Taking Things So Seriously

[jennyjoan]

Reading a poster re 70s TV being so old.

We have an Irish phrase

Gorra Ma Agat - Sinn Fein were up in arms that their language was being abused with Gregory Campbell MLA - said

"Curry My Yogurt" - I thought it hilarious - get a grip on your knickety knacks Sinn Fein - pronounced Shin Feign.

[DTCwordfan]

True.....

Irish Gaelic, very similar to Welsh and Cornish, Blackadder, also replicates with distortion through the western isles too! An unusual dialect that we had here was the one-third english/one-third cornish/one-third Breton that the local fishermen spoke and could dialogue with their Breton counterparts. I can remember hearing that from my youth....

[BlackadderV]

Interesting. I was always led to believe that of the Celtic languages, Welsh, Cornish and Breton formed one group, whilst Erse, Gaelic and Manx formed another, and that the two were mutually incomprehensible.

[Peter Pedant]

Black adder - the two groups wouldnt be P and Q goidelic would they

comes up in the question - what did they speak before the Romans came ?

Hey whilst we are it: does anyone realise that Mazda is the only loan word from the Zoroastrian religion ( means 'light' as in sun;ight)

[Svejk]

well, well, that would explain Mazda Lightbulbs.

[BlackadderV]

You are right about P and Q.

[DTCwordfan]

You are right - but though there are many differences between the individual Celtic languages and the two major groups, they do show many family resemblances. For example, no infinitives, two grammatical genders,
a vigesimal number system (counting by twenties)
e.g. Cornish hwetek ha dew ugens "fifty-six" (literally "sixteen and two twenty")
verb–subject–object word orders
an interplay between the subjunctive, future, imperfect, and habitual, to the point that some tenses and moods have kick the others out,
impersonal or autonomous verb forms serving as a passive or intransitive
Welsh dysgaf "I teach" vs. dysgir "is taught, one teaches", Irish "déanaim" "I do/make" vs. "déantar" "is done"

So, I guess it's not surprising that there is crossover and commonality in word usage.