# How do you pronounce "Taoiseach"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018 "2011-03-17T14:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![XXAILEANXX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/94ad74/32.png) [@XXAILEANXX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XXAILEANXX)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/41 "2011-03-20T19:59:52Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > ċġ > I pressed the letter and then followed it with Unicode character U+0307, “Combining dot above”. Doesn’t work on all letters for some reason. You can also get those letters as Unicode ċ 0108 and ġ 0121 respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/42 "2011-03-20T20:12:48Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Technically, the UK Parliament is the whole shebang considered as a whole: Commons, Lords, and the Queen. I think that this is implicit in my statement: “Depending on the context, references to the British parliament also often mean just the House of Commons.” Further, I would extend that to most Westminster-style parliamentary systems. It is very common in casual speech as well as in news reports for the term “parliament” to be used when talking about the lower house. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/43 "2011-03-21T02:25:09Z")
“dosage”? Is this like “ghoti”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/44 "2011-03-21T07:02:58Z")
> [@A.Gwilliam](#): > > So how **do** people in Ireland pronounce “Oireachtas” when speaking in English? It’s more or less “uh-ROCK-tuss”, although sometimes the first syllable is given a short i sound. > [@](#): > > And given the similarities between the Dáil and the House of Commons, it’s inexcusable I think that given the _differences_ it’s _excusable_. The House of Commons is not the only House that has real political power, the Dáil is. Granted the House of Lords doesn’t have a huge amount of political power, but the Seanad really doesn’t have any. It’s a talking shop. The Dáil is the real Parliament because that’s where the real lawmaking goes on. So if the BBC or anyone else wants to refer to it as the Parliament, I have no problem with that. > [@](#): > > Given that “guards” already existed in English, it’s hardly a borrowing from Irish! The _word_ may not be a borrowing from Irish, but the _usage_ is borrowed from Irish. Nobody calls the police “guards” in other English-speaking countries, that I’m aware of. The reason they do in Ireland is as shorthand for their formal, Irish name, the Garda Síochána. The origin of the word “Garda” is not the point. ---
**Author:** ![ballyroan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@ballyroan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballyroan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/45 "2011-11-21T04:29:32Z")
tea - shocks or tea shaw. Hope this helps anyone who wishes to correctly pronounce the Irish name of the Prime Minister. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/46 "2011-11-21T04:36:53Z")
Excuse me, but with all this interesting stuff, I don’t know what Taoiseach means in English… ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/47 "2011-11-21T05:14:00Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Excuse me, but with all this interesting stuff, I don’t know what Taoiseach means in English… More or less the Irish prime minister. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/48 "2011-11-21T05:23:04Z")
> [@ballyroan](#): > > tea - shocks or tea shaw. Hope this helps anyone who wishes to correctly pronounce the Irish name of the Prime Minister. Why did you revive an eight-month old zombie with an answer that was already given in the second post? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/49 "2011-11-21T17:25:51Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Excuse me, but with all this interesting stuff, I don’t know what Taoiseach means in English… Literally it’s “the risen cream” - the finest and best. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/50 "2011-11-21T17:57:03Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Literally it’s “the risen cream” - the finest and best. Just in case someone takes that seriously, literally it’s “first” and by extension “leader, chief.” Both senses are very old, present in Old Irish _taoisech_. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/51 "2011-11-21T18:07:02Z")
Well I’ll be demmed. I was actually told this by a teacher of Irish, but having just looked it up I see that you ae correct. Those bastards do have a load of fun with us at the immersion weekends. Must go plot revenge . . . ---
**Author:** ![max\_power](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@max\_power](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/max_power)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/52 "2011-11-23T12:22:33Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Well I’ll be demmed. I was actually told this by a teacher of Irish, but having just looked it up I see that you ae correct. Those bastards do have a load of fun with us at the immersion weekends. > > Must go plot revenge . . . You should probably hold off on the revenge, I think it was probably the Irish word for president: uachtarán > **[uachtarán - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uachtar%C3%A1n#Irish)** This comes from the word uachtar, which means top, and also means cream. > **[uachtar - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uachtar)** Although, maybe the irish teacher got it all mixed up and told you this was the meaning of taoiseach.. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018/53 "2011-11-25T22:19:10Z")
> [@max\_power](#): > > You should probably hold off on the revenge, I think it was probably the Irish word for president: uachtarán > > [uachtarán - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uachtar%C3%A1n#Irish) > > This comes from the word uachtar, which means top, and also means cream. > > [uachtar - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uachtar) > > Although, maybe the irish teacher got it all mixed up and told you this was the meaning of taoiseach.. Oh bilge. My mistake. Now what am I going to do with all these garden gnomes? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-taoiseach/575018.md?page=2)