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Gaelic Gaelic


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I think, and I havent reseached this, but I think its pretty obvious that the Gaelic on signs and in train stations etc is a touristy gimmick to add more "Scottishness". Since tourists and especially Americans lap that shit up, its actually a very good idea.

AYE BUT WHIT ABOUT THE COST??!*!**@?@???

A question usually spoken by the type of person who thinks Trident is vital for Britannia to rule the waves again and best off disregarded.

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4 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

I think, and I havent reseached this, but I think its pretty obvious that the Gaelic on signs and in train stations etc is a touristy gimmick to add more "Scottishness". Since tourists and especially Americans lap that shit up, its actually a very good idea.

AYE BUT WHIT ABOUT THE COST??!*!**@?@???

A question usually spoken by the type of person who thinks Trident is vital for Britannia to rule the waves again and best off disregarded.

It would probably be better still for tourists if we had multilingual signage in languages that tourists read.

Edited by topcat(The most tip top)
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21 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

It would probably be better still for tourists if we had multilingual signage in languages that tourists read.

I remember the Tourist Office in Llangollen had most of the information on the window display in Welsh.

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45 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

I think, and I havent reseached this, but I think its pretty obvious that the Gaelic on signs and in train stations etc is a touristy gimmick to add more "Scottishness". Since tourists and especially Americans lap that shit up, its actually a very good idea.

AYE BUT WHIT ABOUT THE COST??!*!**@?@???

A question usually spoken by the type of person who thinks Trident is vital for Britannia to rule the waves again and best off disregarded.

Get the 'them and us' in early,  good ploy, always helpful in a debate when you can dismiss their opinions because of issues that have nothing to do with the current discussion.

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It would probably be better still for tourists if we had multilingual signage in languages that tourists read.
Its not arrogant to say, despite the sheer arrogance that goes along with it, that nearly all tourists will be able to read English. Also, that wee bit of Scottish quaintness is mkst likely to appeal to Americans who think they are Scottish.

Leaving aside my thoughts on the language, its a smart move.
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27 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Its not arrogant to say, despite the sheer arrogance that goes along with it, that nearly all tourists will be able to read English. Also, that wee bit of Scottish quaintness is mkst likely to appeal to Americans who think they are Scottish.

Leaving aside my thoughts on the language, its a smart move.

Better off with modern scots language.  I read the Gruffalo in scots to my grandkids and they loved it.

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Wouldn't mind having a passing knowledge of Gaelic but space is limited in my old brain.

My great grandparents were native speakers but passed it on to precisely none of their nine children.  Apparently they enjoyed the fact they could use Gaelic as a code to communicate.  I guess with nine weans in the hoose it would've been useful.

 

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A lot of mountains have Gaelic names but often these translate to big hill, small hill, speckled hill and so on.

I recall one OS map that seemed to have 27 mountains that were called Beinn Bhreac.

I was told a story of one mapmaker going to Skye and asking the locals in the pub what the Gaelic name was for some of the mountains nearby.
Apparently some of the answers were fairly obscene but he was not to know.
Needless to say the published map became a limited first edition.
Not sure if this story is true but it sounds good.

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26 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Its not arrogant to say, despite the sheer arrogance that goes along with it, that nearly all tourists will be able to read English. Also, that wee bit of Scottish quaintness is mkst likely to appeal to Americans who think they are Scottish.

Leaving aside my thoughts on the language, its a smart move.

Even if as a tourist you can negotiate signage in the local language travelling is a lot less stressful if you don't constantly need to.

 

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51 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

A lot of mountains have Gaelic names but often these translate to big hill, small hill, speckled hill and so on.

I recall one OS map that seemed to have 27 mountains that were called Beinn Bhreac.

I was told a story of one mapmaker going to Skye and asking the locals in the pub what the Gaelic name was for some of the mountains nearby.
Apparently some of the answers were fairly obscene but he was not to know.
Needless to say the published map became a limited first edition.
Not sure if this story is true but it sounds good.

There's a story that goes that when Queen Vic asked for the English translation of the mountain Bod an Deamhain  in the Cairngorms, her minder was too embarrassed to tell her it meant the Penis of the Demon so told her it meant the Devil's Point instead.

Edited by Cyclizine
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22 minutes ago, Cyclizine said:

There's a story that goes that when Queen Vic asked for the English translation of the mountain Bod an Deamhain  in the Cairngorms, her minder was too embarrassed to tell her it meant the Penis of the Demon so told her it meant the Devil's Point instead.

Beat me to it :lol:

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I think there is a point having Gaelic signs in those parts of Scotland where historically people spoke Gaelic.
However, that is not everywhere.

It would make more sense to have the Doric name for places in the North East where Doric was more commonly spoken than Gaelic.

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16 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

I think there is a point having Gaelic signs in those parts of Scotland where historically people spoke Gaelic.
However, that is not everywhere.

It would make more sense to have the Doric name for places in the North East where Doric was more commonly spoken than Gaelic.

Fit a fash at wid cause.

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My partner and I had a B&B in Inverness a while back.

French, Italians, Germans, Spanish - struggling to come to terms with the dual signage prevalent everywhere, very often would knock on our door and the first question was "Do you speak English"?

My stock answer to that was "A leettle, I get by"

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32 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

I think there is a point having Gaelic signs in those parts of Scotland where historically people spoke Gaelic.
However, that is not everywhere.

It would make more sense to have the Doric name for places in the North East where Doric was more commonly spoken than Gaelic.

I don't know any Gaelic but it's easier to understand than Doric.

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