...you actually understand what they're saying!

Tadhg to John Joe today: "Donegal! Dún do 'Fá dtaobh de'!"

(The subtitles only said "Shut your mouth!")

Redwolf

I can just see some poor learner saying "but "fadooda" must mean "mouth"...I saw it on TV!"

Redwolf

Poor Séamus, they rarely translated what he said accurately.

Does anyone else find it awkward when the other characters mention Séamus in conversation? How long can they keep it up before they eventually have to write him out of the show?

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

Yeah...that bothers me too. I'm surprised they haven't done a plot line where he dies, maybe combining it with a tribute to the actor (kind of like Big Bang Theory did with Howard's mom when the actor that played her passed away). First he was told off as mourning for Lee (which seemed odd, as I don't recall them being that close. Mo would have been another story), and now apparently he's up at the home with Cóilín?

Redwolf

At the risk of being indiscreet, could someone let us learners in on the joke?

Since no one translated it above, I was guessing it was "Shut yer hole!" But I've read now that "Fá dtaobh de" is the Donegal way of saying "about". So is the joke that saying "faduda" all the time is a key Donegal trait, so that's Tadhg's nickname for a Donegalman's mouth?

(I'm catching up with RnR and just saw the episode now. Nine episodes in, Tadhg's the best character so far.)

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Pages I made:
(These are unfortunately offline for the near future, but they'll be back!)

• Teaching Young Kids Irish (It's just my notes, a work in progress.)
• CD transcript and translations for the book Learning Irish

Yep...that's the joke. Well, actually, the joke was that the subtitles said "shut your mouth," but what Tadhg actually said was "dún do 'Fá dtaobh de". The more Irish you understand, the more of what's actually said, vs. what the subtitles say, you catch, which is part of the fun.

One of the easier ones to catch is when the subtitles say a character said "Oh my God." It's usually actually something like "a mhaighdean!" or "Dia sábháil!"

BTW, they will be doing a special episode in honor of Diarmuid Mac Adhastair (Séamus Mhicil Tom) and laying his character to rest on Wednesday, December 23 at 8:30 p.m. Irish time (I'm hoping it will be archived that evening, as the regular shows are). There's a trailer available, and I'm tearing up just watching it.

Interesting thing with Séamus...I often had a hard time following him on the show, but I've heard Diarmuid Mac an Adhastair interviewed and had no trouble following him at all (and I didn't have any trouble following you and John Joe when I was there). Did he play up his accent a bit for the show? (or perhaps play it down for the interview?).

He's already very much missed on the show. I imagine the tribute episode was a hard one for the cast to get through.

Redwolf

I don't know, he may have been speaking more slowly in the interview, more formal than chatting in Tí Thadhg.
As for John Joe and me, we were using our teaching voices.


So that's why they are keeping him alive yet on the show, waiting for that tribute episode.