# How useful is Irish (Gaelic) in Ireland? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 1, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375 "2013-07-01T17:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/21 "2013-07-03T15:48:03Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Do Irish speakers do that thing (like Scots Gaelic speakers) where they switch language mid-sentence? > > Like, you know, you go to Stornoway and hear someone talk on the phone and it sounds like “Yarble ccchhhh yarble spragee spraga _I’m sick of these mutherfucking snakes on the plane!_” > > I’ve noticed this from subcontinental language speakers as well. I was once surrounded by four Belgian ladies that kept switching between French and Dutch all the time in various combinations. Most confusing. I have also heard about a situation when some people were switching between Swedish, Finnish and Sami in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/22 "2013-07-05T06:12:36Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Do Irish speakers do that thing (like Scots Gaelic speakers) where they switch language mid-sentence? > > Like, you know, you go to Stornoway and hear someone talk on the phone and it sounds like “Yarble ccchhhh yarble spragee spraga _I’m sick of these mutherfucking snakes on the plane!_” I read somewhere, that all the Celtic languages are rather poorly-equipped for swearing in; even the worst imprecations in them, being rather feeble – maybe something to do with the Celtic peoples’ strong religious streak? Hence, those whose birth-speech – and preferred medium of communication with other speakers – is Irish or Scottish Gaelic or Welsh, tend to do much borrowing of Anglo-Saxon words for purposes of profanity. I don’t know whether this is truly so; but find it a nice thought. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/23 "2013-07-05T06:19:00Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > I was once surrounded by four Belgian ladies that kept switching between French and Dutch all the time in various combinations. Most confusing. With all that one hears about the mutual hatred in Belgium between the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking communities; it’s reassuring to hear that some Belgian folk, such as these ladies, can be sensible and non-intransigent about the issue. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/24 "2013-07-05T06:50:16Z")
> [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > While most people, even in the Gaeltachts, primarily speak English they often mix in Irish words. You may be asked if you want bainne with your tea or someone may ask how the craic was last night at the pub. The craic is always mighty at Flaherty’s so be sure to go there if you’re in Dingle. Interestingly, though, _craic_ is actually a loan-word from English. They adopted the dialect word “crack” (news, gossip, banter) and gave it an Irish spelling some time in the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/25 "2013-07-05T07:17:34Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I read somewhere, that all the Celtic languages are rather poorly-equipped for swearing in; even the worst imprecations in them, being rather feeble – maybe something to do with the Celtic peoples’ strong religious streak? Hence, those whose birth-speech – and preferred medium of communication with other speakers – is Irish or Scottish Gaelic or Welsh, tend to do much borrowing of Anglo-Saxon words for purposes of profanity. I don’t know whether this is truly so; but find it a nice thought. An explanation I’ve heard for a similar situation with Basque is that since its speakers have been bilingual for about 2000 years, and since a lot of profanity is religious in nature, and the new religion came with the new language, they just use the cusswords from “the other language”. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/26 "2013-07-05T07:31:09Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > An explanation I’ve heard for a similar situation with Basque is that since its speakers have been bilingual for about 2000 years, and since a lot of profanity is religious in nature, and the new religion came with the new language, they just use the cusswords from “the other language”. Again, “stuff I’ve heard”, and “one gathers” – supposedly Basque (among other things, related to no other European language) is extremely difficult to learn, unless it’s one’s birth-speech. It’s reputed – in the nicest possible way – that “low self-esteem is not a problem which afflicts the Basques”. They ascribe their great virtue and nobility of character, to the Devil’s having tried to learn Basque, in order to tempt them; but learning the language was beyond him, and he gave up on the attempt. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/27 "2013-07-05T09:45:13Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Interestingly, though, _craic_ is actually a loan-word from English. They adopted the dialect word “crack” (news, gossip, banter) and gave it an Irish spelling some time in the 1960s. That Irish spelling of it really grinds my gears. I know it’s an old enough conversation now but it still seems so phony. Seems designed for the tourist industry and not for how people actually use the word crack. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/28 "2013-07-05T10:05:21Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Again, “stuff I’ve heard”, and “one gathers” – supposedly Basque (among other things, related to no other European language) is extremely difficult to learn, unless it’s one’s birth-speech. Nah, it’s no more difficult than any other language. One of the problems native speakers have with Official Basque (Batua) is that often it is easier to get certified as a Basque Speaker if you’re a foreigner than if you’re native, because the foreigners don’t get “interference” from their dialects and the exams are in Batua. We’ve had quite a few problems with that: cases such as university-entrance exams being translated by someone who was a Certified Translator but who couldn’t have a conversation about that exam’s subject in either Spanish, Basque, or his native language, being a foreigner who had stopped school before the equivalent of 4th grade. It wasn’t learned often by outsiders until recently for political and practical reasons; dialects can get pretty confusing (false friends, differences in declensions), they can be different enough that it was normal for native speakers to switch to the other local language because that way they understood each other better than if each used his dialect, and since the other local languages (Erdera) are more widespread and therefore more useful, if you were coming from abroad and planned to learn only one local language it was more logical to learn Erdera. