Tá mé ag iarraidh dul go dtí an gym :(

Haha don’t worry, it’ll come with time.  At least you understood what I said.  Ya can always understand more than ya can say.  Just coinnigh leat :P

To me, this is the difference between the three. (This is taught in a lot of schools in the UK and, when you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense)

Race- what your genes say, you can narrow yourself down to racial groups using your genes.

Heritage- what your genealogy says, i.e. you have an Irish grandfather, you are of Irish heritage

Ethnicity- what your culture says, how similar your up-bringing and your world-view are to those traditionally and culture upheld by.

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irelandedition:

The United States is a new country, with most of its inhabitants only moving into the land within the last four hundred years. The country is a conglomerate of different cultures. While most would consider themselves to be American, many still look elsewhere for their traditions and stories. They look to where they originated, to the place their ancestors left to find new lives in the US. There aren’t any stories or beliefs, or monuments of great power native to the United States. The Native Americans living in the United States now, with their strong sense of culture and ingrained beliefs and traditions, are not natives to the United States. They are natives to the land, but not the country. Those that consider themselves American and dismiss past heritage, don’t have a rich pool of culture to draw upon. They have only the doctrine of the American ‘Pull Yourself Up By the Bootstraps’ Dream. It’s a culture now characterized by a Protestant work ethic and freedom. It’s all progress all the time, a constant search for the bigger and better.  There’s no strong roots of the past to keep the country anchored and leveled, but at the heart of nation, is something pure and worth being proud of, even if many have lost sight of it. To be American means to be descendant of those that came looking for a better quality of life for themselves and for you. America really is a country founded on the principles of freedom and love. 

People who say that the USA has no historic culture of its own confuse me.  I defy anyone to go to New Orleans and say that it doesn’t have its own culture, as distinctive as any of the cultures of Europe.  Within the same state of Louisiana, you then have the Cajun culture with it’s beautiful music, unique speech and wonderful way of life.  Further afield you have even more cultures. Mexican culture in the South-West, that brazen extroverted crowd up in New York, the hard-working cowboy-culture of Montana to name but a few.  What do people think European cultures are anyway?  They are more of a cultural continuum, each one affecting and being affected by its neighbours.  European cultures are just as much a mish-mash as American cultures are. America has just as much right to claim pride in its own culture as any other nation.  It just doesn’t.

The Americans really need to stop being so hard on themselves culturally.  Perhaps if they did, they’d stop using their mickey mouse version of our cultures and the Irish could stop being so exasperated with plastic paddies. 

cuimhnigh-i-gconai:

irelandedition:

One of the first things I noticed upon arriving in Dingle was the richness of the blue water. It was absolutely gorgeous. I love the ocean, particularly the fact that its color is constantly changing. The word ‘glas’ in Irish is modernly used to refer to the color ‘green’. But there was a point when ‘glas’ encompassed much more. Its original meaning was what linguists often refer to as ‘grue’. The one word covers the broad spectrum of blue, green, and grey. Remind you of anything? How about the ocean?

Heeee!!!!

But… Did I miss the memo that said we were sposed to stop using ‘glas’ like that?  

polyglotproblems:

[submitted by: gaeilgeblog and people-never-notice-anything]

It used to be set up so you could change your name whenever you wanted, or put a second name in brackets behind your “main name”, but now, for example, you can no longer use your English name as well as your Chinese name, so it’s hard because you’re proud of your heritage, but it’s hard for people to find you online otherwise. 

Bhí mo mholadh ar Polyglot Problems!  Ach tá an sampla Sínis…  
As if Chinese doesn’t get enough publicity.. It’s a monster-tongue that eats minority languages for breakfast.

Go raibh míle maith agat, a chara.  Cé go bhfuil tú Méiriceánach, is teaingeolaí go breá thú agus tá meas agam ort so tá sé ceart go leor :)
Ach níl aon meas agam ar aon duine a bhfuil ag iarraidh bain usáid as mo theanga mar ‘hippy name pool’ mar dúirt mé.
To be honest, I don’t think she was very well-versed in the socio-political aspect of Irish, or minority languages as a whole.  There are different considerations to take when one is talking about minority languages such as Irish or Native American languages, and a lot of people just aren’t sensitive to them.  They don’t know what cultural appropriation is and they don’t know that they’re being offensive.  She obviously had no idea about the different socio-political substrate of discussions regarding minority languages because she thought she could apply the same rules to Gaeilge as she does to English, the all-devouring, ignorant monster-tongue. Yer man over at selchieproductions would probably have a field day on this.

But at any rate, it’s like if I started calling myself Lopo and telling people “My name means wolf in Spanish”.  Even though Spanish isn’t an endangered  language, that’s pretty wrong because people who met me might then think that it’s normal in Spanish culture to give names that equate to random objects/animals.  Moreover, it’s incorrect (as most of her translations were because she blindly trusts baby-name sites- bad move).  If I met a Spaniard who said “Actually, it would be Lobo, and I find it pretty offensive that you’ve arbitrarily chosen a word from my language to be your name even though you have no notion of my culture”, I wouldn’t spout a stream of curse words at him, telling him I wasn’t offensive and that he can shove a cactus up his arse (true story).
Truth be told, if the above situation was true, most Spaniards would probably laugh me right out of their country for being such an idiot in the first place.  But as I said, there are different considerations to take into account when dealing with linguistically and culturally down-trodden peoples.
I wish you all the best in your linguistic endeavours, I do enjoy your blog! 

Caithfidh mé shake phróitín a ordú. Ach tá mé bocht…

Fadhbanna an Céad Domhain!