A Serious Language Question

Mikey could do it, but he's been missing for some years. Maybe Lmur?

The meaning of words has changed a lot - translations can be done, but why not tattoo from the original? Here's the first verses of Eliduc, first of the lais (songs) of Marie de France:

De un mut ancien lai bretun
Le conte e tute la reisun
Vus dirai...

(I'll tell you the story and all the meaning of a very old Breton lai)

It's old French, "Breton" is the original meaning of "British" in Celtic, and Marie was writing her songs one century after the Norman invasion, in order to save old myths.

Hey HS, how did you know what he wanted to say?

A friend of the wife of my cousin has a good knowledge of Scottish gaelic, but the last I heard, we could not contact them.

Still I'm willing to try again if you want.

There are three main Goidelic languages, two of them referred to as Gaelic, and the other Manx. Generally, to avoid confusion, the two versions of Gaelic are referred to as Erse or Irish Gaelic, and Scots Gaelic. You'd need to specify which you wanted.

Since the Quinneys originally trace back to Ulster..Ulster Gaelic. I've read that the original Ulster Gaelic is extinct but it is most similar to Scottish Gaelic.

Funny how things interconnect. My mother was part of the McCrady clan ...which turns out was a sub clan of the Grahams....which is Shelley's maiden name.

Ha, we're Graham's, too, only my great-great grandfather changed the spelling to Graeme.

I, too, am a Graham. My great great grandfather changed it to Ratzenhofer when he came to America in a feeble attempt to blend in with the populace.

.... and when referring to "Celtic language", one could add the other group as well: Brythonic, the second Celtic language group which consists of Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.

I learn that my coat of arms was granted to Bartholomew Quinney by the Kings Herald in AD 1540.

I have mentioned before that I am actually a Baer, but my family changed it to Bear to avoid anti semitism...

that would be great

Okay, what is the sentence?

There is no such thing as "Ulster Gaelic." That would be Erse--there might have been a distinct dialect, but the language you want is Erse--Irish Gaelic. Erse is not quite extinct--it is still used officially in the Republic of Ireland, and children are taught Erse in school, which they common refer to as "the Gaelic," because they don't have the example of Scots Gaelic for contrast. However, the people, except for a few isolated parts of the west country, speak English as their daily language.

quite right set...dialect was the word I meant to use...

The sentence is...and I'm serious... "**** 'em if they can't take a joke."

I feel that having that sentence along with my family coat of arms is highly representative of the quinney's in general and me in particular.

Even squinney agrees it's perfect. I'm absolutely going to have it done for my birthday.

The idea, to digress, started the other day when squinney was talking about doing something she wanted to do at work and then apologizing after it was already done. We then likened becoming a Quinney to being in AA. It's like a 12 step program. When we first met she was very much an ask for permission type. After many years she is now a do what I like and apologize later if necessary type. we were discussing how she was just about to reach the next level in being "Quinnisized" as we call it, which is the "**** 'em if they can't take a joke" level, and not unlike AA how she would be getting her 20 year pin this year and we would put that saying on it along with the Quinney coat of arms.

That's when we decided it should be my next tattoo. Probably not the most fascinating story you'll hear this week, but squinney and I got a pretty good laugh out of it mostly because it was right on the mark.

I also found a company that does coat of arms and we're going to have the Quinney and the Graham coat of arms put together and framed.

I will trust you to send me a translation that actually says that. I don't want to get a tattoo that I love and find out years later on my deathbed it actually says "Look at the gay Yankee wanker" or something.

I think that



would have to be heavily paraphrased in order to translate it in the gaelic.

Still, I will ask, and leave you to consider whether your proposed course of action is advisable or not.