#poileataigs

[sgribhisg]

'Set date for everyone to speak English'

Dame Louise Casey said a "common language" would help to "heal rifts across Britain".

F^ck the f^ck right off with that sh!t.  How about we set a date that everyone in the UK is fluent in either Welsh, Scottish, Scots, Irish, Cornish, or Devonian?

There are countries, and counties in the UK other than England - you blinkered f^cking bint (òinseach/amhlag). These countries, and counties retain living languages which have a longer history in the UK than English.

[gaelicinternet]

This isn't a question, it's a response to your critique of the essay I wrote, 'Whose Gaelic is it anyway?' (2015) You quote 'I would venture to guess that as a Black British person of Irish and Nigerian heritage her relationship to English isn’t exactly smooth' I'd just like to point out that I was asked to write specifically about my relationship to Gaelic, not to English or other languages I speak. It's been interesting to read your response to a (then) 20 year old's first essay.

taing mhòr for this addition/clarification! I’d just like to clarify in turn that my response is absolutely not intended as a critique but rather as a defense/elaboration in response to someone else’s critique — I’m not sure how clearly it shows up on the desktop version of the site. I really appreciate you sharing your experiences — I’ve found your essay really thought-provoking and helpful as I’ve been trying to think through the Gaelic world’s ties to colonialism and racism.

(this is the post, for followers’ reference.)

[gaelicinternet]

By Glasgow-based musician, Cassie Ezeji

My language is not immediately associated with me. The fact that I am a fluent Gaelic speaker has often left confusion lingering in the air. They were not the first people to look perplexed as to how I can speak Gaelic ‘so well’. We spoke for some time together and our encounter was lovely as they wished me luck in my London adventure.

It also reminded me of the apparent duplicity my identity presents to others. It reminded me of the times where I have been excluded from conversation with other Gaelic speakers; that somehow my Gaelic connection was not the same as theirs, that perhaps I wasn’t authentic enough. It reminded me that though we were part of the same culture, it appeared that I wasn’t.

I was born and brought up in Glasgow and I have no direct ties to A’ Ghàidhealtachd . My ancestry lies in Ireland and Nigeria. I attended a Gaelic speaking school from the ages of four to seventeen which provided an excellent education and understanding of Gaelic culture. It is a rich culture which not only possesses a beautiful language, but a wonderful history of folklore and traditional music. However it is also a culture which deeply advocates patriotism that is often tinged with anti-English sentiments, which has the dangerous potential to breed prejudice and separatist attitudes. Through this learned patriotism I internalised notions of what it means to be a Gael, to speak the language, and what it means to be Scottish. I never saw any reflections myself within these set values. Perhaps it is wrong to call it ‘my language,’ as its culture doesn’t immediately represent or include me.

pìos làidir eile mu chinneadh agus cultar na Gàidhlig.

[gaelicinternet]

The myth of Scottish slaves - Sceptical Scot

It wisnae us? Historian Stephen Mullen demolishes myths and presents uncomfortable facts about Scotland's involvement in slavery and slave plantations

[gaelicinternet]

tapadh leat airson mo fhreagairt, agus duilich ceist eile a chur ort, ach chan eil mi fhathast a tuigsinn - ciamar nach eil Gàidheil geal? chan eil mi idir ag iarraidh ràdh gu bheil a h-uile Gàidheal geal, ach tha a' mhòr cuid air a bheil mi fhèin eòlach. cò fon ghrian a tha ag ràdh nach eil "còir aig daoine geal a bhith a' bruidhinn Gàidhlig"?? no a bheil rudeigin eile ann nach eil mi a' tuigsinn idir? duilich a-rithist, tha mi dìreach ag iarraidh tuigsinn.

tha e coltach gu bheil rudeigin ann nach eil thu a’ tuigsinn: ’s e a thachair gun robh cuideigin ris an robh crogall-airgid a’ bruidhinn a’ dearbhadh nach eil Gàidheil na h-Aba (mar shluagh/ethnicity) geal — ach, a rèir coltais, gu bheil na h-Èireannaich (.i., gu bheil Gàidheil na h-Èireann) geal. mar sin, bha an neach seo ag ràdh nach bu chòir do luchd “geal” (.i., daoine nach eil nan Gàidheil Albannach) a bhith ag ionnsachadh/a’ bruidhinn na Gàidhlig. tha mise agus crogall-airgid (agus tusa) ag aontachadh gu bheil na Gàidheil geal (san fharsaingeachd — tha thu làn-cheart nach eil a h-uile Gàidheal no a h-uile neach-labhairt na Gàidhlig geal, dìreach a’ chuid as motha).

