"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Padraig Breathnach wrote:

    >> So what's your probing question for use in Ireland?
    > "I'd buy a pint for the guy that can explain the
    >weather around here". Might go broke though.
Well, I can answer that. So can everybody I know. So you're right: you
would have to buy a lot of pints.

    > (Ta be totally honest, it is rarely difficult to
    >get the Irish to talk. Friendliest folks on the planet
    >bar none. And they have had (may be changing fast) a
    >large fascination with my home country. I usually
    >have to turn it around to get them talking about Ireland.)
Why should they want to talk about Ireland? They know about it. You're
the guy with the interesting new stuff to tell them.

    > OOooooooh. And do they still sell "Kilkenny" beer?
    >Fell in love with it when I was there in Wicklow.
    >Always was afraid it was "tourist beer" that wouldn't
    >last long. Probably won't have it up near Galway though.
I don't know if it's still available. I think it is.

It didn't catch on in a big way with Irish drinkers, but proved quite
popular among visitors, particularly those who didn't take to
Guinness.

You have as much chance of getting it in Galway as anywhere else. It
wasn't ever targeted at the local market near Kilkenny.

--
PB
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<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > Quickly on the heels of irish metrification of road signs
    > is a story coming out of the BBC stating that some western
    > towns are switching to all Irish "road signs".
<snip>
Will the road number remain the same, i.e., N7 for example?
We are scheduled to spend the night in Ennis two weeks from right now.
Jimmie

"Jimmie" <[email protected]> wrote:

    ><[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected] roups.com...
    >> Quickly on the heels of irish metrification of road signs
    >> is a story coming out of the BBC stating that some western
    >> towns are switching to all Irish "road signs".
    ><snip>
    >Will the road number remain the same, i.e., N7 for example?
    >We are scheduled to spend the night in Ennis two weeks from right now.
Yes. And Ennis is outside those areas where the Irish-only signage is
to be introduced.

--
PB
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In article <[email protected] .com>,
<"[email protected]"> wrote:

    > And a selfish one in some ways. One of the joys of traveling
    > to foreign lands is that EVERYTHING is different.

...except the three Ireland guidebooks I just bought for my May trip
don't have all the Gael names. Nor, more importantly, does my Michelin
road atlas of Great Britain and Ireland.

--
Dan Stephenson
Photos and movies from US Parks and all over Europe:
http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

In article <[email protected]>, Padraig
Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:

    > > OOooooooh. And do they still sell "Kilkenny" beer?
    > >Fell in love with it when I was there in Wicklow.
    > >Always was afraid it was "tourist beer" that wouldn't
    > >last long. Probably won't have it up near Galway though.
    > >
    > I don't know if it's still available. I think it is.
    >
    > It didn't catch on in a big way with Irish drinkers, but proved quite
    > popular among visitors, particularly those who didn't take to
    > Guinness.
    >
    > You have as much chance of getting it in Galway as anywhere else. It
    > wasn't ever targeted at the local market near Kilkenny.

They sell beers in half pints in Ireland? I can try a lot of kinds
that way without dying.

--
Dan Stephenson
Photos and movies from US Parks and all over Europe:
http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

Dan Stephenson <[email protected]> wrote:

    >They sell beers in half pints in Ireland? I can try a lot of kinds
    >that way without dying.

Yes. Ask for a glass of whatever.

--
PB
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On 2005-03-29, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
    > Quickly on the heels of irish metrification of road signs
    > is a story coming out of the BBC stating that some western
    > towns are switching to all Irish "road signs".

What were the language of the signs before? Both English and Irish or
just English?

Jesper Lauridsen <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On 2005-03-29, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> Quickly on the heels of irish metrification of road signs
    >> is a story coming out of the BBC stating that some western
    >> towns are switching to all Irish "road signs".
    >What were the language of the signs before? Both English and Irish or
    >just English?

Bilingual, generally with the English version in a larger size. Those
outside the Gaeltacht areas will still be bilingual.

--
PB
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On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 15:41:45 +0100, Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Jesper Lauridsen <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>What were the language of the signs before? Both English and Irish or
    >>just English?
    >Bilingual, generally with the English version in a larger size.

So they've gone from bilingual to monolingual? I have a hard time
seeing that as progress. It would seem that the main motivation behind
this is spite.

Jesper Lauridsen <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 15:41:45 +0100, Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>Jesper Lauridsen <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>What were the language of the signs before? Both English and Irish or
    >>>just English?
    >>Bilingual, generally with the English version in a larger size.
    >So they've gone from bilingual to monolingual?
Yes. Just to remind you: in Irish-speaking areas only. In
English-speaking areas, they are still bilingual.

