Archive for July, 2013
Cén Áit? vs. Cén Fhad?: Two Different Questions That Sound Almost Alike Posted by róislín on Jul 31, 2013
(le Róislín) Lately I’ve been wondering if there’s a good Irish equivalent for the English expression, “to put your foot in your mouth.” The main ingredients are straight forward enough. The usual word for “foot” is “cos,” although that can also mean “leg,” which could suggest that one is even more of a “freangálaí” than…
‘Beárbaiciú’ agus ‘Beárbaiciúnna’ (‘Cnó’ agus ‘Cnónna’, ‘Sleá agus Sleánna’) Posted by róislín on Jul 28, 2013
(le Róislín) The word “barbecue” is interesting in its own right in many ways but looking at the Irish adaptation of the word adds a further level of interest. What plural form do we use for Irish words that are derived the Taino language, via English? There is probably only one such word, “beárbaiciú,” which we’ve…
Ó ‘Ghnafu” go “Scúba,” Or Should That Be ’Ó Scúba go Gnafu”? Posted by róislín on Jul 25, 2013
(le Róislín) Among the popular gníomhaíochtaí samhraidh [GNEEV-ee-ukh-tee SOW-ree, remember “sow” sound as in “cow” or “how”] we discussed last time was tumadóireacht scúba (aka scúbthumadh), which you probably picked out as “scuba diving.” So naturally the question arises–what happens if we take the English word “scuba” back to its source? Let’s approach this in…
Gníomhaíochtaí Samhraidh (Summer Activities) Posted by róislín on Jul 22, 2013
(le Róislín) An raibh tú ag beárbaiciú le déanaí? Ar ith tú burgair nó burgair veigeatóra nó brocairí teo? Seachas na beárbaiciúnna, cad faoi ghníomhaíochtaí samhraidh [SOW-ree, with “sow” as in the pig) eile? Let’s backtrack and take a closer look at that impressively consonant-laden word, “gníomhaíocht.” And you may have noticed that following “faoi”…
Ag an mBeárbaiciú (At the Barbecue) Posted by róislín on Jul 19, 2013
(le Róislín) ‘Sea, seo séasúr na mbeárbaiciúnna [… nuh MyAWR-buk-yoo-nuh]! Cad a íosfaidh [EESS-hee] tú? Yes, this is barbecue season! What will you eat? Here are some of the typical foods that we like to grill. Can you translate them? Each one is given in the singular and in the plural. (Gluais thíos) 1) burgar…
Traein na nDineasár: Gluaisín do Théamamhrán an Chláir Teilifíse (Cuid 3/3) Posted by róislín on Jul 15, 2013
(le Róislín) One more “Dinosaur Train” vocabulary blog and I’m sure we’ll reach deireadh an amhráin. By way of review (súil siar), I’ve included all the key words previously discussed in this mionsraith at the bottom of this blog. And once again, if anyone hasn’t yet checked out the leagan Gaeilge of the téamamhrán for…
Traein na nDineasár: Gluaisín do Théamamhrán an Chláir Teilifíse (Cuid 2/3) Posted by róislín on Jul 11, 2013
(le Róislín) In the last blog, we looked at some vocabulary from the téamamhrán for a popular clár teilifíse for children, “Traein na nDineasár.” In this blog, we’ll continue with some words and phrases from this song. As before, I’m not presenting them in ord na haibítre, but in sequence, as they appear in the…