{"id":2263,"date":"2012-05-08T19:00:51","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T19:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=2263"},"modified":"2018-07-22T10:53:14","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T10:53:14","slug":"saol-an-mhadaidh-bhain-the-good-life-of-the-white-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/saol-an-mhadaidh-bhain-the-good-life-of-the-white-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Saol an Mhadaidh Bh\u00e1in — The (Good) Life of the White Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Last blog we looked at the expression \u201car muin (ar dhroim) na muice<\/strong>\u201d (being \u201con the pig\u2019s back,\u201d i.e. well off).\u00a0\u00a0 The blog before that also referred to several other examples of figurative speech, including \u201cmadra\u00ed \u00a0b\u00e1na<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 As with the \u2018dromanna muc<\/strong>\u201d (or \u201cmuin\u00ed muc<\/strong>\u201d), that general reference to \u201cmadra\u00ed b\u00e1na<\/strong>\u201d was in the plural, just for the sake of being generic.\u00a0 In real-life usage, the phrase \u201csaol an mhadaidh bh\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d would almost always be in the singular. \u00a0Literally, it means \u201cthe life of the white dog,\u201d but is understood as \u201cthe good life.\u201d\u00a0 So, for \u201cYou (singular) are living the good life,\u201d you\u2019d say, \u201cT\u00e1 saol an mhadaidh bh\u00e1in agat<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 For you (plural), it\u2019s still one, all-encompassing white dog, \u201cT\u00e1 saol an mhadaidh bh\u00e1in agaibh<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

If we really wanted to talk about white dogs (plural) , we\u2019d say \u201cmadra\u00ed b\u00e1na<\/strong>,\u201d and if we really wanted to say \u201clives,\u201d we\u2019d say \u201csaolta<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 But, as I said, the “white dog” phrase is, fad m\u2019eolais<\/strong>, always in the singular, no matter how many livers of the good life you\u2019re referring to.<\/p>\n

We could also consider the phrase to be pretty much the same as \u201cliving the life of Riley\u201d (or \u201cReilly\u201d), but I\u2019ve never heard that expression in a natural Irish-language context, only in a sort of self-conscious, deliberate translaton.\u00a0 Fun, though!<\/p>\n

Curiously, one of my Irish language students does have a dog named Riley.\u00a0 Hmm, I\u2019ll have to find out if that Riley is \u201cb\u00e1n<\/strong>,\u201d or if \u201cdath \u00e9igin eile<\/strong>\u201d (some other color) is \u201cair<\/strong>\u201d (on him).\u00a0 At any rate, I do hope they\u2019re both enjoying \u201csaol an mhadaidh bh\u00e1in<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mostly I\u2019ve heard the expression simply used with no particular explanation as to why the white dog has such a good thing going.\u00a0\u00a0 However, I finally found a passing reference to the idea that a white dog would be exempt from sheep-herding duty. \u00a0So that sort of makes sense, but there are always those black sheep.\u00a0 White dog herding black sheep?\u00a0 Works for me!\u00a0 On the other hand, there usually seems to be just a few black sheep per herd, so I guess the general image still works. After all, most of these folk expressions don\u2019t necessarily have a logical explanation.\u00a0\u00a0 Why does Riley also symbolize the good life?\u00a0\u00a0 Why is Larry always so happy, but not Lawrence?\u00a0 \u00a0Or Gary?\u00a0 And who\u2019s happier, Larry or that perennially joyful clam?\u00a0 If there are specific origins to these phrases, I certainly didn\u2019t learn them growing up.<\/p>\n

Dialect note: As\u00a0 I think about it, it seems I\u2019ve mostly heard the word \u201cmadadh<\/strong>\u201d ([MAH-doo], dog) used for this phrase.\u00a0 Of course, it\u2019s changed to \u201can tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>\u201d (the genitive case), so it becomes \u201cmhadaidh<\/strong>\u201d [WAH-dee].\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cMadadh<\/strong>\u201d is the usual word for \u201cdog\u201d in Donegal Irish.\u00a0 However, Googling the phrase also shows a fairly wide usage of \u201csaol an mhadra bh\u00e1in<\/strong>,\u201d a more standard form. \u00a0\u00a0Someday I\u2019ll check out which is more prevalent.\u00a0 Or if \u201cgadhar<\/strong>,\u201d another word for \u201cdog,\u201d is ever used.\u00a0 Or \u201cc\u00fa<\/strong>,\u201d but of course, that\u2019s really a \u201chound.\u201d\u00a0 And I don\u2019t suppose hounds, for all their prestige, ever really lived a life of Riley, as such.\u00a0 Mostly, I imagine, they hunted or were used for racing.<\/p>\n

The word for \u201cwhite\u201d (b\u00e1n<\/strong>) is also in the genitive case in the “white dog” phrase, so it has changed to \u201cbh\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d [waw-in].\u00a0 \u00a0But that, at least, would stay the same in all dialects.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s it for this blog, dogs, good life, genitive case, Riley, and all.\u00a0 Hoping there\u2019s plenty of \u201csaol an mhadaidh <\/strong>(or \u201cmhadra<\/strong>\u201d) bh\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d to go around.\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Last blog we looked at the expression \u201car muin (ar dhroim) na muice\u201d (being \u201con the pig\u2019s back,\u201d i.e. well off).\u00a0\u00a0 The blog before that also referred to several other examples of figurative speech, including \u201cmadra\u00ed \u00a0b\u00e1na.\u201d\u00a0 As with the \u2018dromanna muc\u201d (or \u201cmuin\u00ed muc\u201d), that general reference to \u201cmadra\u00ed b\u00e1na\u201d was in…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":2272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[211651,211650,211659,4981,211653,1084,5483,211658,211657,211655,211652,211660,211646,211642,211643,211656,211644,211647,211648,211641,211649,211654,211645,7207,32950],"class_list":["post-2263","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-agaibh","tag-agat","tag-clam","tag-dog","tag-gadhar","tag-genitive-case","tag-happy","tag-happy-as-a-clam","tag-happy-as-larry","tag-herd","tag-hound","tag-larry","tag-life-of-riley","tag-madadh-ban","tag-madra-ban","tag-mhadaidh-bhain","tag-mhadra-bhain","tag-reilly","tag-saol","tag-saol-an-mhadaidh-bhain","tag-saolta","tag-sheep","tag-the-good-life","tag-tuiseal-ginideach","tag-white"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10684,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions\/10684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}