Irish Translation Forum

I just spotted the addendum for Póg mo thóin saying how some people had found his offensive. Having been brought up with with Irish family and having lived in Kerry for 9 months I find this pretty amusing. Kiss my arse is pretty damn tame having heard some of the language that leaves the lips of Irish men, women and children. Not the kind of people to mince there words, its evident that the Irish have far greater things to worry themselves about than a few colourful words. Not that I vehemently disagree with the more prudish visitors to the site, everyones entitled to there own opinion, I just think its a wee bit amusing.

Slán, Sam

LOL Sam,

I totally agree! The bunch of 'regulars' that hang out here are quite cheeky and full of ourselves! No worries. Welcome to the club. <grin>

Slán go fóill,

Patrice

Nice to know i'm in good company? This site has just brought back an old old memory of my first real encounter with gaeilge when I must of been all of 11 years old on holiday deep in gaeltacht dingle. In a bar woth my folks I pooped to the lav only to discover to both ladies and gents labelled only with Fir and Mná. In a fit of ingenious 11yr old reasoning i figured that Mná was most like men and went for it. Meeting a throng of cackling 20somethings leaving the cubicles I went an horrific shade of dearg mumbled something about the wrong place and scurried to the gents. I sat quietly for the remainder of the time in the pub.

So only women cackle, do they? LOL! Couldn't resist, Sam! Just wanted to initiate you property.

I've stared at quite a few bathroom doors when they have some goofy symbol instead of names above the doors.

The best story I ever heard was about a women who came screaming outta the bathroom going, "There's a man in one of the ladies bathroom stalls. When asked how she knew? She replied, "'Cause the feet are turned the wrong way."

Slán go fóill,

Patrice

LOL Thats hilarious! I can only acces the net on w/ends so I shall speak to you all on monday. Have a good weekend. I'm off now wahey! "Buicéad Budweiser le do thoild"

You can correct the grammar on that on monday.

Slán go fóill, Sam x

About Póg mo thóin on the site - I received an email recently by someone who was not very happy. They found it a pity that I rate Póg mo thóin higher than "Hello".

It's not my fault! 15,086 downloaders of póg mo thóin can't be wrong!

I was in a pub once and mistakenly went into the wrong leithras, and some woman came in while I was going. She looked at me disgustedly and said "This is for ladies!!" so I turned around and exclaimed "So is this!!"

'Nother loo story ...

In Holland the word for 'Gentlemen' is 'Heren'. A friend of ours over visiting looked up thought she saw the word thought it was 'Hers' (as in his and hers toilets) and well you can imagine the rest....

As for Sam's original post - 'tis true the Irish use extremely colourful language. We'd work colleagues over from our Canadian and London offices and they were shocked by the level of language used in everyday conversation, even in the work environment. It's not even meant bad - it's just the Irish are so used to slagging each other off! And it's not just the young people - you wanna hear my parents when they get going!

In fact if someone said 'Póg mo thóin' to most people I know they'd just laugh and ask is that the best you can do?

Now I suppose I should get back to actually translating some Irish ...

-KS

Dia dhiabh,

I've suffered terrible guilt pangs since my last post (well some anyway). I don't want to give the impression that everyone on the Emerald Isle is foulmouthed (certainly my mother-in-law isn't!).

It's just that often insults are traded between friends ... beware if you're in Ireland and no-one slags (teases) or insults you - then they don't like you too much! Its considered 'being a good sport' if you can take it ... and of course you're free to reply in kind. Though there are unwritten rules about what's acceptable, in general they're more lax than in other places I've visited ...

The witty repartee can get quite ingenious!

In fact I'm so used to teasing people (and I don't mean sexually) - that when I'm on forums with mixed audiences I have to make a huge effort not to (in case someone takes insult) that I tend to sound toooo polite and formal ... aaah well.

-KS