{"id":6843,"date":"2015-06-20T18:04:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T18:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=6843"},"modified":"2015-06-21T23:39:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T23:39:46","slug":"cen-dath-ata-ar-ghruaig-dathar-some-irish-questions-for-fathers-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/cen-dath-ata-ar-ghruaig-dathar-some-irish-questions-for-fathers-day\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9n dath at\u00e1 ar ghruaig d’athar? (some Irish questions for Father’s Day)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In the last few blogs, we’ve been looking at the color of hair (gruaig<\/strong>), beards (f\u00e9as\u00f3ga<\/strong>), and even sideburns (loca\u00ed<\/strong>).\u00a0 In honor of L\u00e1 na nAithreacha<\/strong>, why don’t we look at saying what color hair your father has, and if he has them, what color f\u00e9as\u00f3g<\/strong>, croim\u00e9al<\/strong> (mustache) and loca\u00ed<\/strong> he might also have.\u00a0\u00a0 Remember, we’re using the word “ar<\/strong>” (on) in these sentences.\u00a0 In Irish, we say such and such a color is “on” the person, not that they “have” it.<\/p>\n

Before we really get started, let’s also be sure to include a general greeting for the holiday, “L\u00e1 na nAithreacha Sona<\/strong>” (Happy Father’s Day [law nuh NAH-rzh<\/sup>ukh-uh SUN-uh), which, word by word, means, “day of the fathers happy.”<\/p>\n

Now, back to hair color.\u00a0 Remember the pattern, like “T\u00e1 gruaig ghorm orm,” a deir Marge Simpson<\/strong> (lit. blue hair is on me).\u00a0 If you want to say “on my father,” to describe his hair color, it’s “ar m’athair<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But if you’re answering a question and want a slightly shorter answer, you can substitute “air<\/strong>” [erzh<\/sup>], which means “on him.”<\/p>\n

For the questions, I’ll be asking “An bhfuil … ar d’athair?<\/strong>” (Is … on your father?).\u00a0 Some people also use “ar t’athair<\/strong>” (on your father) but that’s a little less standard.<\/p>\n

So let’s see how many of you will answer “yes” (t\u00e1<\/strong>) for these questions:<\/p>\n

1) An bhfuil gruaig rua ar d’athair?<\/strong> \u00a0 (T\u00e1 \/ N\u00edl)<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) An bhfuil f\u00e9as\u00f3g fhada liath ar d’athair?\u00a0 (T\u00e1 \/ N\u00edl)<\/strong><\/p>\n

3) An bhfuil croim\u00e9al dubh ar d’athair? (T\u00e1 \/ N\u00edl)<\/strong><\/p>\n

4) An bhfuil loca\u00ed stothacha ar d’athair? (T\u00e1 \/ N\u00edl)<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) An bhfuil “paiste anama” ar d’athair?\u00a0 (T\u00e1 \/ N\u00edl).\u00a0 Muna bhfuil, an f\u00e9idir leat smaoineamh ar fhear ar bith a raibh (a bhfuil) paiste anama air?\u00a0 T\u00e1 freagra amh\u00e1in th\u00edos–b’fh\u00e9idir go bhfuil c\u00fapla ainm eile agat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And for good measure, it’s not really a question, but I guess we could say<\/p>\n

6) “N\u00edl ach c\u00fapla ribe gruaige ar m’athair,” a deir Bart Simpson, “agus n\u00edl m\u00e9 cinnte c\u00e9n dath at\u00e1 orthu.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

And, finally, and unfortunately for the sake of grammar practice, Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881), from whom we get the word “sideburns,” didn’t have any children, so we can’t make a realistic sentence in which we could definitively say, “T\u00e1 loca\u00ed ar m’athair agus is uaidhsean a fhaigheann muid an t-ainmfhocal<\/strong> ‘sideburns’ i mB\u00e9arla<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But we could imagine such a sentence if he had had children.<\/p>\n

And if you think a discussion of “sideburns” borders on the simply trivial, there was an interesting article from 1957 (February 8) in the New York Times, reporting that Bruce Dern, a track athlete at the University of Pennsylvania, quit the track team rather than shave his Elvis Presley-type sideburns (a loca\u00ed ar n\u00f3s Elvis Presley<\/strong>).\u00a0 He would have been required to shave them to stay on the team.\u00a0 Hmmm, I wonder how such issues would play out today!\u00a0 (nasc: http:\/\/query.nytimes.com\/gst\/abstract.html?res=940CE4DF1330E23BBC4153DFB466838C649EDE, alt le d\u00edol ar $3.95).\u00a0 And, lo and behold, or should I say, iontas na n-iontas<\/strong>, it looks like this is Bruce Dern, the actor (an t-aisteoir<\/strong>).\u00a0 His Wikipedia bio doesn’t mention the sideburns issue, but it indicates that was born in 1936 and that he attended the University of Pennsylvania, which would have made him the right age for a university student in 1957.\u00a0 I suppose if I were really dedicated to the topic, I could check out all the episodes of an early TV series he was on, Surfside 6<\/em>, to see if he still sported the “loca\u00ed<\/strong>.”\u00a0 If so, I guess we could call them his “surfside-burns.”\u00a0 But, believe it or not, I have a few more pressing things to do, although I do really enjoy vintage TV.\u00a0 Surfside 6<\/em> ran from 1960 to 1962.\u00a0 And sometime, if I’m “ag surf\u00e1il an Idirl\u00edn<\/strong>,” I’ll see if I can find a good “grianghraf<\/strong>” of him (agus na loca\u00ed air!<\/strong>). \u00a0Bhuel<\/strong>, on that bad side-burns pun note, SGF- R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra: Maynard G. Krebs ar an gcl\u00e1r Dobie Gillis<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) In the last few blogs, we’ve been looking at the color of hair (gruaig), beards (f\u00e9as\u00f3ga), and even sideburns (loca\u00ed).\u00a0 In honor of L\u00e1 na nAithreacha, why don’t we look at saying what color hair your father has, and if he has them, what color f\u00e9as\u00f3g, croim\u00e9al (mustache) and loca\u00ed he might also…<\/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":[4036,4236,4239,384314,290025,5142,384240],"class_list":["post-6843","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-aithreacha","tag-athair","tag-athar","tag-dathar","tag-dath","tag-fathers-day","tag-gruaig"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6843","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=6843"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6850,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6843\/revisions\/6850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}