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/29 "2013-07-05T12:12:23Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Nah, it’s no more difficult than any other language. One of the problems native speakers have with Official Basque (Batua) is that often it is easier to get certified as a Basque Speaker if you’re a foreigner than if you’re native, because the foreigners don’t get “interference” from their dialects and the exams are in Batua. We’ve had quite a few problems with that: cases such as university-entrance exams being translated by someone who was a Certified Translator but who couldn’t have a conversation about that exam’s subject in either Spanish, Basque, or his native language, being a foreigner who had stopped school before the equivalent of 4th grade. > > It wasn’t learned often by outsiders until recently for political and practical reasons; dialects can get pretty confusing (false friends, differences in declensions), they can be different enough that it was normal for native speakers to switch to the other local language because that way they understood each other better than if each used his dialect, and since the other local languages (Erdera) are more widespread and therefore more useful, if you were coming from abroad and planned to learn only one local language it was more logical to learn Erdera. Thanks – interesting information. I realise that in the main, people tend to make heavy weather of learning other languages; and, with natural laziness, are mostly reluctant to learn other tongues – unless their mother-tongue is localised, and learning of more-widespread languages is advantageous for practical reasons. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/30 "2013-07-05T12:37:56Z")
WotNot writes: "Interestingly, though, ‘craic’ is actually a loan-word from English. They adopted the dialect word ‘crack’ (news, gossip, banter). and gave it an Irish spelling some time in the 1960s. > [@An\_Gadai](#): > > That Irish spelling of it really grinds my gears. I know it’s an old enough conversation now but it still seems so phony. Seems designed for the tourist industry and not for how people actually use the word crack. As an English Irelandophile – the expression “the craic” has likewise, always made me cringe. (Genuine Irish folk, please feel free to tell me, on this, to go \*\*\*\* myself.) It just seems to me, so “twee/ campy / aren’t-we-just-so-so-witty-and-characterful”. Humans are humans, worldwide – some peoples / cultures more tending to humour / loquacity / quick-wittedness than others, but there’s always a broad spectrum re individuals, and communities. I feel sure that the Irish, in certain situations and circumstances, can be as boring and conversationally-challenged as anyone else. I love the bit in Bernadette Devlin’s autobiography, telling of her working in university vacations, as a barmaid in a relation’s pub in the back-country on the west side of Lough Neagh. The all-male clientele there, had basically two topics of conversation; horses, and women. With Bernadette being around, ready to serve them; they very properly and politely, in the presence of an unmarried young woman, shut down on the “women” topic – whence it was, “horses, silence – horses, silence”. She felt – non-condescendingly – sorry for the poor guys… ---
**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:** [July 5, 2013, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/31 "2013-07-05T13:12:55Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I read somewhere, that all the Celtic languages are rather poorly-equipped for swearing in; even the worst imprecations in them, being rather feeble – maybe something to do with the Celtic peoples’ strong religious streak? Hence, those whose birth-speech – and preferred medium of communication with other speakers – is Irish or Scottish Gaelic or Welsh, tend to do much borrowing of Anglo-Saxon words for purposes of profanity. I don’t know whether this is truly so; but find it a nice thought. Romantic twaddle. A lot of the traditional swears were based on religion, and don’t come across as being very strong in translation. I’m nowhere near fluent in Irish, so I can’t give specifics, but I’ve linked before to the [monolingual Welsh dictionary of swearwords and phrases](http://www.rhegiadur.com/), and certainly the medieval poetry is colourful enough! ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375/32 "2013-07-06T11:58:07Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Romantic twaddle. A lot of the traditional swears were based on religion, and don’t come across as being very strong in translation. I’m nowhere near fluent in Irish, so I can’t give specifics, but I’ve linked before to the [monolingual Welsh dictionary of swearwords and phrases](http://www.rhegiadur.com/), and certainly the medieval poetry is colourful enough! Yes, sorry, I recall – we’ve talked about this in a previous thread. I just tend to whimsically like the whole idea of languages so proper and demure, that they’re ill-equipped for profanity ! I feel thus also, about languages / communities which “do” swearing in an unusual way. If I’m right (maybe I have the wrong end of the stick here too), French-Canadians rely largely for profanity, on the names of the various items of gear for celebrating the Catholic Mass. If so – well, it’s different… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-useful-is-irish-gaelic-in-ireland/662375.md?page=1)