Gaelic sign blunder

[Jock Scot]

Ooops, dual post. Post deleted.

[Jock Scot]

I sometimes wonder about the motivation of these official bodies. What are they hoping to achieve?

If it is to foster the language and encourage its use, would it not be better to print the pay slips and work rotas and standing orders and manuals and all the 101 other bits of paperwork in Gaelic? That would force their staff to learn the language. Or have them in English and Gaelic, so those that can and those that want to will be able to read.

But no. Not one other word in Gaelic, anywhere within the remit of the Fire & Rescue Service. So that can't be the reason.

After all, if they wanted their employees to speak in the vernacular, then surely Lallans, the Doric or Scoti would have been better. Certainly Lallans and the Doric are still spoken on a daily basis.

So the only reason I can see for them wanting to name their headquarters in Gaelic is play acting, paying lip service, a token gesture - in short, an insult.

I think the idea is as bad as the music hall comic Scotsman wearing a "see you Jimmy" hat and orange wig.

I am sorry if this offends, but there is too much of this pretend Scottishness going on in Scotland.



Regards

Chas

You make perfect sense to me and it offends me not one jot.

[Oldhiker]

I am sorry if this offends, but there is too much of this pretend Scottishness going on in Scotland.

Regards

Chas

?? really?? Gaelic is pretend

[McElmurry]

?? really?? Gaelic is pretend

I think he was suggesting that putting one Gaelic word on a building demonstrated a less than robust interest in the culture.

[OC Richard]

I encountered this with a local Firefighters' Pipe Band.

Their logo has Gaelic which they presume means "honour the fallen" but which means "honour the dead one". (They used the singular for "dead".)

I asked them, do they honour only one dead person? No? Then you ought to change it to the plural, I said.

They have changed some of their things, others not.

[kc8ufv]

I find a lot of people don't realise there is a right way and a wrong way to fly the Union Flag. Not all of them from abroad.

From my memory that flag was horizontally and vertically symetrical. I had to actually look it up to see that the red diagonal stripes are slightly off center of the diagonal white stripes.

[O'Callaghan]

From my memory that flag was horizontally and vertically symetrical. I had to actually look it up to see that the red diagonal stripes are slightly off center of the diagonal white stripes.

A common mistake that led to our local auto parts store flying it upside down. Didn't believe me when I told them, but went bust shortly thereafter. Must have been jinxed!

[Tobus]

I sometimes wonder about the motivation of these official bodies. What are they hoping to achieve?

If it is to foster the language and encourage its use, would it not be better to print the pay slips and work rotas and standing orders and manuals and all the 101 other bits of paperwork in Gaelic? That would force their staff to learn the language. Or have them in English and Gaelic, so those that can and those that want to will be able to read.

But no. Not one other word in Gaelic, anywhere within the remit of the Fire & Rescue Service. So that can't be the reason.

After all, if they wanted their employees to speak in the vernacular, then surely Lallans, the Doric or Scoti would have been better. Certainly Lallans and the Doric are still spoken on a daily basis.

So the only reason I can see for them wanting to name their headquarters in Gaelic is play acting, paying lip service, a token gesture - in short, an insult.

I think the idea is as bad as the music hall comic Scotsman wearing a "see you Jimmy" hat and orange wig.

I am sorry if this offends, but there is too much of this pretend Scottishness going on in Scotland.

Regards

Chas

How can there be "pretend Scottishness" in Scotland? They don't have to pretend; they're already Scots.

You seem to be really negative about it. Why? And if you think the Scots should stop trying so hard to be Scottish, what would you prefer they try to be? English?

I think it's a good thing. It may seem like a token effort or an insult to some, but perhaps it's just the beginning of the reclamation of a dying culture. It starts by using Gaelic words and names here and there, and builds from there. If it's part of a trend towards reviving what rightfully belongs to the Scots, why would you take issue with it? Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say...

[MacSpadger]

After all, if they wanted their employees to speak in the vernacular, then surely Lallans, the Doric or Scoti would have been better. Certainly Lallans and the Doric are still spoken on a daily basis.

So the only reason I can see for them wanting to name their headquarters in Gaelic is play acting, paying lip service, a token gesture - in short, an insult.

I think the idea is as bad as the music hall comic Scotsman wearing a "see you Jimmy" hat and orange wig.

I am sorry if this offends, but there is too much of this pretend Scottishness going on in Scotland.

Regards

Chas

I agree 100% Chas. I though it was a real breakthrough when the Asda superstore in Peterhead went Doric, it brought the locals out and they found it was indeed gweed bittie chaiper. Consultation was done with the Buchan Heritage Society to made sure everything was absolutely correct, and they made a good job of it.

Learning Gaelic is not so hard, even kids can manage it surely someone could have been consulted and told the grammar just doesn't work the way English does?
I have seen BEAUTS of bad Gaelic translations, far worse than this:
A German with "chan eil fhios agam" as his signature, (It means I don't know in Gaelic, which is probably the answer he got when asking for an untranslatable translation)
An American with "Cha d’fhuaireadh facal Beurla mar" as his signature. That says "A translation for your English wording was not found" and is a standard reply on a well known online Gaelic translator.
I clearly remember one person asked for a translation for "Men of the Thin Blue Line" and was given something far nearer to "I copulate with Thin Blue Men". This was intended for the bass drum of an American Police Force pipe band. I'm not sure he was ever corrected.

[McElmurry]

After receiving an online translation perform a reverse translation. This procedure will catch many errors.