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Hi Dale, Yes, I think we're in broad agreement there then! The only thing I would take issue with is that Darwinism can't prove anything in matters of faith - there is nothing in Darwinism which is incompatible with broad interpretations of the Bible, as you say, but I personally believe that Darwinism is incompatible with a strictly literal and fundamentalist faith. 

I remember the Time Tunnel - they used to jump into this moving spiral and end up standing next to Napoleon or George Washington or Julius Caesar. They never seemed to land randomly next to some guy standing in a field or some unknown woman working a loom. So that particular piece of scientific equipment must have had a large measure of intelligent design ...

Slán!   

Hi, Seán.

Your comment about Darwinism being "incompatible" with a strictly literal faith is interesting, so I guess it depends on what your "fundamentals" are.  I know that it does directly contradict a number of "dogmatic" assertions, some of which have been either dropped or at least less emphasized by their original proponents.  I take many of those in the same light as the early church people who went after Galileo on charges of heresy because he claimed that Earth wasn't the center of the solar system or something like that.  As to "Creationism", I know there are people who argue that the creation of the Earth happened in seven periods of twenty-four hours each.  There are many other examples, but those who attach such narrow interpretations don't read very carefully, or they cling to the narrowest interpretation of a word as possible.  It makes for something of a religious jungle, so I don't wonder that many who accept "Darwinism" tend to reject religion in general.  However, to the degree that any form of religion calls upon faith to believe in an entity or influence that is beyond the daily physical perceptions of our mortality, I believe Darwinism is just another branch of science that studies findings, makes theories, attempts to disprove them (scientific method) and moves on to the next step.  But they deal strictly with physical aspects of existence, not spiritual ones, and that's all I was trying to point out.

Yeah, Time Tunnel was about as melodramatic as you can get.  It got pretty funny after a while to see how they would drop right in on some famous historical event and not on Farmer Jones plowing his field in Nebraska or Paddy O'Driscoll going fishing in the Shannon.  That's why they call it "contrived"....

Dale D

Hi Dale, Again, I think we are in agreement on that point - though we're way off the topic of Irish! I mean that if you believe in a strict, literal, non-metaphoric interpretation of Genesis, that really isn't compatible with a belief in Darwinism (or indeed with common sense) but if people choose to believe in spiritual realms alongside the physical world, science can't disprove or prove that. It's a matter of faith ... or in my case, no faith!

An cuimhin leat an rud sin eile le Richard Basehart san fhomhuireán agus na harrachtaigh rubair? (Do you remember that other thing with Richard Basehart in the submarine and the rubber monsters?)

I almost feel nostalgia for the days when we only had three channels ... Seán.

Hi Bama, Good question. Yes, if you use "cas as" at all it's fine to use it for anything like that. I think it's a Connaught expression. I personally wouldn't say "cas as" with things like lights, televisions or anything like that, though I would certainly understand it if someone said it to me. There is no real agreement about things like this. It very much depends on the dialect and even the individual speaker. I would say "Cuir as an teilifís!" or "Cuir as na soilse sin!" (And you could also put the as at the end of the sentence without it jarring or sounding bad.) Some people say múch (extinguish), but others think it sounds a bit ridiculous if you aren't talking about a fire or a candle. Lasc as doesn't sound good to me (literally switch off) though a light switch is a "lasc solais". Eighty or ninety years ago when people first talked about electricity in Irish, the phrase for a light switch was "eochair an tsolais", or the key of the light. Personally I think that's a lovely expression but it didn't catch on!

Incidentally, the official word for a television set is a teilifíseán but I don't think I have ever heard anyone use it in the real world. People say things like "Cheannaigh mé teilifís nua" or "Tá an teilifís briste", so in reality teilifís means the medium of television and the actual box. 

Grma a Sheano.  I got the phrase from the word of the day on here.  Do you know if all the words / phrases are the Ulster dialect on the Irish Word of the Day?  I know we aren't suppose to make too much of dialects but I started out learning from BBC Giota Beag agus Giota Beag Eile (Ulster dialect)  and so I really would like to stay with that. No offense to others who speak a different dialect.

Of course, since my ancestors were from Northern Ireland I am a little partial to the Ulster...