tha cuid de Thùsanaich ann an Amaireaga a Tuath, m.e., a tha dhen a’ bheachd seo (.i., nach bu chòir do dhaoine taobh a-muigh na coimhearsnachd a bhith ag ionnsachadh nan cànanan aca), agus tuigidh mi sin sa cho-theacsa ud, gu h-àraid leis a’ ghainneid ghoireasan agus airgid airson teagasg agus ionnsachadh chànanan Tùsanach a-bhos an seo.

ach ged a thachair mi air daoine nach eil a’ creidsinn gu bheil Gàidheil na h-Alba geal, cha do thachair mi riamh air daoine a bha a’ creidsinn gu bheil sgaradh, mar, cinnidheach eadar Gàidheil na h-Alba agus Gàidheil na h-Èireann (agus Gàidheil Mhanainn? cò aige tha fios) — chan eil mi idir a’ tuigsinn siud.

agus cha do thachair mi riamh, gu pearsanta, ri Gàidheal nach robh a’ cur fàilte air luchd-ionnsachaidh. tha mi ’n dùil gu bheil iad ann, ach mar as trice tha a’ choimhearsnachd gu math fosgailte do luchd-ionnsachaidh in good faith, mar gum b’ eadh.

[gaelicinternet]

What it’s like being black in the Scottish Gaelic community | gal-dem

In Scottish Gaelic, to ask where someone is from you ask Cò às a tha thu? – which roughly translates as who are your people?

tha an liuthad de shàmhachdan ann an saoghal na Gàidhlig, a thaobh eachdraidh is a thaobh coimhearsnachd an latha an-diugh — an liuthad de dh’obair chruaidh agus anabarrach cudromach ri dèanamh againn uile, luchd-labhairt geal na Gàidhlig, a’ tòiseachadh le bhith ag aithneachadh agus ag ainmeachadh gilead saoghal na Gàidhlig.

there are so many silences in the Gaelic world, about history and about the contemporary community — so much difficult but extremely important work for all of us, white Gaelic-speakers, to do, beginning with recognizing and naming the whiteness of the Gaelic world.

[gaelicinternet]

[ìomhaigh: iomradh YouTube air fhàgail le neach aig a bheil brataichean an dà chuid Confederate agus “Don’t Tread on Me” mar ìomhaigh-phroifil.] // [image: a YouTube comment left by someone with both Confederate and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags as their profile photo.]

aaaaagus seo — iomradh a chaidh fhàgail air bhidio mu mhùchadh na Gàidhlig ann an Canada — carson a tha mi cho skeptical nuair a bhios daoine (gu h-àraid daoine a dh’ainmicheas iad fhèin mar “Albannaich” no fiù ’s “Albannach-Amaireaganaich”) sna Stàitean a’ bruidhinn air “dualchas” Albannach no Gàidhealach san dùthaich. ’s ro thric a tha seo co-cheangailte ris a’ mhiotas dhen “Deas Cheilteach” a dh’fheuchas ri brùidealachd na tràilleachd a bhàthadh gus an Cogadh Sìobhalta a riochdachadh mar cogadh air bun-stèidh chultarail (’s e sin a bh’ ann gu ìre, ach b’ e tràilleachd an diofar cultarail a bha cudromach, agus cha b’ e seòrsa “Ceilteachas” brìgheil).

aaaaand this — a comment that was left on a video about the suppression of Gaelic in Canada — is why I’m so skeptical when people (especially people who self-identify as “Scottish” or “Scottish-American”) in the US talk about Scottish or Gaelic “heritage” in the country. this is too often connected with the myth of the “Celtic South” that tries to elide the brutality of slavery in order to represent the Civil War as a war over cultural principles (which is what it was to some extent, except that slavery was the salient cultural difference, and not some kind of essential “Celticness”).

(gheibhear deagh iomradh air a seo sa chòmhradh seo air Reddit. // you can get a good commentary on this from this conversation on Reddit.)

[gaelicinternet]

“Tha sinn air ar Plana #Radaigeach airson na #Gàidhlig #Gaelic fhoillseachadh! Bidh sinn ga bhrosnachadh aig a' Mhòd an ath-sheachdain is sinn an dòchas gun tig sibh a bhruidhinn rinn mu dheidhinn. Leughaibh an-seo e: https://t.co/wsXxU0199i PDF an-seo: https://t.co/aoLoGHuyjs”

stuth math.