Unlocking Ireland - thread uimhir a seacht!

[LifeInAHamsterWheel]

A shiny new thread for us all to talk pure shite whilst we wait for lockdown to end

My Mam is Irish also lived in the uk since a young woman and she can't pronounce the Irish spelt names! She even says that's a funny name if I mention a Aoife, Tadgh etc and she actually hasn't heard of half of them if any tbh!!
She considers Ann, Mary, Margaret,Martin, Paddy, John etc etc to be Irish names, that's what everyone in her eyes were called who were Irish in her day!

Do people care that much about names? My name has been pronounced wrong so many times. I genuinely didn't care in the slightest. I actually let a woman at work call me the wrong name for a long time, (variation of my name)vbecause I couldn't be bothered correcting her haha

@Sarahtrue11

Irish words are very difficult for anyone that is not Irish, in fairness. I remember the last large meetup I went to before Covid, it was a book club in Dublin. There was a South African man there, a Polish woman, and a Pakistani man. They all told me that they had such problems with Irish. Because Irish is everywhere, town signs, announcements on buses, trains etc, they need to know it. They told me that they found it very difficult, that "it looks nothing like it sounds like".

Words in most languages will 'look nothing like they sound' if the spelling/pronunciation rules of an entirely different, unrelated language are applied to them. Irish certainly isn't unique there. So if you try to read Irish with English language rules, for example, you're not going to have much luck, and that's to be expected.

I've no problems at all with people making mistakes though. It's best just to ask if you don't know, nobody can be expected to be familiar with all names. However, I would expect more of a news organisation, and would have thought that checking pronunciations would be part of their remit. Just an oversight maybe.

@LizzieAnt yes but they didn't get it vastly wrong.

Micheál and Michael are very close variations of the same name.

My uncle Micheál answers to Michael. Two of his sisters always call him Michael.

One of his brothers calls him Micheál , and his other sister calls him Micky.

I don't know why they whinge about Irish names being difficult to spell and pronounce, there are some south east Asia surnames that are really difficult to pronounce and spell. Sometimes I read them in the news and think how difficult they are.

@Sarahtrue11
No, I agree, they didn't get it far wrong. It would have been more courteous to try to get it 100% right though. Just a small mistake I suppose.

@LadyEloise

I don't know why they whinge about Irish names being difficult to spell and pronounce, there are some south east Asia surnames that are really difficult to pronounce and spell. Sometimes I read them in the news and think how difficult they are.

Sure we don't even have to look that far afield for tricky names - what about Penelope? Daphne? Isla? Not simple to decode but once you hear the pronunciation, you get it. I'd still be at a journalist talking about Penny-lope on the news. 😂 Plus given that England is home to Worcestershire, Gloucester, Leicester and Marlborough to name but a few I reckon they can cope alright with a Micheál

What about people calling Micheál,
"me-hole", in Ireland.

I am hearing that everywhere!

@kissmelittleass

My Mam is Irish also lived in the uk since a young woman and she can't pronounce the Irish spelt names! She even says that's a funny name if I mention a Aoife, Tadgh etc and she actually hasn't heard of half of them if any tbh!! She considers Ann, Mary, Margaret,Martin, Paddy, John etc etc to be Irish names, that's what everyone in her eyes were called who were Irish in her day!

There's two of them!!

My cousin gave her children irish names are are now old enough to be in school and my mum still says them wrong!!!

Ironically I recall my mum and her mum arguing that my mum's son couldn't be called Matthew according to my nan, because she couldn't pronounce it correctly. (This argument is even weirder when you know, I recall this argument and I'm the youngest so my mother never was in the position of having a son called Matthew..🤔

"I don't accept that Mee-hawl is too hard for a well paid presenter to say, or too obscure for a research team to find out. If they can learn to say Polish/Nigerian/Chinese names etc they can handle the odd Irish name."

In fairness, "they" might not be, it's just you don't know they aren't!!

@SionnachRua such a fuss about nothing. I never heard of people getting so angry about a name being said wrong. How pedantic.

@BloodyInternetFood

"I don't accept that Mee-hawl is too hard for a well paid presenter to say, or too obscure for a research team to find out. If they can learn to say Polish/Nigerian/Chinese names etc they can handle the odd Irish name."

In fairness, "they" might not be, it's just you don't know they aren't!!

That's true, maybe they're poorly researching everything. Doesn't really win them brownie points in my eyes though.

