Hm. I must learn the proper way to greet everyone in general...

Anyway - I got all kinds of busy today and didn't post this in good time, but as today is my husband's birthday it occurs to me that I would like to know how to give the appropriate greeting in Irish. Once again, I would need a phonetic version as well as the actual Irish, and GRMA to any and all who can enlighten me! (I got an email saying my book is on the way, so hopefully I can figure out the pronunciation for myself very soon).

Since it's the vernal equinox - how many of you are going to balance an egg?! I had one standing last year for 20 and 1/2 hours!!

Slán, y'all!

A Evie a chara,

I think its la breithe shona duit for happy birthday.

Beir bua agus beannacht

another way is:
breithlá sona duit

(As seen from the main page for the forums, I shall extrapolate that this would be the greeting in plural form...?)

A chairde, Ladies! (Feel free to correct that if I guessed wrong...)

Go raibh maith agat, many (or muchly!), for the help!

I am in a grand mood this morning - my Equinox egg is still standing, braving the cats' hooligan ways...

Slán, y'all!

Evie,

Here's my take on Ladies in Irish:

Ladies (when used in addressing them) A mna uaisle

mna is the plural of bean (woman)

uaisle is an adjective modifying ladies, and is the plural form of uasal, which means noble, gentle, precious, fine.

I'm glad to hear you've ordered Foclóir Scoile. If I may suggest, the first thing you may want to do is read the phonetic preface in the beginning of the book. It's only five pages long, but it will give you a good introduction to the basics of Irish pronunciation, using a simplified form of the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) This is the pronuciation system used throughout the rest of the book and each Irish headword contains a pronunciation using the IPA. It may seem laborious to learn the IPA, but the hour or so you take to read the phonetic preface is time well spent. Plus, it shoud be a breeze for someone who can balance an egg for over twenty hours.

I never heard of balancing an egg. Is innealtoir mé (I'm an engineer) so I would be very interested in how it can even be done. I would start with a hard boiled egg, crush the bottom and then sit it down - does that count?

Eeek! Mac léinn! No cheating!

How it's done (by me, in any case) - find out when the moment of equinox will be (you'll have to wait until next year, now, I suppose), when the moment rolls around take an egg out of the fridge, and patiently hold it upright until you find that point of balance. I could actually feel this one "wanting" to be balanced. Get it steady and remove your hand.
Allow your mind to be amazed!

I may have to try it again in a week, just to see if there is any restrictions on ~when~ this can be done. This year's egg is going on 15 hours.

And GRMA for the lessons help - I will absolutely invest the time once I get my book!

Evie

An focal an lae: (word for the day) cónocht Equinox.

Cónocht an Earraigh = Spring Equinox

Cónocht an Fhómhair = Fall Equinox

Scríobh Evie: ...you'll have to wait until next year, now, I suppose, Céard faoi Cónocht an Fhómhair? (What about the Fall Equinox) maybe I only have to wait half a year?

This is apropos of nothing, but for those of you interested in greeting cards in the Irish language, Smaointe is a good resource:

http://www.smaointe.com/index.html

Valerie is extremely helpful & quick with orders.

Give it a go! I have only heard of it being "do-able" on the Spring Equinox - Cónocht an Earraigh - but I don't generally find my happy with those sorts of rules!! (On the other hand - sometimes, "rules is rules", and there's an end to it). :-/


Evie

GRMA Nicole.

A Evie a chara,

Why can it only be done at Spring equanox, is it a magnetic thing?

Beir bua agus beannacht

quote:

An focal an lae: (word for the day) cónocht Equinox.

Is breá an focal é sin! It contains "nocht", the archaic Irish word for "night", which is cognate with Latin "nox, noctis" (and English "nocturnal, etc.). You won't find "nocht = night" in a dictionary of Modern Irish, but it survives and thrives in the everyday adverb "anocht" (= tonight). The prefix "có-" is just the form of "comh-" used before the letters 'm' and 'n', and among the meanings of "comh-" is "equal". Equi-nox = equal-night = có-nocht.

Now for the FRC. You need to say focal an lae not *an focal an lae. Do you know the rule about only one article in a noun phrase?

A Dhennis a chara,

Bhi seo suimiuil.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Tá brón orm, ach tá scéala anseo: Is feidir ubh a bheith idir dhá cheann na meá 'chuile lá - feic: http://www.plantea.com/equinox-egg.htm

Here's an excerpt from the above-mentioned link:

quote:

I felt proud as a peacock [balancing an egg on the equinox] until I read an article about Kevin Kehne, an assistant professor of physics at Delta College in Saginaw, Mich. "Each year, science fans tear their hair out when some media outlet features a story about the dubious physics of seasonal egg-balancing," says Dehne, who frequently lectures his classes on widely believed examples of junk science.

