Same to ya, darlin' . . . do the daycent t'ing now, an' run along . . .
Careful, now, or we'll come to think that Paddies are given to quarreling...
Named my little/big ginger cat 'Paddy' ~ cuz he's Irish, don't ya know.
He's definitely a fighter.
Hasn't given Lacey (Irish-wannabe-kitty) a moments peace since her arrival.
Typical Irishman.
Oy.
Looks like Paddys are Paddys are Paddys.
I sure wish I'd been warned.
By the way, can anyone explain what does the word "Begora" mean? My online dictionary does not give any translation to it, neither do the offline ones that I have in my disposal. If no one knows the literal translation, maybe some information on its usage by the Irish people may be provided?
Steissd
It probably means "By God". I'm just guessing here - but based on the way it's used, and given the Irish pronunciation, it sounds feasible. It's an exclamation.
I'm sure one of the more learned types can give a fuller, more detailed, more specific and correct explanation. I'm just a wandering Aussie!
Main Entry: be·gor·ra
Pronunciation: bi-'gor-&, -'gär-
Function: interjection
Etymology: euphemism for by God
Date: 1839
Irish -- used as a mild oath
Ah, now I see, I used the wrong spelling, that is why my dictionary failed to translate the word. It has double "r"...
Jaysus, Mary an' Joseph . . .
So t'at's what it means, who'd a t'ought . . .
As I said several pages ago, it's like bejaysus, begorra!
I always wanted to wonder, why many Irish folk songs are being sung in English (e.g., "Whiskey in the Jar" and some others, I do not remember their names). I know that Ireland was a long-term British colony, but it was not alone, the British Empire in its best days encompassed half of the world. But still Indians sing in Hindustani, Sudanese in Arabic, Kenyans in Swahili, and only Irish use a foreign language for their folklore...
Actually, Steissd, there are many Irish folk songs still sung in the traditional Irish Gaelic. Not to mention, a lot of the very popular ones were written either by Englishmen, or Northern Irish, who of course sympathize with the Brits.
Not true. One of my favorite songs, Yesterday when I was young, by Roy Clark was also done by the composer Charles Aznavour in both native French and English. I suspect the answer is that English has grown to be the most used language in business. Therefore it would most likely produce the most volume and therefore profits. This is only one example but I'm sure there are many more.
I came across with some tourists from Ireland both in Israel and abroad, and I was very much surprised that they talked English to each other. I did not listen deliberately, but in one of occasions they were a bit tipsy and spoke loudly not far from the place I was sitting (in the air plane), and I can swear that this was English (though, with some unusual accent)...
A bit of the brew has made many languages gibberish
Heh heh...steissd, it is true that Gaelic is not as widely spoken as it once was in Ireland, but in small pockets of Ireland it is still used almost exclusively. Mind, they are very small pockets indeed. However, I have not heard a well-known Irish folk singer who does not include Gaelic songs in their repetoire.
Here is a proud example, that is sung in both the original Irish and the English:
MO GHILE MEAR (My Dashing Darling)
(Irish Gaelic)
Seal da rabhas im'mhaighdean shiimh
'S anois im' bhaintreach chaite thriith
Mo chiile ag treabhadh ne dtonn go trian
De bharr na gcnoc is in imigiin.
Curfa
'Si mo laoch, mo Ghile Mear
'Si mo Chaesar, Ghile Mear.
Suan na sian nm bhfuaireas fiin
O chuaigh in gciin mo Ghile Mear.
Bmmse buan ar buairt gach ls
Ag caoi go ctuaidh 's ag tuar na ndeor
Mar scaoileadh uaim an buachaill beo
'S na rmomhtar tuairisc uaidh mo bhrsn.
Nm lagnrann cuach go suairc ar nsin
Is nml guth gadhair i gcoillte cns
Na maidin shamhraidh i gcleanntaibh ceoi
O d'imigh uaim an buachaill beo.
Marcach uasal uaibhreach sg
Gas gan gruaim is suairce sns
Glac is luaimneach luath i ngleo
Ag teascadh an tslua 's ag tuairgan tria
Seinntear stair ar chlairsigh cheoil
Is liontair tainte cart ar bord
Le hinntinn ard gan chaim gan cheo
Chun saol is slainte d'fhail don leon.
