Dia Daoibh

Hello, everyone.

A basic rule of Irish spelling is caol le caol agus leathan le leathan, meaning "slender with slender and broad with broad." It's what you keep in mind when encountering Irish vowels because it explains that the vowels on either side of any consonant should match. (The slender vowels in Irish are e, é, i, and í, and the broad vowels are a, á, o, ó, u, and ú.) A lot of people who take a cursory interest in Irish tell me that they find the spelling of Irish words unnecessarily complex ("It's a language you use to cheat at Scrabble," one person once told me), but I think that the spelling is really quite intuitive once you understand the basics of vowel arrangement and the rules governing sound. Also, if you are playing Scrabble in Irish while thinking that using Irish words is cheating, then you and I have very different ideas of how to play Scrabble.

I like the Irish language. I like that it has just eleven irregular verbs, a truly merciful gesture from the universe and a welcome departure from German. I like Irish poetry, which I am slowly, slowly, slowly getting better at -- and if you are interested, I recommend the work of Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill.

It's nice to see that so many people, both in Ireland itself and in Irish communities around the world, have committed to keeping Irish alive. I live near many Irish cultural centers and opportunities to practice Irish, albeit strongly accented Irish, and, although I don't take advantage of these as often as I would like since I am a reclusive creature who only ventures into the daylight when the stars align, I like seeing them around. In the United States most people respond to "I'm studying Irish" with open encouragement, which is my great privilege in a world where many Irish-speaking people are fearful of, and punished for, speaking the language.

So I guess the point of this article is, if you have ever wanted to play Scrabble as Gaeilge, you know who to call.

#Gaeilge