Top o’ the mornin to you, literary listeners! It’s time for a wee episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents! Why not grab a nice pint of Guinness (but not if you’re driving a motor vehicle, maybe wait until you get home), as we journey to Ireland for today’s word: macushla. 

‘Macushla’ is an affectionate form of address meaning ‘my darling’ or ‘my dear’. It comes from the Irish ‘mo’ meaning ‘my’ and cuisle meaning ‘pulse’; thus, my pulse or my heart. Similarly, the Irish word ‘acushla’ means ‘darling’, and comes from the phrase a ‘chuisle mo chroí’, which means ‘pulse of my heart’. The term grew in popularity throughout the 1900s, with a decline after 1950, and resurgence in the late 80s and 2000s. It can also mean ‘favourite’ in the royal sense - as in the King’s favourite companion.

‘Macushla’ is the title of an Irish song from 1910, with music by Dermot Macmurrough and lyrics by Josephine V. Rowe. The song became the signature tune in the 1912 musical ‘Macushla’ by Chauncey Olcott, and was recorded by a number of operatic tenors. 

If we look at a little more contemporary popular culture, ‘macushla’ is used in the 2004 hit sports film ‘Million Dollar Baby’, where Frankie nicknames Maggie ‘mo chuisle’. Superfans of ‘The Office’ might recognise it also. Wink wink.

Other Irish terms of endearment include ‘a stor’, meaning ‘my treasure’, ‘a pheata’, which is ‘my pet’, and ‘a ghrá’ which means ‘my love’. Some can be combined to create longer pet names, such as ‘a stór mo chroí’ which is ‘my heart’s treasure’ or ‘a ghrá mo chroí’, which is ‘my heart’s beloved’. 

Isn’t language wonderful?

Written by Taylor Davidson, Read by Zane C Weber

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