True eggheads know the Earth's alignment on its axis causes many miraculous phenomena. The changing of the season's is one; an upright egg is not. "You can balance an egg on its end any time of the year if you have the patience," adds Kehne.

Ah-HA!! So it CAN be done whenever!! Frankly, I like that better than the "one day a year" notion - the mystique of it holds, whenever you manage the feat.

Mine is at 17 hours, 35 minutes.... (it looks so serenely goofy there - sort of "The Three Stooges Master Zen"). I think that alone is worth the effort, which may (or may not) be minimal at the equinox.

The grammar lesson zoomed right over my head, alas...

Evie

A Dennis, go raibh maith agat as an eolas faoi cónocht agus an ceartúchan. When I entered the information on the spring and autumnal equinoxes, I correctly employed and noticed the one-article rule ('cause it was straight out of the dictionary), but had a memory lapse when I had to construct the phrase "word of the day" on my own. Oh well, it's great to have folks like you here to help keep us learners on the straight and narrow. .

Evie, I hope I didn't rain on your parade regarding the Vernal-Equinox Egg Balancing ritual, which I think is pretty cool. I hope you acheive a world record. The tech-head in me says avoid any possible vibrations to the table on which the egg is resting, and eliminate any air currents in the room. Go n-éirí an t-adh leat! (Good luck!)

BTW, what is the world record for egg-balancing?

quote:

The grammar lesson zoomed right over my head, alas...

Let me try to make it fly lower and slower (since it really is the Gaeilge we're here for, not to chat about egg-balancing and other pleasant extraneous topics).

In English you can say either:

1) the man's son (one article "the")

2) the son of the man (the article twice)

In Irish, we can only use the first pattern:

mac an fhir

The word order is simply reversed from English, literally "son the man's", where "an fhir" is the genitive of "an fear", just as in English "the man's" is the genitive of " the man".

We cannot say "an mac an fhir" (the article twice), just as we can't say "the man's the son" in English.

...since it really is the Gaeilge we're here for, not to chat about egg-balancing and other pleasant extraneous topics).

But isn't it those "egg-balancing and other pleasant extraneous topics" that lead to "focal an lae" discussions, and then to helpful corrections that contain important grammatical advice, that then lead to further help to newer members?

Dear Topic-Control Officer: It was my impression that we are allowed to discuss egg-balancing and other pleasant extraneous subjects as long as we include some Gaeilge in our postings. Is there a minimum amount of Gaeilge that needs to be in our posting to qualify as an acceptable off-topic posting?

A Evie, conas tá d'ubh? Tá súil agam nach thit sí fós! (How is your egg? I hope it didn't fall yet!)

(Ye gods and goddesses! I amn't wanting to get meself in trouble here - I need you folks and your knowledge!!)

Okay, so what's the Irish (patience, friends - I haven't received me book yet!) for "balanced" and "egg"??

Egg still standing, quiet and unconcerned, on the counter, neither speaking English, Irish, or even Klingon. In point of fact, if it's speaking at all, it's below me radar! (And isn't that too sad?)
"World record" would be phrased how in Irish? I don't know of one - or any. I can only hope to best me own, which would be last year's 20 hours 33 minutes. And of course ye cannot rain on the VE parade - I rather prefer the idea that some mysteries can be observed any time one cares to try!

PS - You actually CAN say "the man's the son" - if it is the contraction "the man is the son" - and that sounds like the answer to an old riddle!
But I understand the point you were making, and I am seriously considering printing out some of this stuff to add to my book-learning.
How long did it take you to get to this point of comprehension regarding all the grammar and construct? I feel like someone on the same level with a toddler still needing to grab the coffee table to stand, but understanding what they are seeing when watching a ballerina dance "en point"!! yeesh!

Evie

"egg" or "an egg" = ubh

"the egg" = an ubh

FRC-GRMA

A Evie, here's a good online English-Irish and Irish-English dictionary:

http://www.englishirishdictionary.com/

A Mhac léinn (did I do that one right???)

GRMA for the link!

I get the GRMA (and I'm pretty sure I got it right just above) but I'm not understanding FRC...?

What is it about this whole Irish language thing that is so addicting?!?

