Dia Daoibh!


i am from south africa and here it is very disrespectfull to be on a first name basis with someone who is old enough to be your parent or older so the english people here tend to call their elders auntie or uncle, in Xhosa its the same they call their elders uMama or uTata ( mother and father) and in afrikaans its tannie or oom (auntie or uncle) and i was just wondering if such things apply in the Irish speaking Culture. Go raibh maith agat!!

Among Irish people in general it would most likely be acceptable to address anyone by their first name. We don't tend to use "Mister" or anything. Presumably it's the same among Irish speakers. In the past there would have been respectable titles used in Irish:

"A dhuine uasail" - Sir
"A bhean uasal" - Madam
"A chailín óig" - Miss

"An t-Uasal" is used before a name to mean "Mr."
I believe "A dhuine uasail" and "A bhean uasal" are used used in addressing someone at the start of a letter.

There is the culture of it alright, but its very very rare. In fact people would think you're rather odd if you did so, and the person you are addressing may actually feel uncomfortable with the formality of it- I know I would.

However, the school situation is very different. You are still expected to address teachers using sir, miss, Irish: a mhaighistir/ a mháistir (male teacher), a mhúinteoir (female) or a mhaighstreás/ máistreás* (female). addressing them by their first name would be considered very rude and may warrant a sanction.

*Máistreás means different things in different regions; e.g. it is perfectly acceptable to address a female teacher in Kerry as a mháistreás , but in East Munster (Waterford esp.) máistreás is used exclusively to mean 'mistress'- awkward!



My cousin used to do that too, but he was the only person I know that used to do so. My aunties didn't really like it. It used to get annoying being called, auntie (Nora etc...) everytime he addressed them.



Not now anyway. However, I know Scottish Gaelic uses the 2nd person plural sibh when a addressing someone formally in the 2nd person singular as a sign of respect, instead of less formal tú.

e.g.[
Ciamar athá sibh 'How are you (singular)' (polite)
Ciamar athá thú 'How are you (singular) (informal)

The same custom is also observed German (Sie), while Spanish has its only special formal forms in usted/ustedes

This may or may not have been a custom in Irish, I certainly have never come across it.

Cian

_________________

Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

That's how it was in my day. But I think in national schools now children are less formal.



In Irish speaking regions (Gaeltachtaí) it would be unusual to say "aunt" or "uncle" when addressing somebody, certainly not to anybody unrelated to you, unlike English culture. I always called my aunts and uncles by their first names. Everybody I knew did the same. But that doesn't mean it was in any way disrespectful. I think in Gaeltacht areas we would be more likely to respect and honour our elders than people raised with English culture.

Go raibh maith agat! i really apreciate your answers im new here and in most of the other Irish language forums somepeople get abit annoyed with beginners questions


Without wax:Gareth

There's a more general term for 'Our Elders' which is - Ár Sinsear, for example there are these books on sale at Litríocht entitled : Ag Guí ar Nós ár Sinsear, Glórtha Ár Sinsear, Scéalaíocht Ár Sinsear and this one which I like - Seoda Ár Sinsear, which also has an accompanying audio-cassette, if you have a cassette player available to you.