First off, I have a load of Irish proverbs, sayings and the like and I really want to translate them into Irish. I've searched the web high and low for some sort of translation thing but no luck so I thought you knowledgeable people might be able to give me some information. I'm not going to write them down here because, well, there's just too many. Secondly, I've also been looking for sites with Irish folklore, stories etc. but haven't had much luck on that front either. Last but not least, in my searches for these things I've seen a lot about Irish script. Anyone know where I could find some examples of this? Sorry about the list, thought I might as well get it over with in one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Cathy,
Have you checked the proverbs in this site? There's a very extensive list. If not, you'll have to paste them on here.

As regards stories and folklore, have a look around this site. they have an archive too:

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com

Here's a story in the old Gaelic typeface:

http://folkplanet.com/seanchlo/barun/bvm-priomh.html

Here's a site showing screeshots of early 12th century Irish manuscripts

http://www.isos.dcu.ie/ria/home.html

Slán,

Oliver.

Hi,
Yep, got all the ones from this site but somehow my list just seems to keep on growing and I really don't want to be bothering you. I'd probably be ok with the words but when it comes to stringing a sentence together, I'm lost (so much for my 13 years learning Irish at school, I'll have to remedy this NOW).

The other stuff was bang on, just what I was looking for (got some more things to add to my list in the Irish culture one too, great).

Thanks a million for your help.

Cathy.

Cathy,
Have you tried www.IrishGaelicTranslator.com. I dont know how good it is but it's got to be worth a try.

anyone can explain the sense of a question "which leg do you kick with?" that can be heard in North Ireland?I know that it concerns religion, that's my whole knowledge.Help!
joanna

A question like "which leg do you kick with", "what way do you swing", where there's two and only two possible answers is to do with things like religion, creed, stuff like that that divides people. It's just another way of saying "Are you a Catholic or a Protestant". The usual one I hear is "Are you a Rangers or a Celtic fan?".

-Phil

Thanks, Phil.
I read about the question in an interview wwith Therapy? .They wrote a song called "God kicks" to say that God kicks tith both legs and it doesn't matter who you are.
I've been wondering if the people who ask these questions usually want to beat, scare or laugh at the asked one.Maybe it became part of the language and doesn't hide disdain.How do you react?
(of course I don't mean your religion,I'm just curious what people do in such situations.)

thanks once again,
joanna

Well I've never asked the question. I hear it on holidays in Spain and the like. It's usually just curiosity. To be very subtle about it, ask them if they're brittish, you'll either get "yeah" or "no, Northern Irish".

-Phil

Joanna,
In the North of Ireland we need only know what name a person has to know "what leg they kick with". If that does not produce the result we thought it would, we only have to ask what school they attended to gain the required info. Failing both of these, we would find out where they lived, as this is as much an indicator of that as anything.
That said, the vast majority of people merely have a curiosity as to the identity of the person they are chatting to and have no desire whatsoever to bash them etc.. Hope this answers the question you were asking.
Agus chuig na daoine eile - GML for my ranting on this. Just trying to clear the matter up. Suspect it's now as clear as ditchwater! tá brón orm

siobhán

A Shiobhán:

I find your reference to the family name fascinating. I was raised a protestant (Baptist) am now married to a Catholic and recently converted. In just the past several months I found out that I have a great-grandfather buried in a Catholic cemetery in Minnesota. However, the diocese has no record of him or his burial. So, my confusion/ancestral dilemma is this--were we Catholic upon arrival and converted at some later time or were we protestant in Ireland and converted after arrival on these shores? To make matters worse, we have one of those names that is found in both Scotland and Ireland giving rise to my further wondering if we were perhaps Ulster Scots----Basically, I know absolutely nothing about my family beyond this old guy buried in Minnesota.

Last name is McGinnis--an Ulster name, so I'm led to believe--county Antrim also seems to be in the mix--what say ye Siobhán? Which leg am I supposed to kick with!?? I'm dying to know!!!

