Irish versus Gaelic

[OC Richard]

Here in the states the only "Celtic" origin bars you see are all "Irish" in nature. I've yet to run across a purely Scottish heritage bar/pub.

True that they're few and far between, but there have been a few Scottish pubs and pub/restaurants here anyhow, like The Loch Ness Monster Pub, The Black Watch Pub, and The Tartan Drum, and currently Buchanan Arms, Tam O Shanter, and Morrison's.

It's odd that, in general, here in the USA drinking and Irishness are so intertwined. One of those cultural stereotypes! If we want food we go Italian, if we want drink we go Irish.

[OC Richard]

Rosetta Stone has an Irish Gaelic program. Would we be remiss if we used that to learn the basic language?

Well it would be a bit like studying Dutch when you wanted to learn German, or studying Spanish when you wanted to learn Italian.

For sure you're far more likely to run into an Irish speaker, here in the States, than a Gaelic speaker, though I have run into a few. One was an Englishman who moved to Islay years ago and picked up Gaelic to converse with his neighbors.

Completely offtopic but I also ran into a guy who had picked up some Navajo in a similar way, having moved to a town where over 95% of the people are Navajo speakers, and some know no English.

[SeumasA]

The best way to find Scottish folk music is to check out the tour schedules of artists you like to see when they'll be coming your way.

Some to check out:

Natalie MacMaster
Julie Fowlis
Mary Jane Lamond
Ashley MacIsaac
Barry Shears
The Barra MacNeils
Cathy Anne MacPhee
Beolach
Alasdair Fraser
The Rankins
Old Blind Dogs
Ecosse
Wolfstone
Battlefield Band
Capercaillie
Enter the Haggis
Hadrian's Wall

And if you want Scottish-Canadian punk, try the Real McKenzies

[Ron Abbott]

Add two of my favourites.....Burach and Skipinish to that list!

[Half Scot Half Pole]

Gaelic speaking Indians in colonial America, no lie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madoc

I met a red headed Indian young man among the creoles in Gainesville, Florida, who was a horse whisperer. Red wavy hair, freckles, light skinned, looked Irish, but 100% Indian.

Also, where I grew up in Southern New Jersey on the Delaware Bay, we have a unique gaelic accent down from the early Welsh settlers, with an island in the nearby Chesapeake Bay, Smith Island, where they used to have a gaelic accent so thick even I couldn't understand them. Unfortunately, tourism and the internet decimated this micro culture of fisherfolk.

Can't seem to find many linguistic studies on this, but it might be worth a look.