This competition closed on 17 December and the three winners were: 

- Colette Breen, Templeogue, Dublin 

- Conor Dunphy, Glasnevin, Dublin 

- Kay Lennon, Kilkenny 

Comhghairdeas! 

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IF YOU’VE BEEN reading Darach Ó Séaghdha’s excellent columns about the Irish language here on TheJournal.ie for the past few months, or if you follow his Twitter account called @TheIrishFor, you know two things. 

Firstly, he is really good at bringing the Irish language into people’s lives and making it relevant (and helpful!).  

Case in point: he ran a poll on the Twitter account earlier this month asking what people thought the Irish for Secret Santa should be, since there is no translation for it. (The winner was the almost literal translation Saintí Faoi Rún, with 55% of the vote, ahead of the slightly more clinical Féile na Uasteorainn €10 [Festival of the €10 limit]). 

Secondly, you’ve probably learned words that you never realised that you needed to know: ‘Breatimeacht gan margadh’ is the term for a no-deal Brexit, for example; ‘ceartaiseacht pholaitiúil’ means political correctness; and ‘dabáil’ is the verb ‘to dab’. 

We have three signed copies of his bestselling book Craic Baby: Dispatches from a Rising Language to give away. The book, a follow-up to his first book Motherfoclóir, explores the very new and very old parts of the Irish language from Darach’s personal perspective, rediscovering words and phrases and making you think about the language in a new way. 

Want to be in with a chance of winning a copy?

• Simply send an email to competitions@thejournal.ie with your favourite Irish word along with a one sentence explanation for why you like it by 11.59pm on Monday 17 December.  

We’ll pick three winners at random after the closing date. Go néirigh an t-ádh libh.           

Winners will be contacted via email. Full competition T&Cs can be read here.