Sunday Rest: donnybrook. Word Not To Use Today.

Donnybrook? What on earth's a donnybrook?

Is it an eighties heartthrob?

The setting for a children's story?

A stream used to flush away effluent? Now there's a gorgeous word for you: effluent.

Donnybrook, on the other hand, is a horrible word. It has a weak, revolting sweetness about it.

And what is it?

A donnybrook is a brawl, a ruckus, a scrap. Something sharp and keen and perhaps even joyful.

So, donnybrook? Nah, forget it.

Sunday Rest: donnybrook. It's actually no one's fault that this word has ended up meaning what it does. Until 1855 Donnybrook was the site, just outside Dublin, of an annual fair. 

It must have been quite an outing, too.


Donnybrook Fair in the 1830s.