-
-
Author: Francis Farragher
~ 3 minutes read
Country Living with Francis Farragher
THOSE of us who earn our daily bread from putting words together in the form of stories or columns always have a certain fascination with new phrases. My old desktop word ally, the online Collins Dictionary confirms its annual ‘Word of the Year’ for the most used new phrase that enters the official vocabulary through everyday usage.
Perhaps the ‘big one’ over the past decade or so has been the phrase ‘fake news’ which in 2017 took the Collins Dictionary accolade for the Word[s] of the Year, and of course we all know who the great champion of that is.
One Donald Trump – who certainly was involved in no fake news incident at the weekend when he came within inches of losing his life – has laid claim to the phrase, but according to Collins it had its roots in the early 2000s on US television news shows, using the words to describe the dissemination of false information disguised as genuine news reports.
The ultimate irony in all of this, is that Trump’s fake news vitriol against the mainstream media continues, is the testimony from the former publisher of the National Enquirer newspaper that they committed themselves to being the ‘eyes and ears’ of Trump as he sought to secure the world’s top political job for a second time.
As well as that, they were alleged to have collaborated in a ‘catch and kill’ policy in support of Trump where any negative stories about ‘the president to be’, would be ‘bought up’ and never see the light of day.
Anyway, enough about US politics, spart from one last amateur observation on the rather shocking dilemma that the electorate of that country faces: a case of one being bad and the other being worse. We probably should appreciate a bit more the ‘Michael Ds, Simons, Micheáls and Mary Lous’ of our Irish political landscape. Fake news, hoaxes and April Fool’s ruses have long been a part of life across the globe long before we heard of Trump or the National Enquirer, and as a child, I can recall kitchen conversations about how a large swathe of the US population [oops, back to America again] believed that Martians had landed on earth as part of an all-conquering mission to take us over.
Pictured: The ‘exclusive’ front-page Sentinel ‘story’ of April 1, 1980 . . . and the only picture ever taken of the elusive ‘Argentinian soccer star’ Pedro Prila-Loof.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune:
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
More like this:
Councillors to request major funding from NTA for city footpath works
Councillors are set to inform the NTA of the €100m needed to upgrade and construct footpaths acro...
200 supercars to arrive in Salthill tomorrow for the Cannonball run
200 supercars are to arrive in Salthill tomorrow for the Cannonball run It’s the largest or...
University of Galway hosts Sir Peter Freyer Surgical Symposium
The University of Galway is hosting the largest Surgical Conference in Ireland this weekend ̵...
Construction underway on 345-bed student accommodation on Queen Street in city
Construction is underway on a new 345-bed purpose-built student accommodation at Queen Street in ...
Pet retailer Maxi Zoo to open first Galway store
Pet retailer Maxi Zoo is to open its first Galway store tomorrow week. The new outlet will open i...
Gaillimh le Gaeilge and Lorg Media shortlisted for tonight’s Digital Media Awards
Gaillimh le Gaeilge and Lorg Media have been shortlisted for tonight’s Digital Media Awards...
Plans lodged for over 150 new homes at Ballymoneen Road in city
Plans have been lodged for over 150 new homes at Ballymoneen Road in the city. Cairn Homes Proper...
Funding for University of Galway brain tumour researcher
University of Galway researcher, Dr Catalina Vallejo Giraldo, whose work focuses on cancers of th...
Sinn Féin launches survey to understand needs of residents in Ballybane
Sinn Féin has launched a survey aimed at gaining an understanding of the needs of people in Bally...