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Archive for November, 2015

If You’re Going to Give a Belly Rub to a Rhinoceros, Here’s How to Say It in Irish (and some other useful vocabulary) Posted by on Nov 28, 2015

(le Róislín) We recently posted an imaginary conversation in Irish with Nola (ca. 1974-2015), a Northern White Rhinoceros (Srón-bheannach Bán Tuais-ceartach) whose recent death leaves only three remaining members of her subspecies alive.   The nasc (link) to this article is thíos (below).  Since that blog was almost entirely in Irish, we’ll look at a few…

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Dóigheanna le Prátaí a Réiteach (Irish Terms for Ways to Prepare Potatoes) Posted by on Nov 26, 2015

Potatoes may be popular all year around, but in the U.S., they are especially popular in late November, for Lá an Altaithe.  At this time, many American families will serve two or three types of potatoes with the Thanksgiving meal, and I’ve even heard of up to four types at one meal.  The two types…

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Comhrá (samhlaitheach) le Nola, an Srónbheannach: An Imaginary Conversation in Irish with Nola, The Rhinoceros Posted by on Nov 23, 2015

(le Róislín)   Amidst the many catastróif that seem to be happening lately, I was also saddened to learn of the death of Nola, an srónbheannach bán tuaisceartach a bhí ina cónaí i San Diego Zoo Safari Park ó 1989. Of course, she probably lived longer in captivity than she would have in the wild…

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Tuilleadh Cainte ar Thurcaithe (Some Irish Vocabulary for ‘Talking Turkey’) Posted by on Nov 20, 2015

(le Róislín) In a recent blog post, I referred to a short article on turkeys written in the Irish-language online newsletter, Líon an Dúlra (Eagrán 6, Geimhreadh 2013).   Here, I thought we could look at a bit more “turkey” vocabulary, based on the article, and do a short Q & A.  I’ll also add some…

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Mutating Turkeys, With ‘Séimhiú’ and ‘Urú’ That Is Posted by on Nov 17, 2015

(le Róislín) ‘Tis the season to “talk turkey,” so let’s go for it.  And by the way, “mutating” here (as in the title of this blog) doesn’t refer to “sócháin” (mutations in genetics:  A thiarcais, sin turcaí a bhfuil trí shnúda air!) but rather to “athruithe gramadaí,” that is, the use of “séimhiú” and “urú”…

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Deich gCineál Laghairteanna i nGaeilge (Irish Names for 10 Types of Lizards) Posted by on Nov 12, 2015

(le Róislín) Our recent blog (nasc thíos) about sprochaillí (such as wattles on turkey and dewlaps on other animals) happened to mention the word “laghairt” (lizard), pronounced “lyrtch” (or, in full Irish-modified IPA: /lairt΄/).  The “y” in the rough transcription is like the “y” in “my” or “fly” and the /ai/ in the IPA transcription…

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Irish Pronunciation Roundup for the Blog on “Carancailí an Turcaí” Posted by on Nov 9, 2015

(le Róislín) In the last blog, we looked at caruncles, wattles, snoods, and dewlaps, words which are almost as intriguing in English as they are in Irish.  A few of the Irish terms we used might deserve a little further attention for pronunciation: fiafhás [FEE-uh-AWSS; the second “f” is silent], outgrowth, excrescence (lit. large or outsize…

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