Gaelic and stuff

[paolo999]

In my brief time in scotland I never heard anyone ever refer to it as alba... and equally for ireland, the story i've heard several times is "don't call it bloody Eire. It's Ireland."

So, not dissing gaelic as such, but my impression is that the only people who say alba or eire are well meaning english sorts, not the people that actaully live there.

Feel free to slap me down. I'm just curious to know how the natives label themselves.

[pogofish]

but my impression is that the only people who say alba or eire are well meaning english sorts, not the people that actaully live there.


I woud tend to agree, except that I'm more likely to hear it from Americans or Canadians.

[geminisnake]

I'm a native and I would say Scotland.

Or Pictland, with anything south of Edinburgh being England or bandit country ;)
Runs away into hills ;)

[FruitandNut]

I'm a native and I would say Scotland.

Or Pictland, with anything south of Edinburgh being England or bandit country ;)
Runs away into hills ;)

Being decended from the Border Reavers, I would tend to go for 'Bandit Country' :D ;)
Any Elliots out there? We got a vendetta ongoing; one of your ancestors killed one of mine!

Póg mo thóin, to any Elliots. ;)

[Belushi]

It depends on if you speak Gaelic doesnt it?

[nino_savatte]

It depends on if you speak Gaelic doesnt it?

Or Gaidhlig. :p :D

[geminisnake]

So, not dissing gaelic as such, but my impression is that the only people who say alba or eire are well meaning english sorts, not the people that actaully live there.

Did you spend any time on the west coast? And north? I did notice last year that place names were in english and gaelic but that was first time I've been NWish for about 10 years.

[retro_junkies]

i think only 30,000 people speak gaelic and the majority of them are in the highlands and islands

i belong the "bandit land" well borders, and its completly unheard of down here :)

[Belushi]

i belong the "bandit land" well borders, and its completly unheard of down here

AFAIK Gaerlic has never been spoken in the Lowlands. The language would have been Brythonic (the forerunner of modern Welsh, Cornish and Breton) and then English.

[nino_savatte]

AFAIK Gaerlic has never been spoken in the Lowlands. The language would have been Brythonic (the forerunner of modern Welsh, Cornish and Breton) and then English.

That is correct. People in the lowlands spoke Scots or Lallan.

[cathal marcs]

No Gaelic was spoken in the lowlands Galloway for one. Although you are partly correct belushi cymric languages where also spoken in the lowlands many many many moons ago.

[JTG]

Road signs in Skye and thereabouts are in Gaelic iirc

Nowhere else further south though

[retro_junkies]

i dont know if anyone uses wikipedia here, but gaelic users have put the gaelic name on the sites for every town in the south. (i was unaware gaelic names for these places even exsisted) ive tried explaining we dont speak nor understand gaelic but basically im outnumbered 20 to 1, and as we all know in wikipedia the majority have the last say.

so maybe some of you are intrested in removing or at least arguing the side that there shouldnt be gaelic names on towns where gaelic has never been spoken, it really does give the idea we are speaking that highland tongue

[Idris2002]

Re: Eire.

IIRC the name comes from the 1937 constitution, which made the 26 counties de facto an independent republic. The name of the state formed in the treaty had been the 'Irish Free State'. The constitution of 1937 changed that into Irish, 'An Saorstát Eire'. Then this was overtaken again by the Declaration of the Republic in 1949, when Ireland became a de jure republic and left the Commonwealth.

[Shippou-Chan]

never heard anyone refer to any places by it's gaelic name ... except in a sorta silly overexagerated way

[nino_savatte]

Road signs in Skye and thereabouts are in Gaelic iirc

Nowhere else further south though

You get loads in the Highlands. If you go to Inverness, for example, the street signs are bilingual.

[Daibhí]

Re: Eire.

IIRC the name comes from the 1937 constitution, which made the 26 counties de facto an independent republic. The name of the state formed in the treaty had been the 'Irish Free State'. The constitution of 1937 changed that into Irish, 'An Saorstát Eire'. Then this was overtaken again by the Declaration of the Republic in 1949, when Ireland became a de jure republic and left the Commonwealth.