Ghile mear 'sa seal faoi chumha
'S Eire go liir faoi chlscaibh dubha
Suan na sian nm bhfuaireas fiin
O luaidh i gciin mo Ghile Mear.
--
Mo Ghile Mear (My Dashing Darling)
(Translation)
For a while I was a gentle maiden
And now a spent worn-out widow
My spouse ploughing the waves strongly
Over the hills and far away.
chorus: He is my hero, my dashing darling
He is my Caesar, dashing darling.
I've had no rest from forebodings
Since he went far away my darling.
Every day I am constantly sad
Weeping bitterly and shedding tears
Because our lively lad has left us
And no news from him is heard alas.
The cuckoo sings not pleasantly at noon
And the sound of hounds is not heard in nut-filled woods,
Nor summer morning in misty glen
Since he went away from me, my lively boy.
Noble, proud young horseman
Warrior unsaddened, of most pleasant countenace
A swift-moving hand, quick in a fight,
Slaying the enemy and smiting the strong.
Let a strain be played on musical harps
And let many quarts be filled
With high spirit without fault or mist
For life and health to toast my lion.
Dashing darling for a while under sorrow
And all Ireland under black cloaks
Rest or pleasure I did not get
Since he went far away my dashing darling.
Here is a site with many of the popular Irish Gaelic folk songs:
http://www.webcom.com/liam/gaelsong/list.html
Well certainly most Irish speak English - and certainly, mosts Irish folk singers have at least some Gaeilge songs in the repertoire.
The reason for this is very sinple, as explained in the article below:
Quote:A Little History of Gaelic
Gaelic (Irish) is a Celtic language and, as such, is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. Within the Celtic group, it belongs to the Goidelic branch of insular Celtic. Irish has evolved from a form of Celtic which was introduced into Ireland at some period during the great Celtic migrations of antiquity between the end of the second millennium and the fourth century BC. Old Irish, Ireland's vernacular when the historical period begins in the sixth century of our era, is the earliest variant of the Celtic languages, and indeed the earliest of European vernaculars north of the Alps, in which extensive writings are extant.
The Norse settlements (AD 800 onwards) and the Anglo-Norman colonization (AD 1169 onwards) introduced periods of new language diversity into Ireland, but Irish remained dominant and other speech communities were gradually assimilated. In the early sixteenth century, almost all of the population was Irish-speaking. The main towns, however, prescribed English for the formal conduct of administrative and legal business.
The events of the later sixteenth century and of the seventeenth century for the first time undermined the status of Irish as a major language. The Tudor and Stuart conquests and plantations (1534-1610), the Cromwellian settlement (1654), and the Williamite war (1689-91) followed by the enactment of the Penal Laws (1695), had the cumulative effect of eliminating the Irish-speaking ruling classes and of destroying their cultural institutions. They were replaced by a new ruling class, or Ascendancy, whose language was English, and thereafter English was the sole language of government and public institutions. Irish continued as the language of the greater part of the rural population and, for a time, of the servant classes in towns.
From the middle of the eighteenth century, as the Penal Laws were relaxed and a greater social and economic mobility became possible for the native Irish, the more prosperous of the Irish- speaking community began to conform to the prevailing middle-class ethos by adopting English. Irish thus began to be associated with poverty and economic deprivation. This tendency increased after the Act of Union in 1800.
Yet because of the rapid growth of the rural population, the actual number of Irish speakers increased substantially during the first decades of the nineteenth century. In 1835 their number was estimated at four million. This number consisted almost entirely of an impoverished rural population which was decimated by the Great Famine and by resultant mass emigration. By 1891, the number of Irish speakers had been reduced to 680,000 and, according to that year's census of population, Irish speakers under the age of ten represented no more than 3.5% of their age- group.
When the position began to stabilize early in the twentieth century, Irish remained as a community language only in small discontinuous regions, mainly around the western seaboard, collectively called the Gaeltacht.
from:
The language of Irland