    >I have a hard time seeing that as progress.
You are not alone in that.

    >It would seem that the main motivation behind this is spite.
Not quite. Pettiness might be a better characterisation.

--
PB
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In article <[email protected]>, Padraig
Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:

    > >It would seem that the main motivation behind this is spite.
    > >
    > Not quite. Pettiness might be a better characterisation.

When I road-tripped through Wales I often saw the English name
spray-painted over. Don't people realize that when they do that, they
look like the French? <ducks>

--
Dan Stephenson
Photos and movies from US Parks and all over Europe:
http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

Dan Stephenson <[email protected]> writes:

    > When I road-tripped through Wales I often saw the English name
    > spray-painted over. Don't people realize that when they do that, they
    > look like the French? <ducks>

Joke appreciated, but I reckon that jocular contempt for "the French"
is far more English than British; maybe Welsh people wouldn't be at
all bothered to be compared to French people. Certainly Scots
wouldn't, IMO.
--
-- Chris.

In article <[email protected]>,
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > Dan Stephenson <[email protected]> writes:
    >
    > > When I road-tripped through Wales I often saw the English name
    > > spray-painted over. Don't people realize that when they do that, they
    > > look like the French? <ducks>
    >
    > Joke appreciated, but I reckon that jocular contempt for "the French"
    > is far more English than British; maybe Welsh people wouldn't be at
    > all bothered to be compared to French people. Certainly Scots
    > wouldn't, IMO.

Sure, I was just referring to the French's fullest expression of their
pursuit of the 'purity' of their language (e.g. "la message
electronique" instead of "email") being the Academy. I'm sure the
language zealots in Ireland and Wales would love something like that.

Incidentally, I travelled all through the remotest areas of Scotland,
and there were no Scots signage anywhere, and I don't recall hearing
any of it on the radio - when I saw and heard both Welsh while in
Wales. Why the difference?

--
Dan Stephenson
Photos and movies from US Parks and all over Europe:
http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

    > I travelled all through the remotest areas of Scotland,
    > and there were no Scots signage anywhere, and I don't recall hearing
    > any of it on the radio - when I saw and heard both Welsh while in
    > Wales. Why the difference?

Scots is mostly spoken in large cities, not remote areas. There
is very little official use of it at all - I think some Scottish
Parliament stuff is now available in it, but not a lot. There
is a fair bit of Scots on Radio Scotland, mostly on cultural
programmes - nobody reads the news in it.

Gaelic is different, as it got official recognition much earlier.
There is Gaelic signage ("Failte gu Sraid na Bannrighinn" on the
platforms and over the door at Glasgow Queen Street Station), TV
in Gaelic, health board brochures in Gaelic, radio news in Gaelic,
Gaelic-language columns in newspapers. Since there are about
3 million native speakers of Scots and about 40,000 of Gaelic,
this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but any change is going
to be slow. The main reason for the difference is that recognition
of Scots has always been seen as going along with nationalist
politics, whereas the state can recognize Gaelic without seeming
to make any sort of concession to a wider programme (in fact they
can use it as an anti-nationalist divisive tool, as minorities-
within-minorities have often been used around the world).

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
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Dan Stephenson wrote:

    > In article <[email protected]>,
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >
    >>Dan Stephenson <[email protected]> writes:
    >>>When I road-tripped through Wales I often saw the English name
    >>>spray-painted over. Don't people realize that when they do that, they
    >>>look like the French? <ducks>
    >>Joke appreciated, but I reckon that jocular contempt for "the French"
    >>is far more English than British; maybe Welsh people wouldn't be at
    >>all bothered to be compared to French people. Certainly Scots
    >>wouldn't, IMO.
    >
    >
    > Sure, I was just referring to the French's fullest expression of their
    > pursuit of the 'purity' of their language (e.g. "la message
    > electronique" instead of "email") being the Academy. I'm sure the
    > language zealots in Ireland and Wales would love something like that.
    >

I hadn't thought about it but perhaps part of their problem is a
pedant's dislike of abbreviation. After all they are supposed to be
providing an equivalent for email not for "electronic message".


    > Incidentally, I travelled all through the remotest areas of Scotland,
    > and there were no Scots signage anywhere, and I don't recall hearing
    > any of it on the radio - when I saw and heard both Welsh while in
    > Wales. Why the difference?
    >