Celts, Spaces and Whisk(e)y
Did you know that you can thank the Irish for having spaces between words? Some languages (e.g. German) combine words together to avoid having to add spaces, but they get the idea in the end. Thankfully just about every language in the world now using spaces in some way or another. Just imagine trying to read a block of text without them. I guess the market reach of the Irish race’s space usage has exceeded all their expectations.
Which 100 words could you not do without?
A story caught my eye the other day about the England football manager, Fabio Capello. For those who don’t know, Senior Fabio is not from around these here parts. He hails from Italy and somewhat controversially could not speak a word of English when he got the job! There were those wondering how the English Football Association could appoint someone who was (initially at least) incapable of delivering instructions that his players could understand.
Language in a “multi-cultural” office
One of the Senior Consultants has recently taken on a Team Leader role that necessitated him relocating from the USA to our Guildford, UK headquarters. All was going swimmingly until the first time he left a voice mail messages for someone he couldn’t contact. It went something along the lines of, “You can contact me on my cell phone which is 07……”
Having endured some gentle ribbing about learning UK terminology, the conversation turned to other lesser known language difficulties:
- In the USA they don’t use the word “fortnight” and some may even struggle with its meaning. Apparently they use “bi-weekly” or the slightly inaccurate “the week after next” instead.
- In Japan and France there is a single word for “the day after tomorrow”, something that doesn’t exist in English. Rather bizarrely in the case of French, the word is just as long as the phrase, “the day after tomorrow”! Reminds me of the question, “Why is abbreviation such a long word?”
What language difficulties do you have where you work?
Communicating in Irish
Those who regularly visit my blog will know I enjoy language and its usage. I’d go so far as to say that I am somewhat obsessive about it. Maybe when I retire I’ll pass time writing letters to newspapers and radio / TV presenters chastising them about their misuse of language. Personally I hope not. Language should be a generic, colorful and imaginative communication medium that must never be dull or prescriptive. All of this makes life a lot harder for us technical communicators of course. With language changing, words going out or coming into fashion, regional variations, etc. it has never been more difficult to communicate across a global audience.
As an Irishman, albeit one who has spent most of his life in the UK, I still find unrefined joy in the way the Irish greet people. Somehow a simple “Hello” just doesn’t wash. It is often joked that an Irish greeting is a precursor to a conversation and if any of you have ever visited the Emerald Isle you’ll know that this is very true. You can meet a total stranger and within 10 minutes you find you’ve told them about your family, dodgy knee and how you wished your hotel did smoked mackerel for breakfast!
Probably the most famous Irish greeting is “Cead Mile Failte” meaning “a hundred thousand welcomes”. This more traditional form of greeting may not win any plain English awards but it does paint a colorful and accurate picture of the proposed sentiment. However most greetings in Ireland are less formal. Here are some of my favorites:
“How’s it going?”
Asking a question as a form of greeting is something the Irish do well. It can be a little disconcerting to those not used to it but once you understand that it is only a question if you want it to be, you’ll be OK. This is especially important if you ever wonder what “it” refers to. Answering with a solid statement like “OK thanks” or “I’m grand thank you” is perfectly acceptable and will probable result in nothing more than a “Good man” or “Grand” in response. If you want, you could tempt fate by saying “I’m fine now that I’m out of that wind and rain. It’s fierce isn’t it?” Warning: Only do this if you want to be stuck talking a complete stranger for 30 minutes talking about all and sundry. The Irish could talk the hind leg off a London taxi driver, although their methods for solving the world’s problems are a little more refined!
“What’s the story?”
Another question. UK comedian Michael Macintyre recently did a gig in Ireland where he spent several minutes on this one. As he put it, “All I want is a ticket to Connelly station. I didn’t realise I had to have a story to get one.”
“Top of the morning to you”
At least this is not a question. It’s just a simple positive wish to lighten your load. Yet it is strange that we Irish, a race renowned for their friendly demeanour, would wish everyone to have a great morning but a lousy afternoon and evening. I have visions of people looking at their watches at 11:59am thinking, “Ah well we may as well go back to bed now.” This is tempered of course by the traditional response to such a greeting which is, “And the rest of the day to yourself.” OK. We now have a balance of sorts whereby half the population is the epitome of positive thinking at any one time. Mind you, I can’t help feeling that having a “top” afternoon and evening instead of the morning is grossly unfair.
