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Tag Archives: Philadelphia

Ag seinm uirlisí ceoil, ó alpchorn go xileafón (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish, Pt.2): ideafón go  hócairín Posted by on Mar 21, 2015

(le Róislín) In the last blog we looked at musical instruments from “a” (alpenhorn) to “h” (heckelphone) as part of a series on naming instruments AND saying someone is playing them.  And yes, we did a couple more widely played instruments, like “an consairtín” and “na drumaí,” not just some of the less usual ones…

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Cleamairí ‘gus Geamairí ‘gus Geocaigh, a Thiarcais! Posted by on Jan 1, 2012

(le Róislín) There are three possible words for mummers in the title of this blog, cleamairí, geamairí, and geocaigh.  There’s actually at least one more we could add, “cleathaire,” but that would break the tripartite catchiness of the phrase! (for more on “tripartite catchiness,” please see the note below). In this blog, we’ll look at…

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Meaitseáil Na Téarmaí (Téarmaí Shéasúr na Nollag) Posted by on Dec 29, 2011

(le Róislín) We’ve had lots of vocabulary lately, much of which might be new to many readers.  So how about a little review, matching the holiday concept or item to the holiday involved?  The holidays will be listed in Colún A and the items and concepts in Colún B.  And once again, for the dúshlán…

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An Bliosán Gréine (Jerusalem Artichoke): Ainm Contráilte i mBéarla ach “Neamhchontráilte” i nGaeilge (An English Misnomer but Irish “Non-Misnomer”) Posted by on May 25, 2009

Tamaillín ó shin (a little while ago, May 6 to be specific), I hinted at a discussion of the term “Jerusalem artichoke” in Irish.  And why not?  It’s suimiúil (interesting) on several counts: “luibheolaíocht” (botany), “logainmníocht” (toponymy), “sanasaíocht” and “bréagshanasaíocht” (etymology and pseudo-etymology), “cócaireacht” (cooking), and “eolas contráilte”(misinformation), to name just a few.   You…

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The Many Meanings of “Oireachtas” Posted by on Apr 18, 2009

 (le Róislín) For the week of April 5 to 12, 2009, many Philadelphians probably saw more samples of the Irish language in the media than ever before in the city’s history.  Why?  This year, Philadelphia hosted the first Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne (World Irish Dance Championship) to be held outside Ireland or the U.K.  Over 6000…

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