I thought it might be interesting to share this one with you. It is quoted from the following address. Have a look!:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/8-insulting ... ricks-day/#5. Try To Use a Cupla Focail
One thing Irish and American people have in common is why we don't speak our native language: a load of foreigners turned up and it turns out English speakers are just the best at killing natives.
Trying to show off with a cupla focail (few words) works as well in Irish as it does in any language, in that it doesn't. People who don't know the language don't care, and people who just met you don't either. It's like the asshole who insists on loudly ordering sushi by treating Japanese with all the volume, subtlety and careful respect of a tectonic fault. While the waiter thinks "I grew up in Brooklyn, asshole, and even if I didn't maybe working in a Manhattan restaurant means I know English."
Actually knowing other languages is good, but claiming credit for stumbling through a few words is the most patronizing thing you can do to another culture since the Queen stopped deciding she wanted to own them. "See, you're worth a few lazy minutes of my time!" you beam, mispronouncing words their 5-year-old niece manages. "Show me love for bothering to acknowledge your hilarious novelty language!"
It doesn't help that Irish is deader than Romero villains. It's more useful to learn Latin because at least some important books were written in that. Gaeilge sounds like a drunken Klingon coughing up a hairball, and if you want to be Irish and unintelligible we sell far better products.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