Surely its "Pobhlacht na hÉireann" as in Republic of Ireland it was "An Saorstát" while it was the free state.

[retro_junkies]

haha definatly not, thats my whole point on wikipedia, personally i think gaelic should be left to survive on its own without millions of £s being spent on tv, radio and schools to keep it going

never heard anyone refer to any places by it's gaelic name ... except in a sorta silly overexagerated way

[Ich bin ein Mod]

haha definatly not, thats my whole point on wikipedia, personally i think gaelic should be left to survive on its own without millions of £s being spent on tv, radio and schools to keep it going

But if money isn't spent on it, then it won't survive on its own. It may not be widely spoken outside of the Highlands and Islands, but imo it's an important part of our culture and history and efforts should be made to save it

[obanite]

I hear Gaelic semi-regularly around here :)

Slainte Mhath!!!

[retro_junkies]

millions of pounds are spent on building gaeilc schools, they have even built a school up north that wont allow people to speak english!!
in glasgow they have opened a gaelic high school, lord only only knows why

and the bbc spends £45 million a year on gaelic programming and radio work out the maths yourself when only 50,000 people can understand it!

[Ich bin ein Mod]

millions of pounds are spent on building gaeilc schools, they have even built a school up north that wont allow people to speak english!!
in glasgow they have opened a gaelic high school, lord only only knows why

and the bbc spends £45 million a year on gaelic programming and radio work out the maths yourself when only 50,000 people can understand it!

Perhaps, so that in future years, more than 50,000 people can understand it? It's a crazy idea, but it might just work

[Radar]

Perhaps, so that in future years, more than 50,000 people can understand it? It's a crazy idea, but it might just work
And what benefit does it give to scottish society which makes it worth the money spent on it ? Or is it just "wrap yourself in the saltire" bollocks from politicos chasing votes ?

I've only been exposed to Irish as a goverment supported language. Are scottish civil service or police posts dependant on being able to pass a gaelic exam ?

[Ich bin ein Mod]

Not really worth it if they're chasing votes, the gaelic culture is integral to that of that of our nation imo, it may not have the highest priority in the central belt but then scotland is more than some cities along the m8.

I'm not making as much sense as I should be.

[geminisnake]

I'm not making as much sense as I should be.

That's what you get for being a pretentious wee showoff :p :D

Despite what anyone says Gaelic never was and never will be the national language. Yes, some effort should be made to keep it alive but surely not huge amounts. Not sure of the difference between a language and a dialect but if money is being spent on Gaelic should it not also be spent on Doric?

[obanite]

I don't know much about it, but I'm guessing one reason to preserve it is because some of the culture kind of loses meaning out of the context of the language...does that make sense?

[nino_savatte]

I don't know much about it, but I'm guessing one reason to preserve it is because some of the culture kind of loses meaning out of the context of the language...does that make sense?

Aye, that makes sense: language is an integral part of culture because it underpins other cultural activities. In societies where a language has been suppressed it is driven underground and risks being lost forever. Cornish is a good example of this. But like many other languages that were thought to have been lost, it has been revived and as a result it has had to borrow words from other languages.

[cathal marcs]

in glasgow they have opened a gaelic high school, lord only only knows why

!

large Gaelic speaking population in Glasgow maybe? Its not like it hasn't got many immigrants from the Highlends or the West of Ireland.

[cathal marcs]

Despite what anyone says Gaelic never was and never will be the national language. Doric?


AFAIK was it not the most widely spoken language in Scotland up until the 16th century or there abouts?

[fortyplus]

Although it was widely spoken across the Highlands, there were massive regional variations in the dialects and most of the mainland dialects have died out. In the 70s or so, when it started to be taught in primary schools again, the Stornoway dialect was chosen; in Lochaber, kids were taught a form of Gaelic at school that their native-speaking grandparents could hardly understand.