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Archive for December, 2014

How to Say ‘Happy New Year’ in Irish and How to Pronounce the Consonant Cluster “thbhl” Posted by on Dec 31, 2014

(le Róislín) Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit.  Happy New Year to you. Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh.  Happy New Year to you (plural). So how do we pronounce that, what does it literally mean, why are the actual words “happy” and “new” not in the phrase, and where does a consonant…

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Fíoracha Sinséir – How to Say ‘Gingerbread Men and Women’ in Irish Posted by on Dec 26, 2014

(le Róislín) We recently looked at one type of arán (bread), with a recipe in Irish (naisc thíos do na blaganna faoi arán sóide agus Leabhar Cócaireachta Transparent Language). Today, to be seasonal, let’s look at another type…

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Ababú! — Cá as a dtáinig an litir “b” as áit sa bhlag deireanach?  Posted by on Dec 21, 2014

(le Róislín) Bhuel, some of you may have noticed the mysterious “b” in the emailed version of the last blog.  In one case, it replaced the word “oíche” and in another case, it showed up at the end of what should have been “Nollag.” After staring at those words for a while, when I got…

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Eve vs. Evening in Irish (‘Christmas Eve’ vs. ‘a nice evening’) Posted by on Dec 20, 2014

(le Róislín) Oíche Nollag… it has always struck me as interesting that the Irish phrase for “Christmas Eve” actually uses the word for “night” (oíche), not the usual word for “evening,” which is “tráthnóna.”  Usual?  It’s actually an intriguing question – what exactly is “evening” in Irish, since “tráthnóna” can also mean “afternoon.”  Scéal cineál…

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Gluais don Oideas “Arán Sóide” (A Glossary for the Irish Soda Bread Recipe, with pronunciation guide) Posted by on Dec 15, 2014

(le Róislín) Some of you may have tried the recent recipe for Irish Soda Bread which appeared in this blog (nasc thíos).  If you’re fairly new to the language, the following might be helpful: First, the word “oideas” itself.  This word can appear in many contexts, with several different meanings (instruction, teaching, recipe, and prescription). …

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Oideas i nGaeilge: Arán Sóide Éireannach, agus Aistriúchán Béarla (and an English translation) Posted by on Dec 11, 2014

(le Róislín) Mí na Nollag!  Seo an séasúr le bheith ag bácáil.  Brioscaí, cístí, fíoracha sinséir, donnóga, agus araile.  Ach má tá tú ag iarraidh gan barraíocht rudaí milse a dhéanamh i mbliana, seo oideas d’arán blasta.  Níl siúcra ar bith ann, ar ndóigh, ach má tá tú ag iarraidh blas beagán milis, bain triail…

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Luan Glas (or should it be ‘Luan Uaine’?): Green Monday Posted by on Dec 8, 2014

(le Róislín) I recently saw an article from WHEC (nasc thíos) that happened to sort of sum up my view on “coined shopping days.”  It starts out, “Just when you thought all the coined shopping days were over, today is Green Monday.”  The article stops just short of being a jeremiad about the commercialization of…

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