Bought a t-shirt, wondering what it says

[hibernicus]

*Originally posted by Jodi *
**Is the phrase in question fluently set out, like it was thought up by a native-speaker, or is it “fake Irish” put on by someone who doesn’t really know the language?
**

Not fake at all. It’s correct standard Irish, and was certainly written by someone with a good grasp of the language.

[ronan]

temporary hijack

hibernicus - I’m in Dublin. Unfortunatley I can’t make it Friday, prior arrangements. Thanks anyway and have fun.

I will keep an eye on the board for any further info

temporary hijack over

[TomH]

ruadh, I don’t really disagree with anything you say, though it raises an interesting question as to what constitutes mutual intelligibility. I’m surprised that you and hibernicus could understand the Chaucer but not the Burns: like I said, a lot of the vocabulary of Scots is the same as ME. I can understand both reasonably well, but perhaps that’s because I was force-fed Piers Ploughman as a student. “Bield” is certainly a word which you’re as likely to find in Langland as in Burns.

I’d forgotten about the significance of orthography till you pointed it out: Scots has an established orthography whereas the Northern English dialects do not and I agree that this is an argument for it being considered as a separate language.

Is there a clear distinction between standard Scottish vernacular English with some Scots vocabulary and Scots per se? I’m not trying to make a point with this question, I’m asking to find out.

[Badtz_Maru]

I remember hearing about a T-shirt with Chinese characters on it that meant ‘I am a stupid short-armed monkey who wears writing I don’t understand’. I remembered that story when buying this shirt. 8^) I’m glad to hear what it means, if I ever get in a band again I’ll be sure to wear it on gigs.

[ruadh]

*Originally posted by TomH *
I’m surprised that you and hibernicus could understand the Chaucer but not the Burns

If it makes you feel better, I don’t understand a lot of the Chaucer either

Is there a clear distinction between standard Scottish vernacular English with some Scots vocabulary and Scots per se?

Is there a distinction? Yes. Scots advocates seem to me to be always at pains to point this out. Dunno how “clear” it is, though.

[Iteki]

*Originally posted by ruadh *
hibernicus, maybe you can explain something to me. I’ve often wondered how Irish students (outwith the Gaeltacht and excluding those who attend Gaelscoileanna) can get so many years of Irish education and still be completely unable to speak the language.

I too have been wondering about that one. Threads like this around the net bring tears to my little emigrant eye as I realise how completely crap my Irish skills are, and how much better I wish they were. I think one of the major problems is that Irish is not thought as a living language. I have studied both Irish and Latin, and they were thought the exact same way. Its only about 6 years since I did my leaving, so its all fresh in my mind. 14 years of Irish boils down to me not knowing how to say “tree” or any of the words in that list that was posted. 3 years of half speed French twice a week boils down to fluent french. 6 months of intense swedish boiled down to university level swedish. I am pretty sure the problem isnt me.

Can anyone suggest good online resources for adult irish learners? Not horrible americany ones, but proper Irish-Irish resources?

Iteki - the little irish over-patriotic emmigrant (isnt it always the way!)

[Iteki]

*Originally posted by ruadh *
hibernicus, maybe you can explain something to me. I’ve often wondered how Irish students (outwith the Gaeltacht and excluding those who attend Gaelscoileanna) can get so many years of Irish education and still be completely unable to speak the language.

I too have been wondering about that one. Threads like this around the net bring tears to my little emigrant eye as I realise how completely crap my Irish skills are, and how much better I wish they were. I think one of the major problems is that Irish is not thought as a living language. I have studied both Irish and Latin, and they were thought the exact same way. Its only about 6 years since I did my leaving, so its all fresh in my mind. 14 years of Irish boils down to me not knowing how to say “tree” or any of the words in that list that was posted. 3 years of half speed French twice a week boils down to fluent french. 6 months of intense swedish boiled down to university level swedish. I am pretty sure the problem isnt me.

Can anyone suggest good online resources for adult irish learners? Not horrible americany ones, but proper Irish-Irish resources?

Iteki - the little irish over-patriotic emmigrant (isnt it always the way!)

PS i am pretty sure that chinese t-shirt thing is an urban ledgend, I know i have heard a similar stunt, but with TATTOOS eek! I am sure its happened to somone however.

[Badtz_Maru]

How do you pronounce it? Just in case someone asks me what it says.

[Iteki]

Bearing in mind my post above (how bad my irish is) and that I learned both Munster and Connaught dialects, I would pronounce it as:

Vee sheed agg dowsa ugus shenim kyole feean gurr dowsee on deeawal purt.

Bhi siad ag damhsa agus seinm ceoil chomh fiain gur dhamhsaigh an diabhal port