found that many of the names listed also appeared in Dúchas, the National Folklore Collection’s digitisation project. So, we could hear the recordings and the voices of the people Murphy credited many of these idioms and expressions to. People such as James Loughran of Ravensdale, Annie Lynch of Louth, and Anne O’Hanlon of Omeath.

When the arrangement of these bundles had been settled, Avril began the vital task of numbering each page with a unique archival reference number and a sequential page number.

The purpose of all this work is to prepare the documents to be digitised by the PRONI Reprographics team. The target is to have 800+ pages digitised and accessible to the public through PRONI’s eCatalogue. An important part of the work of the project is to bring Murphy’s archive ‘back home’ to the area where he worked and lived. So, the digitised material will also be made available at the Tí Chulainn cultural and community centre, Mullaghbane, Co. Armagh.

Now that Avril has neatly and precisely numbered the pages of idioms and expressions digital copies are being made. The process of quality assuring the digital files and making sure nothing has been missed will be the next phase of work for this part of the “Now We’re Talking Project”.

Find out more about the project via the Now We're Talking webpage.