Mind completely blown the other day when I finally realised a key thing about the Irish and Scottish Gaelic words for potato.
See, for years I low-key wondered why they seemed so different, despite seemingly being a key element of cultural crossover in terms of seasonal workers, etc.
See, the Irish for potato is 'práta', and Gàidhlig is 'buntàta'. Which do seem quite different on the face of it.
And then I said 'práta' out loud for the first time in a Scottish accent and realized that the hard r means it is PRONOUNCED AS BUNTÀTA.
IT'S THE SAME FUCKING WORD. IT'S NOT EVEN IN A TRENCHCOAT. ITS JUST WRITTEN DOWN DIFFERENTLY WHAT THE FUCK.
Anyway. My mind was totally blown by this piece of absolute linguistic nerdery. It was so exciting and infuriating to me, and the worst part is there are no Celtic language nerds irl I know to be excited by this, so I'm flinging it out to the internet.
May you happen upon linguistic delight in unexpected places.