Le meas,

James

James, mo chara,

Nice one! I, myself, also come from a "mixed" family - my grandmother was protestant and converted when she married. I really don't care what foot anyone kicks with as long as they are decent human beings! N.Ireland is not as polarised as many think but it is a (sad) fact of life that your background is assumed by reference to your name etc.
As far as your name goes, I found this site which may interest you.

http://myfamhrtgen.tripod.com/mcginnishistory.htm

Slán go Fóill

Siobhán

McGinnis = Mac Aonghusa
Hmm. I didn't know I had a son in James!

A Chairde,
In "The Truth About The Irish" by Terry Eagleton, it says, "In Northern Ireland, the question 'Which foot do you kick with?' means ' Are you Catholic or Protestant?' Catholics are said to dig with the left foot, Protestants with the right. The origin of this quaint expression can be traced to the fact that two different kinds of spade were traditionally used in Ireland, one in (mainly Catholic) Munster and Connacht, and the other in (partly Protestant) Ulster. One of the spades had a notch on the left for the digging foot, while the other had a notch on the right. Unfortunately, the popular expression gets things the wrong way round. It was the 'Catholic' spade which had a notch on the right, and the 'Protestant'one which had it on the left."
Slán,
Maidhc.

I got mixed up there. Ask them if they're Irish.

yeah = catholic

no, Northern Irish or Brittish = protestant.

-Phil

Fascinating stuff. Absolutely fascinating.

Siobhán--go raibh mile maith agat for that link!! That was very interesting. My seanathair will be very interested. God willing, we will be taking a trip to Ireland together later this year. Looks like I know where we'll be visiting!!

Aonghus--you would be suprised at the paternal influence you have on this site!!

Le meas,

James

James,

glad you liked the site. I know this is way off topic, but a little Northern joke for you to share:
A guy is walking up the Falls Road (in Belfast) and he comes across a gang of fellas who approach him menacingly.
They ask him "Are you a Catholic or a Protestant"
He replies "I'm neither, I'm a Jew"
The gang retreats and a heated discussion ensues.
Then their leader comes back to the guy and asks
"Yeah, but are you a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?"!!

No offence intended to any person or creed. Just a little Beal Feirste joke!

Aonghus,

you're the Daddy!!!

Maidhc!
In fact you're the one who cleared up the kicking matter in the way I expected .I was wondering where the question came from.
Thanks , Siobhan!I'd like to know what the Irish words you used mean.The language seems difficult but fascinating.I'm from Poland and our language is thought to be one of the most difficult.
It's great that you are all so nice and willing to help confused girl.
bye for now
joanna aka asia

Joanna, a chara, (Joanna, oh friend)
Prsprasm. (I hope that's spelled right.) In my opening, I said,"A chairde". (Dear friends.)Then, In my salutation, I said,"Slán". This is literally translated as health, but was used as fairwell.
Maidhc.
P.S. That's pretty much all I know in "Polska" except for a few foods and off the top of my head, I can't remember "cheers" ( which I believe translates as 'God upon you'.) and its response ( And also upon you.) though I'm sure I'd recognize it if someone were to say it to me.

A Aonghuis,

My dear darling daughter posed this question that I could not answer off the top of my head. Not wanting to lead her astray I thought you would be the best resource.

If my surname is anglicized from Mac Aonghusa what would be the appropriate term for the female of the family?

Ní gAonghusa?
Ní hAonghusa?

Or, would she, strictly speaking, be Ní Séamus?

I'm at a loss. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Le meas,

James

Nic Aonghusa!
Ní turns to Nic if the surname starts with a vowel

Your wife would be Bean Mhic Aonghusa

If you were in a gaeltacht she would probably be
her name Sheamuis genitive form of your fathers name

Maidhc,o chara! (I 'speak" Irish,who would've thought!)
I was surprised at your knowledge of Polish stuff.Once I heard that some Frenchmen thought we have polar bears running around in the streets.It's great to know people know anything about us.Many are interested in Irish matters - my friend asked me to show her my paper I prepared for history classes.Another one has "fianna" as nickname.He took it from some RPG and of course Fianna Fail (I wonder how the second word should be pronounced,could you give me a hint somehow?)
I'm a high school student (in less than 2 weeks I'm graduating).I have lots of things to prepare before the exams but I can find some time every week to visit this site.Great place, great people!
(I didn't know I was such a suck-up)


take care,
do zobaczenia (see you soon)
joanna

If I recall, Mike hails from the Lackawanna Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania, noted for Irish clergymen and Frankie Yankovick, the polka king. In a place where half the population is Irish and the other half Polish, you can't avoid learning something about each.

