I recently read this phrase, "Turiam pog", in a mystery novel. The author does EXTENSIVE research into the areas he writes about so would have assumed he had this phrase correct as meaning, as he says, " Kiss me" However, I think it is incorrect. Can anyone tell me what this means? I would thing "Kiss me" would be written "Póg Mé"
Any ideas?

Jeannette

Turiam doesn't seem to comply with the spelling rule of broad/broad/slender/slender.

Which novel does this come from, out of curiosity? Was he perhaps writing colloquial dialog?

Tabhair dom póg meaning give me a kiss. Pronounced "turram pog." It shouldn't be written as the author has it.

The pronunciation reflects the fact that the d should be lenited (as it comese after a word ending in r): tabhair dhom póg.

"Tabhair dhom póg" is much better than "Póg Mé", which is a word for word translation from English, obviously.

Go raibh maith agaibh, a Chairde,

I was using, or trying to use Briathna na Gaeilge by the Ó Murchús,..page 5, bottom of page which lists "póg" as similar to "tóg". and the 2nd person singular M. ORD. or Imperative form of the word. I naturally assumed that the spelling "póg" in that Imperative form would be interpreted as the order.."you kiss" ...and that the person object of this order, this action, would be "me" (me) Therefore my thoughts that the order... "kiss me"... would be interpreted to kiss another person. I guess I had it wrong, huh?

Don't particularly want to post the name of the novel for various reasons, plus the novel is several years old, but the author has a website, and maybe if I get up the nerve I will e-mail him. The words are from a conversation in whicjh one of the participants has some Irish background.

I'm still confused, but that's what learning Irish does to me ?: <)

No, you've got the grammar of it right - as a literal translation "póg mé" is fine. It's just that the literal translation is not what would normally be said in Irish. The more usual idiom is "tabhair dom póg" (lit. "give to-me a kiss").

As others have said, in certain dialects this does come out sounding more or less like "turram póg", which may be what the author was thinking of.

I think you have hit it right, Abigail. The problems I have with the language are the literal translation vs the normal Irish speakers way of saying a phrase. This is a BIG problem, I think, for learners who are studying the language on own. As I have thought to myself, after looking a word or phrase up in dictionaries and language books...there are so many ways of saying something in the Irish, as you said the "literal and the Irish speakers normal way. I'm thinking probably the best way of learning the language is to attend classes in which Irish speakers conduct conversations, or obtain and listen to the Conversation CDs that are available.