RTE, the Irish national broadcaster has a short weekly radio program that superficially looks like an astrology item. However, it is a short monologue by astronomer Frances McCarthy who points out a tidbit of astronomy and the history of astronomy.The title of the item 'What is the Stars' has me puzzled a bit. It looks like a sentence missing something or mixing singular with plural. I guess I first read it as: What is in the stars, to make the astrology connection. Considering the charmingly done serious content, I wonder why it was not What are the stars or even What is it with the stars. (feed)
What is it with this name?
5 comments:
Hi there! I found your blog by searching for history podcasts, and was interested to see an RTE podcast on your list (as I am from Ireland myself). The title of "What is the Stars" is a quotation from the play Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey -- one of the great classics of the Irish theatre. The "Paycock" (i.e. peacock) of the title is a vain, lazy, pretentious man who likes to put on airs and make himself out to be very deep; at one point in the play he describes how he often used to look at the sky and ask himself "What is the moon? What is the stars?" It's not grammatically correct; most of the characters in the play don't speak grammatical English but rather the dialect of Dublin city, where O'Casey was from.
That is very interesting. It begs the question why the program makers chose to use this title and create an identification with Paycock? Is there a hidden suggestion of putting on airs?
If you appreciate Irish content, try also the Irish History Podcast, Hidden Heritage, The Celtic Myth Podshow and to a certain extent The History of India lecture series at UCLA (surprise?).
RTE has an old podcast about political trials in Ireland that I have not yet completed, nor reviewed. It is called Conspiracy Podcast.
Thanks for the tips -- I started listening to the UCLA History of India lectures today. In fact, it was through searching for "history of India" that I found your blog, which is going to be a great resource for me in future!
Very pleased to have you among the readers. Spread the word - this blog has been around for over three years and if you did not find it until now, I am sure there are many like you who'd be delighted to find it also.
Hey,
I work at the station that broadcasts this podcast (though not on the podcast itself). I have a feeling that this title was picked as the station itself is a music and arts station - to have a literary quotation to tie the podcast in to the whole thing. I doubt the thinking went as deep as you are going :)
(This is my own opinion, btw, not an official line!)
Thanks for featuring it!
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