Bríd Mhór wrote:
Redwolf wrote:
Someone asked this question on Eoin's Bitey Shamrock forum, and I'm not finding an easy answer in Baldy, so I figured I'd ask here. How does one express negative numbers in Irish?
For example, in English I might say "It's 10 degrees outside, but it feels like -10." Or "3 - 5 = -3"
Our maths teacher used lúide and móide for minus and plus.
That is the only context I've ever heard those words.
Scooby wrote:
míneas a deich gcéim Celsius = -10 degrees Celsius, AFAIK
And Wingléacht has that too.
But in the case of temperature when we say "subzero" we always mean below freezing point. As subzero means nothing in Fahrenheit. So I think saying reophointe /pointe reo is correct for that. -6C = sé chéim faoin reophoinnte. Or use "náid".
I too did Maths (and Chemistry and French....) through Irish. Our teacher also used
lúide and
móide but for
subtract/take away and
plus (add).
But when referring to a stand-alone negative figure in both Maths and Science we used
míneas. I haven't watched the weather on TV in Irish in a while, but I'd expect to hear
míneas used at times and
...faoin reophointe used also.
I've never heard
pointe reo used, however more correct it is. Words like
reophointe may be artificial, but over time they become used and accepted. Personally, I hate words like
doladhroichead (toll bridge) and
scáileastát (ghost estate) but I've known and heard the word
reophointe for over 40 years now and other versions sound odd to me for that reason.