‘Story bud?’ filmmaker on a mission to document Irish slang

25 Apr 2013

Still from 'How's About Ye?' by Jenny Keogh

Irish filmmaker Jenny Keogh is attempting to crowdfund a feature film that will take a close look at the unique phrases that crop up in the vernacular of each county of Ireland.

As a follow-up to the Dublin-ese short entitled Story Bud?, Keogh is now on a mission to capture and preserve the very Irish brand of English cultivated over generations.

Uploaded in February, Story Bud? went viral with more than 30,000 views in its first day on YouTube and had a big-screen debut in front of a 20,000-strong audience in London’s Trafalgar Square, on St Patrick’s Day (not to mention a spot on our weekly viral videos round-up).

Keogh now plans to travel across the Ireland and capture slang from county to county. A Phrase Donor Clinic will be set up in each town she visits, asking people to show up and ‘donate’ phrases. As well as filming up to 600 chatty participants, Keogh will include snippets from experts on slang and colloquialisms, including Prof Terence Dolan, author of A Dictionary of Hiberno-English.

To fund Story Bud? – The Feature Film, Keogh has turned to Irish crowdfunding platform Fundit.ie, where donors can pledge from €15 to receive rewards, from phrase-filled posters to Keogh’s services as a filmmaker.

A short teaser uploaded to YouTube provides a glimpse of what can be expected from the feature film, and Keogh herself said, “I’m aiming for informative rather than academic, but mostly I hope it’ll be entertaining and have a global appeal.”

 

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com