Brannigan

A Joanna, a chara,
The word fáil is pronounced like the english word "fall" with a slight difference. The vowel sound is more like the "aw" in the word awful and when you make the "l" sound, instead of your tongue reaching to the center of the roof of your mouth, it goes to the back of your upper front teeth. Some people almost sound as if they're saying "foil".
Pronunciation, at first could have been pretty difficult for me here in NEPA.(Actually it's the Wyoming Valley.) The vowel sound for many speakers around here are rather generic. That is, words like ball, tall, talk, walk, mock, sock, wok, dog, and hog all have the same vowel sound. Some of my relatives from Connecticut tease us about people in this area "woking our dogs". Thank God for old episodes of "Sesame Street". HAHAHA. And the back pages of Ó Siadhail.
And these days, I'd ay that this ara is more like 30% each Irish, Polish, And Italian. Some German and Russian and then the rest of whatever.
Oh, and, by the way, those two phrases - Nastrowa "Drink with God." and Pch sczkorowm (something like that) "And also with you."
Slán,
Maidhc.

Dúirt sé liom é a fháil.

I say it as "foil" and "oil".

-Phil

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/blas/learners/beag1/lesson1.shtml

Listen to this "fáil" sound in the Ulster fáilte

I usually just say "ál" as opposed to "oil", but when the noun is in the genetive, eg. téama an dáin (theme of the poem), I explicitly say "oil" to indicate the genetive. But in words that have an "ái" in them, eg. amháin, fáilte, I say it as "á", with "fáil" being the one exception of which I'm aware.

-Phil

Maidhc, o chara!
Your "nastrowa" should be in fact "na zdrowie", but sounds similar. I'm impressed.Thanks for pronunciation lesson - one more thing - could you teach me to say your name ( and that 'o chara')? Does your name mean anything?
It would be nice if you could tell me something more about you.

Happy Easter for those who celebrate it!
Take care all of you
joanna aka joanda (doesn't it sound soap opera-like?)

Sure Joanna,
It's simply the Gaeilge spelling of 'Mike' and is pronounced the same. And 'a chara' is pronounced - uh ch*ah-ruh(The ch* is like the German 'ch' in "ach" when it comes at the beginning of a word, is 'sometimes' silent in the middle of a word, and 'usually' silent at the end of a word. I'm still geting that down.) and the first 'a'('a' chara) often is not pronounced at all, as far as I know, the farther north you go.
I'd like to wish yourself, agus gach aon dhuine eile (?prnncd? ah-gus gah-ee-yin-ell-uh) and every one else, a Happy Easter. Check out this site over the weekend. There'll probably be lots of Easter related things given. Phrases,prayers etc. Maybe some with sound.
As for myself, What would anyone want to know about ME?! HAHAHA
Slán is beanneachtaí, (slaw*n iss ban-ah-tee)
Health and blessings,
Maidhc.

Should you wander west of Donegal Town and into the Gaeltacht, you may discover the locals drop the "C" from chara also, "Maidhc, a hara." Those Ulster speakers must be forever in a hurry to get things said so as to get in out of the cold or the wet.

Kjemmer tatoo? Guh my, gramygut; 'gustoohane?

They don't like the sound of "ch". Some people sound like they're choking when they say it. I sometimes say 'h' instead.

-Phil

Me too. Especially if 'ch' is in the middle of a word. -gets you away from that hackin' up a goober sound. Or sometimes I'll kinda say it more forward on the roof of my mouth to soften it up a bit.
-Maidhc.

Hello everyone(especially you, helpful and patient Maidhc),
happy Easter once again.I love those holidays of resurrection.
I'm preparing for my secondary school exam (polish and Latin which I cose) - keep your fingers crossed.It's already stressing me out even though I have 3 weeks.I'm scared!!!!
This is a good place to relax.Thanks.
slan
joanna aka asia

Tantric is relaxing.

-Phil