Maybe next April Fool's Day we should call all the British royals by Irish names. Banríon Sibéal, Prionsa Uilliam or whatever. I bet the Sun would have a meltdown, it'd be great craic.

Though that assumes the Queen makes it another year and unfortunately I'm not sure that'll happen. I hope I'm wrong though, she seems like a nice woman.

Any Dublin-based posters have a good takeaway recommendation? I think from Monday we can travel in the county, right? I don't get a lot of takeaway but I'd like something different.

Many years ago, I work in a company with a man (who was Hungarian) who's name was Béla. Not one of the (Irish) people in his unit said him name right. He didn't correct them - it's possible "they" just don't know they are saying it wrong.

I can only presume those in Béla's unit just had confirmation bias each time they heard him introducing himself and saying his name correctly!!

Pretty sure the BBC does has a whole pronunciation department, so yes they should know. And yes for diplomatic reasons they should care.

I don't mind people pronouncing my name according to the rules of their own language on a first meeting or in one-off contexts where it doesn't matter. But I once left a driving school here in Germany because the owner wrote my name down wrongly after I spelled it out, and when I asked him to correct it he insisted if it was wrong, it was because I had spelled it wrong. It's my fecking name, I think I know how to spell it! I didn't want to learn to drive with him after that

Weirdly, a bbc reporter at the Belfast riots said a pastor arrived on the scene, young loyalists paused and said hello father. In reality they would have said hello pastor.

I sort of understand mispronouncing a name, the newsroom would be busy today.
But there was a mad thread afew months ago, where people claimed nobody, including Irish grannies, would be able to pronounce Cillian.

Any Dublin-based posters have a good takeaway recommendation? I think from Monday we can travel in the county, right? I don't get a lot of takeaway but I'd like something different.

@SionnachRua what are you thinking of? Indian? Chinese?

Oh that's a pain @SecondRow and as if learning to drive wasn't stressful enough already!

A tangent I know but your post made me think of the pain in the arse that is ordering from abroad sometimes. My parents house doesn't have a number, just a name...quite a few websites out there that can't handle that! Like good God, people. Let me spend my money with you

@Joolsin

Any Dublin-based posters have a good takeaway recommendation? I think from Monday we can travel in the county, right? I don't get a lot of takeaway but I'd like something different.

@SionnachRua what are you thinking of? Indian? Chinese?

I'm easily pleased! Not a massive fan of Chinese but I'll try anything and everything

My personal favourite lately has been a Venezuelan place called Arepas Grill in the city centre. A Venezuelan friend of mine says it's proper Venezuelan food too.

I know @SionnachRua, I just took against him and I admit I do carry a grudge and had no desire to sit beside him every week in the car being patronised. Loved the school I changed to later so all good did not pass first time but can't blame my teacher for that

First time I drove back in Ireland on the other side of the road after all that was around the M50 – good times. The German Autobahn holds no more fear for me

Tis far from Venezuelan food I was reared sionnach! I'd love any kind of meal I didn't have to cook these days, especially love the idea of putting on nice clothes and heading somewhere for a meal. If the clothes aren't too tight it would be an added bonus.

My personal favourite lately has been a Venezuelan place called Arepas Grill in the city centre. A Venezuelan friend of mine says it's proper Venezuelan food too.

That sounds fab, nothing I can suggest sounds more interesting than that! We like Konkan for Indian, there's one in Dundrum and one in Clanbrassil Street. The Night Market in Ranelagh is supposed to be good. I've seen so many meal kits from restaurants written about in the papers but haven't bothered with any of them.

@Apileofballyhoo

Tis far from Venezuelan food I was reared sionnach! I'd love any kind of meal I didn't have to cook these days, especially love the idea of putting on nice clothes and heading somewhere for a meal. If the clothes aren't too tight it would be an added bonus.

Ah you and me both! God be with the days of overboiled potatoes and cabbage when I was growing up. My dad gives the spice rack at my place a suspicious look every time he's up...

The Venezuelan place does a sort of cornbread thing with toppings, it's interesting. Really tasty, though can feel more like a sandwich than a dinner if you get me.

Ooh, eggandonion I missed that thread, I have one of those

Weirdly enough we'd have been ok with school and kindergarten etc using the local pronunciation of Kilian, which would sound more like Kee-lee-ann, but they actually do their best to give at least a nod to our Irish pronunciation and while they don't get it 100 % I'm actually touched that they try!

So Sarahtrue I do get your point about versions of names in different countries as well, it's just in the diplomatic context I think it merits respect.