I know nobody who speaks or has any interest in teh Gaeilge. Its cool if ppl wanna speak it, but I'm not buying this whole "alive and well" thing.
I know nobody who speaks or has any interest in teh Gaeilge. Its cool if ppl wanna speak it, but I'm not buying this whole "alive and well" thing.
funtime (10-04-18)
69patrick69 (23-02-11)
I don't honestly remember the last time I heard someone speak Irish to communicate, as opposed to speaking Irish simply to speak Irish. It's been years, certainly. Maybe that's because I live in Dublin, but I doubt it is very different in most of the country.
Last edited by El Gordo; 23-02-11 at 20:51.
“I wish you wouldn’t keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly; you make one quite giddy!”
“All right,” said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
I think the only time Irish is spoken is when they realise the is an english person in their midst
I mean, on a serious note, any one found a use for latin or ancient greek yet?
If life gives you lemons ask for Tequila
Only sad bastards seek gratification from signatures
I hear the odd one hear and there speaking it up in galway but sadly it is a dying language...i think as a whole english will become the dominant language worldwide and many other languages will go the same way as irish seems to be going...
I have lived a life of regrets.
While I'm a fan of Mr.Myarse(sic) he can be just a bit too pragmatic at times. I can't speak Irish fluently despite going through the whole school system in scary Eire & he right that the attempt to restore the language is an abject failure- but the bigger question is why.. Remember hearing an analogy that being taught gaeilge was akin to having 500 quid shoved up your arse...two pence at a time?! Unfortunately it's true for many students. But here's the thing- what makes (broader) Irish culture unique- it's a plethora of elements, IMHO one of which is our Celtic tongue- it's more than subtle influence is reflected on the cadence & synthax of hiberno- English....so even if you don't have so much as le coupla focal
- it's built into the DNA of Irish communication. Whatever about KM's (no doubt valid) assertions about households in the Gaeltacht making a few bob it's deeply ironic that he uses the phrase 'soupkitchen' in the context of this discussion - I'm not going to go on a xenophobic rant- but to know yourself is to know your history Kevin- they probably didn't teach you about that specific episode in that grammar school in the English midlands!
Speaking of which- as I write this from my leaba here in the land of the free, few years back i read an I.Times piece that asked- Q: what's the difference between Canada & the USA- A: " the fact that the Canadians think there is one." For an Irishman abroad who's regularly confused for a Brit , I've found myself trying to explain that I'm from a country that shares much in common with the UK but ultimately I come from a unique culture- part of which is the Irish language.....as a nation we're a bit too fond of defining ourselves by what we're not, perhaps we should embrace more what we are....
It saddens me to think that Irish us dying out & its clear that in tough economic times Gaelige is a soft target for some political parties... But I think KM may be well advised to actually slowly read the definition if the word shibboleth* before casting it as a degrogatory term!!
* yet another ironic observation for KM- shibboleth is Hebrew in origin- if Dev & the founders did half as good as job as the Israelis in resurrecting our mother tongue- this discussion would be moot.
bhí mé ag féachaint ar tg4 agus bhí a lán daoine ag caint gaeilge - enda kenny alan dukes bernard dunne colm meaney joe higgins. Níl an teanga imithe