Bain sult as an lá

Hi Bama, Yes, generally speaking, the WOTD is Ulster Irish or is found in all of the dialects. The word cas is certainly used in Ulster speech even though it's not used as much as tiontaigh. And although I wouldn't say chas mé an solas as, that doesn't mean that there aren't Ulster speakers who would say that. Some dialect forms have spread out of their original areas and are used in other dialect areas now. For example, a lot of Ulster speakers say "um Nollaig" for "at Christmas", even though traditionally people would have said "ag an Nollaig" in the north. No offense to anyone who speaks a different dialect, of course, but Ulster Irish is far and away the best ...

Grma arís!  Now at the risk of being a pest...  In saying (from WOTD)....I want more bread. It has ..Ba mhaith liom níos mó aráin a ithe.  Why can't one just say....Ba mhaith liom níos mó aráin?

Also, I don't know if this was a typo so thought I best ask.... WOTD has...I ate an egg with toast...D'ith mé ubh agus arán rósta.  Why wouldn't it be..D'ith mé ubh agus arán tósta?

And last.... WOTD has..... I want to drink a cup of tea.... Ba mhaith liom cupán tae a' ól,   Couldn't you just say....Ba mhaith liom cupá tae. ?

Hmmmm....maybe it's just showing different ways to say things?

Sorry to ask so many questions but I really want to learn and I just want to make sure I learn correctly.

"The value of the culture is sometimes and in some ways intrinsic, and we perhaps wrestle with knowing the boundaries of where it is and isn't.  I think that's a great part of culture and cultural identity."

i agree

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Hi Bama, One of the first things learners learn in Irish is how to say "Would you like?" as in "Would you like a cup of tea?" In reality, most native speakers say things like "An mbeidh cupán tae agat?" (Will you have a cup of tea?) or "An nglacfá cupán tae?" rather than forms with Ar mhaith leat? (Would you take a cup of tea?). If you use Ar mhaith leat, apparently it sounds unnatural to a native speaker if you don't put a verbal noun there. So it should always be "Ar mhaith leat cupán tae a ól?" or preferably, An mbeidh cupán tae agat? - Beidh, go raibh maith agat!

As for toast, there are two expressions for toast in Irish - tósta (toast, as in English) or arán rósta (roasted bread). Of course, it isn't really roasted in the modern technical sense of oven cooking with oil or fat, but then Irish people didn't have very sophisticated cooking equipment (our traditional cuisine is limited, to say the least). Hope this makes sense! 

It makes perfect sense! Thank you!  I see now I have over looked one important factor in learning....I need to stop thinking in English.
In other words, I keep wanting to translate Irish sentences into our English and that's not how it is.
So, thank you once again for your help mo Chara

Hi Bama, That's a very important lesson learned! The beauty of learning languages is that they teach you a different way of thinking. It's interesting that you said "our English", because it depends on the variety of English. Sometimes the English of Ireland is helpful in learning Irish. In the examples above, Irish speakers of English often say things like "Will you take a cup of tea?" or "Would you take a wee drink?", just like the examples I gave. In other words, although they are using English words, they're still thinking in Irish. 

No need to thank me! Go ndéana sé a mhaith duit! (Don't mention it!)

Hi a Sheano,

Here is my next question.  Does the Ulster dialect use partial words?
Example:  The proper phrase ...You all...here in the deep south would 
                be..Ya'll.  We kind of drop a vowel or two and blend the
                you and all together.

Do Ulster speakers do that as well or is ever word said in it's proper
way?
That was hard to explain and I do hope it made some kind of sense lol

Forget y'all...try translating "all y'all".  That one is enough to make a pretzel out of any language!

Seriously, though, I lived a year in south Texas, and we gained an appreciation for many quaint "southernisms".  Of course, that word would have an entirely different connotation in Ireland.....

I have seen some instances of parts of words left off, both in poetry and in daily usage in Irish.  Usually, it seems to be done when the result should be obvious to the reader or hearer.  I'm having trouble coming up with a good example, but often "agus" (and) seems to be abbreviated 's, but sometimes that also seems to be an abbreviated form of the copula.  I don't know if you can always tell which is which, or if it's always the copula serving as a combination verb and conjunction.

The first two lines of "Maidín i mBéarra" are: 

Is é mo chaoi gan mise maidin aerach Amuigh i mBéarra im’ sheasamh ar an trá,

I assume the abbreviated "im'" is possibly for "imirt" but not sure how the context works or is used here.  Someone may be kind enough to explain.  My online dictionary doesn't give a precise definition of "imirt", but it seems to mean "play"?

Dale D