New York sanitation worker wins scholarship to study Gaelic in Ireland

I have to offer apologies to irishphotograph whom I wrongly mixed up with another IC poster. It's irishwriter who's known to Niall. Maybe irishphotograph is too but I post this to correct that mix-up.

FY of GeorgeD - thanks for calling me haterjacers which is so far from reality that I might adopt it as a screen name, its got a nice ring to it! Of ten exam subjects I did when leaving school, I scored highest in Irish, in both written and oral tests and obtained Honours level (the highest grade) in both, along with Physics, Chemistry, History and Geography. I merely passed English!

Well done to eiriamach for eliciting a response from N’OD. I think an Irish language section ought to be a part of Irish Central but I would have to agree w/ Niall that such a venture may not be greatly successful – there have been numerous attempts by Irish speakers around the world to create Irish language blog sites on the internet and keep it going, with little success. What I would suggest to Niall is that he includes an Irish translation tool on this site through which some or all of ICentral articles could be translated into Irish and commented on in Irish by those who would like to do so.

Niall O'Dowd answered and said that when IC tried Irish blogs early on, there was no response, but he seems pleased to hear there's interest in doing it now: "great idea and love to get it organized." More news soon, I hope.

Go n-éiri do bhóthar leat, a Eamonn agus mise. Bail ó Dhia obair é. --> Go n-éiri an bóthar leat, a Eamonn. Bail ó Dhia ar an obair. ??

GeorgeDillon, I was able to read your Irish post and also kinvara7's with no difficulty. In general, I can read most Irish. (Academic Irish, such as Ó Conchubhair's "Fin de Siécle na Gaeilge," is still slow-going for me.) It is a literary language for me, rather than a spoken language. I write it with difficulty and I have no one with whom to speak it. The way to keep it alive, of course, is to speak it and write it. In speaking and writing, the complex rules of prefixation, suffixes, lenition, etc., become second nature. Considering the difficulties for English speakers in learning the differently-structured Irish language, we should expect multiple errors in just a paragraph of written Irish. It would be good to have an Irish section on IC where we could gently supply corrections for each other-- not for obvious typos, but for example, "Is bean mé" to replace "Tá mé bean." Mamaginnty writes very lively Irish, and so I said she was a good Irish speaker because Irish is such a rich language and can generate great humorous moments. There are many ways of being a good Irish speaker. You and kinvara7 could be of great use to learners because of your command of the intricacies of the language and the flow of sentences. Jacers has, it seems to me, a great sense of the colloquial uses of Irish--"le mot juste." And so on. I don't need to be a great Irish speaker to know good Irish when I see it. BTW: none of the people you mention is a hater. If you are disappointed that no one defended you when someone else called you a hater, well I'll keep that in mind and try to be there if it happens again because too often the discussion just deteriorates if we don't stop the insults when they begin.

eiriamach: Just as an addendum, haterjacer has what in our country might be called Irish 101. And probably with a grade of C minus!

eiriamach: I will take your apology with the courtesy with which it was intended. I'll cross you off the list of haters. Now we're just down to a hard core of haters--jacers, kinvara, momma ginnty. But let me ask you a question, because I dislike lack of logic. You say that certain posters--haterjacer is one of them--have good Irish. Yet you yourself don't know any Irish. You're not the only person here with no Irish to make judgments about the Irish proficiency of others. Just how do you do that? Clairvoyance?

Go n-éiri do bhóthar leat, a Eamonn agus mise. Bail ó Dhia obair é.

Flip!!! Flip, flip flippit! Why didn't I see it before??... A light bulb just went off in me head! Why not invite an t-Uasal Shevlin to be Eagarthóir??? As a Sanitation Expert he might help clean up GeorgeDillon’s mind, as Gaeilge.

mamaginnty – Yes, you do have a total right to sleep well tonight. Oíche ciúin leat, a mháithre ginnty, a bhean álainn. @ eiriamach, I think it’s amazing that ICentral started up w/o an Irish Language section within its ‘Irish Roots’ section. But, nah, I’m not that into Irish as to want to be as involved as you’ve kindly suggested. Kinvara7 has offered to be an editor though... b’fhéider, lá éigin, it might happen on Lárnach na hÉireann.

I sent a little email to Niall O'Dowd and tried to summarize kilvara7's suggestion and willingness to edit. I'd like to see it happen. Mamaginnty, I can put up with a lot of blustering by IC posters because at least here, where I can write out an answer and just click the 'comment' button, no one (so far!) has censored or silenced or blocked me. I don't consider it a psychiatric problem, but I admit I need that freedom! And posters like you, Jacers, Searlit and others I should name but the list will get too long, make it enjoyable. And why do you say "useless at Irish"? You are one of the best of the Irish speakers! Jacers too! Ah, but he seems to be able to play with almost any language; maybe he's James Joyce re-incarnated. (Ooops, there I go again, speculating! I have to stop that.)

Eireiamach, I am useless at irish myself but I will send e-mail. I think it is a great idea for all you irish speakers, and I'm sure more will join... just had an awful thought, I will be left sitting here twiddlin me thumps while you lot will be nattering away in irish.

I just want to say that for the last few weeks I thought.... Is it me, am I wrong, am I becoming a nasty ould woman, am I letting me temper get the better of me. Now I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders in that other posters have seen " yer man " for what he is. I will sleep well tonight and not be worrying about what the ould codger will be saying tomorrow.

Jacers, I think the suggestion of an Irish language forum on Irish Central is a good idea, and if you would not mind helping with it, I'll nominate you, or anyone willing to do what's needed. Is anyone else interested in seeing this happen? Email the suggestion to niall@irishcentral.com . Maybe we'll get an answer.