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Tag Archives: eachtardhomhandach

What Color Hair Do They Have? Talking about ‘Dath Gruaige’ in Irish Posted by on Jun 5, 2015

(le Róislín) Recently we’ve been looking at “dath gruaige” (hair color) in Irish, emphasizing “fionnrua” (“strawberry” or “Venetian” blond) and, because of the emoji issue, “rua” (red).  We also practiced some of the other typical colors: donn, dubh, and liath. With phrases like “fear donn” or “bean fhionnrua” [ban IN-ROO-uh, silent “fh”], we’re using the…

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Oh, Man! ‘Fear,’ ‘Fir,’ ‘Fhir,’ and ‘bhFear,’ (How to say ‘man’ and ‘men’ in Irish) Posted by on Jan 9, 2014

(le Róislín) Since Nollaig na mBan on January 6th gave us the opportunity to discuss the Irish word for ‘woman,’ we might as well follow up with the word for ‘man.’ First, let me clarify that this blog will discuss ‘man’ (fear) as opposed to woman (bean), not “man” as opposed to the following: plants…

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How To Say ‘Tweet’ and ‘Twitter’ in Irish Posted by on Sep 30, 2013

(le Róislín) Remember when “tweets” and “twittering” mostly referred to birds, especially the “spideog” or the “smólach imirce“?  Or perhaps the sound of “caint eachtardhomhandach” (the speech of extra-terrestrials) as in H. G. Wells’ insect-like Selenites?  You might recall that they made “a slight elusive twittering,” as observed by Messrs. Bedford and Cavor (The First…

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Deir Tusa ‘Slán,’ Deirimse ‘Haló’ (Saying ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ in Irish, Cuid a Dó: Goodbye) Posted by on May 27, 2013

(le Róislín) After some deliberation, I decided to hold off on the blog on “ainmneacha sa tuiseal gairmeach” (names in the vocative case), since I think that will probably also be a blag dhá chuid (two-part blog).   Let’s cut right to the chase here and go over some possibilities for saying “goodbye” in Irish.  That…

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