Evie

Yes Evie, you have his name just right as far as I know, which isn't terribly far. Ta suil agam ta d'ubh go maith (I hope your egg is doing fine)
FRC

Beir bua agus beannacht

Ta suil agam ta d'ubh go maith

ta -->go bhfuil

I hope (tá suil agam) that (go bhfuil) your egg (d'ubh) is fine (go breá) FRC

I might be tired, but I'd say an adverbal bit needs to go on the end, and as breá is one of the 'subjective set', it gets an overt 'go' before it

Aside, we need that vs who explained in simple terms. However, in HE I dont think you need to ever use who/m for anything, so it is one area where Americans would be better suited than Irish English speakers in learning the distinction

As balancing the egg: how about gluing tiny little spirit-levels onto it, one for X axis, one for y axis?

"tech-head in me says avoid any possible vibrations to the table on which the egg is resting, and eliminate any air currents in the room"

Well they say the Chinese symbol for problem is also oppertunity -why not use vibration to your advantage? I saw a paper that said random noise in the nervous system help allow people to balance when doing 'on-point' things like tight rope balancing. Why not hold it and vibrate it till the wobble phase reaches 0?

quote:

Dear Topic-Control Officer: It was my impression that we are allowed to discuss egg-balancing and other pleasant extraneous subjects as long as we include some Gaeilge in our postings. Is there a minimum amount of Gaeilge that needs to be in our posting to qualify as an acceptable off-topic posting?

Fáilte Evie. What Mac leinn is referring to is the basic rule of the Daltaí boards, namely that all postings be polite and related to the Irish language.

Something to keep in mind in the future.

Caoimhín

GRMMA a BhRN, that was very helpful because I say things like that sometimes and it is nice to know how to say it correctly now.

A Chaoimhin a chara,

Mac Leinn was being ficicious in addressing the topic control police, I think. I don't think there is anything wrong with any of Evie's postings here, she started out by asking about Irish and so what if it drifts a tad as long as Irish is brought back in eventually as it was here.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Riona, I disagree.

Facetious, no. Helpful, yes.

In any event, "polite and related to the Irish language" it is.

Caoimhín

A Mhac léinn -

The English-Irish dictionary is not helping me much here.

However - an ubh is still standing on the counter. (I really only wanted to type that very short message - IN IRISH!! - "the egg is still standing" - but couldn't manage to work the on-line dictionary, which is more humiliation than I am prepared to endure).

I think I'll go away until my book comes and I can participate in a way that is more in keeping with this forum. I appreciate the patience I've been shown.

Slán agat!

A Evie, a chara,

Yes you've got my name right, go raibh maith agat (thank you). Regarding FRC:

Fáilte = welcome
Roimh = before
Ceartúchain = corrections (plural of ceartúchan

welcome before corrections = corrections welcomed.

In regard to mesage the egg is still standing, I think that would be

Tá an ubh ina seasamh fós.

Tá = is
an = the
ubh = egg
ina = in its
seasamh = standing
fós = still

is the egg in its standing still = the egg is still standing.

FRC-GRMA

Tá an ubh ina sheasamh fós.

quote:

Tá an ubh ina sheasamh fós.

Nope. "Ubh" is a feminine noun, so "ina seasamh" (lit. "in her standing") is correct.

A Evie a chara, there is no need for you to leave just because your book has not arrived yet. In the meantime you can just learn a bit before you get it.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Ní creidim go rinne mé an dearmad sin. A Dennis, go raibh maith agat as do cheartúchan.

quote:

Ní chreidim go rinne ndearna mé an dearmad sin.

Cén dearmad?

Your version is correct. WFM's version has the error. Le bheith chomh soiléir agus is féidir:

Tá an ubh ina seasamh. (Tá ubh baininscneach.)

Tá an t-úll ina sheasamh. (Tá úll firinscneach.)

Sin bain ceol as mé!

Tá an ubh ina seasamh fós - 25 uair, 32 nóiméad.

FRC-GRMA!!

Slán, y'all...

quote:

Tá an ubh ina seasamh fós - 25 uair, 32 nóiméad.

Is seasmhach an ubh í!

Cén dearmad?

Not only do I make alot of mistakes, but I also make mistakes about making mistakes! Thanks Dennis for correcting my statement about making a mistake. I need to focus more

Scríobh Evie: Tá an ubh ina seasamh fós - 25 uair, 32 nóiméad.

Maith thú a Evie! B'fheidir gur curiarracht dhomhanda í! (Maybe that's a world record!)

Ummm....
that should have been 32 uair, 25 nóiméad - since it's 43 uair, 55 nóiméad anois.


FRC/GRMA!

Evie