{"id":6678,"date":"2015-05-10T20:04:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-10T20:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=6678"},"modified":"2017-11-07T10:57:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T10:57:28","slug":"so-how-does-mean-sweetheart-in-irish-texting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/so-how-does-mean-sweetheart-in-irish-texting\/","title":{"rendered":"So how does ‘#’ mean ‘sweetheart’ in Irish texting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

So how does ‘#’ mean ‘sweetheart’ in Irish texting? \u00a0Well, it all depends on what you call the ‘#’ sign.\u00a0 And that may depend on where you live.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., it’s usually called the “pound sign” and the corresponding symbol on a telephone keypad is called the “pound key.”\u00a0 For certain touch-tone applications, the instructions may include, “press the pound key.”\u00a0 All well and good, but that doesn’t<\/em> have anything to do with “sweetheart.”<\/p>\n

In Europe, especially the UK, where the currency is in pounds, the “pound sign” is a completely different symbol and it has a different meaning.\u00a0 The symbol is ‘\u00a3’, from Latin ‘libra<\/em>,’ and it’s used for saying how much something costs.\u00a0 The Irish for this “pound sign” is, quite straightforwardly, “comhartha puint<\/strong>,” from “comhartha<\/strong>” [KOHR-huh, silent t], sign, and “puint<\/strong>” [pwinch], the genitive case of “punt<\/strong>,” pound.<\/p>\n

So we need to look at another name for the symbol ‘#.’\u00a0 And it’s readily available.\u00a0 The Irish name for this symbol is “haischlib<\/strong>” [hash-hlib], based on the words “hais<\/strong>” [“hash” as in “hash-key”] and “clib<\/strong>,” as in a “shoe-lace tag” or some other small tag.\u00a0 For the pronunciation of “hais<\/strong>,” like the English word “hash” or “cash,” remember, this is the slender “s,” not the broad “s” of Irish “s\u00f3rt<\/strong>” or “sona<\/strong>.”\u00a0 The “ai” is an “\u00e6” sound, as in English “cat” or “bat,” not like the English “ai” we see in “rain” or “tain” (the English word “tain,” that is, not the Irish word “t\u00e1in<\/strong>“).<\/p>\n

As for “clib<\/strong>,” prior to its extended usage in computer terminology, it was primarily limited to some specific arenas like shoe-lace tags, ear tags for animals, and fin clips in fishing.\u00a0 There are at least six other words for “tag” in Irish, but discussing all of them would be too much for this blog post.\u00a0 If you’re interested, they are: giobal, liobar, cluais\u00edn, nath, mana<\/strong>, and luinneog<\/strong>, at least for starters, and that’s not counting the “tag” of “rag-tag and bob-tail,” which seems to be lumped together into one word, “an gr\u00e1scar<\/strong>.”\u00a0 In the compound word “haischlib<\/strong>,” the “clib<\/strong>” part is lenited, becoming “chlib<\/strong>.”\u00a0 The “c” is no longer pronounced.\u00a0 It’s silent, and the remaining initial sound, admittedly not typical of English, is “hl.”\u00a0 I suppose the pronunciation of the initial “hl” could be compared to that of the Old Norse protectress goddess, Hl\u00edn<\/em>, but I’d like to hear an Old Norse speaker to be sure.\u00a0 That’s “cainteoir Sean-Lochlainnise<\/strong>,” not “seanchainteoir Lochlainnise<\/strong>”\u00a0 — nice how the Irish is more specific).\u00a0 Anyway, the “hl” sound is basically saying “huh” and “luh” at the same time.\u00a0 Good hluck with it!<\/p>\n

The question still remains, what does the “hash-key” have to do with “sweethearts” or other terms of affection? \u00a0Now, we need to look a similar-sounding word in Irish, “thaisce<\/strong>” [HASH-ky<\/sup>uh] or, as some say, “thaiscidh<\/strong>” [HASH-kee, the d is silent].\u00a0 This is the direct-address form of the word “taisce<\/strong>” [TASH-kyuh], which has several meanings in the physical sense (treasure, deposit, hoard) or, in the more abstract sense, “sweetheart.” In direct address, that is, if you want to say, “I love you, sweetheart,” the “t” becomes “th” and the “t” is silent.\u00a0 To address your sweetheart, you start out with “a<\/strong>,” the vocative particle, as you would with any other name or term of endearment or disparagement (a She\u00e1in, a Ch\u00e1it, a ghr\u00e1, a cheann cip\u00edn<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

So some\u00a0 choices for “I love you, sweetheart,” are “Mo ghr\u00e1 th\u00fa, a thaisce<\/strong>” or “T\u00e1 m\u00e9 i ngr\u00e1 leat, a thaisce<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

And that brings us full circle, since saying “a thaisce<\/strong>” sounds a lot like saying “hash-key.”\u00a0 So we can simply type “#” and save ourselves eight characters.<\/p>\n

But, hmm, what if you want to hash-tag “sweetheart” as a topic of discussion? \u00a0I guess it would be: ##. \u00a0Or, for that matter, to hash-tag the term “hash-tag.” \u00a0But perhaps we’ll look further into that i mblagiontr\u00e1il eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I first became aware of the coincidence of these sounds around five years ago, but I’m wondering if any readers know of its use any earlier.\u00a0 Or whether one specific person is known to have used it first. Eolas ar bith ag duine ar bith agaibh?<\/strong> \u00a0SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) So how does ‘#’ mean ‘sweetheart’ in Irish texting? \u00a0Well, it all depends on what you call the ‘#’ sign.\u00a0 And that may depend on where you live. In the U.S., it’s usually called the “pound sign” and the corresponding symbol on a telephone keypad is called the “pound key.”\u00a0 For certain touch-tone…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[384210,111174,307145,376711,384206,384205,384208,384209,31132,376708,384207,376709,376710],"class_list":["post-6678","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-chlib","tag-clib","tag-comhartha","tag-hash-key","tag-hashkey","tag-hashtag","tag-pound-sign","tag-puint","tag-sweetheart","tag-taisce","tag-taiscidh","tag-thaisce","tag-thaiscidh"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t