User talk:An Muimhneach Machnamhach

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hello An Muimhneach Machnamhach, and welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question.

Thanks and good luck.

Noble Skuld the Legend Killer 13:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages. Typing four tildes after your comment ( ~~~~ ) will insert a signature showing your username and a date/time stamp, which makes it clear who said what, and when. Thank you. Demiurge 14:32, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Language

Hey... just a suggestion. As this is the English language Wikipedia, it might be an idea to have your user page in English rather than Irish. It's only a suggestion, though - it's your user page, so do what you like with it!  ;-) Robwingfield (talk) 23:21, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fionn

The pronounciation (in terms of English phonetics) would be something like 'Fyone' - IPA is all Greek to me im afraid and thats the only way i can think of conveying the Scottish pronounciation. TBH id be surprised if it was really very different to the Irish, especially northern, pronounciation. Hope this helps. Le meas, siarach 20:50, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

The way you describe your own pronounciation as "Fyoon" makes it sound pretty much exactly like we would pronounce the first part of the name 'Fionnlagh' so there cant be too much of a difference. Cycling the length of the isles sounds like a fantastic trip and something i should probably try myself sometime. An Siarach does indeed mean "the Westerner" - my home being on the "Taobh Siar" of the Lewis. siarach 10:13, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] An Vicípéid as Gaeilge

Dia duit. An raibh a fhios agat a Mhuimhnigh Machnamhaigh go bhfuil an Vicípéid le fáil as Gaeilge freisin? Ní bíonn an-chuid daoine ag cur léi agus muna bhfuil tú ag cur léi faoi lathair beidh an-fháilte romhat dá thosnófá. Tá an iomarca stumpaí inti, comh maith. ga.wikipedia.org.

Le meas
Joe Byrne -- Talk -- Contribs - :ga: - :fr: - - 11:39, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gaelic in Lewis

Presumably the "secondary school" referred to is the Nicoloson although there are several throughout the island and until a few years ago two main ones in stornoway which catered up until the age of 18. Ive stuck a [citation needed] tag by the statement both because it is vague and because the 1/6 native speakers it gives seems too low - i wouldnt be surprised if only 1/6 were native today but in 1988 i doubt it. With regard to studying Gaelic people either choose or reject it as an academic topic for two reasons. People choose it because it is very, very easy and something of a joke subject (it has by far the highest pass rate at all levels as a subject) while others reject it for those same reason (i dropped it asap in favour of hard sciences when i was in school). With regard to people using English because its "cool" that may certainly have been the case historically and may still be true in cases today but mostly people use English because its a habit. You have a group of 6 kids of whom 5 are native Gaelic and on is English monoglot and English is the language used. You meet a stranger anywhere in the island (and no matter where you are Gaelic speakers are supposed ot be the majority) you dont greet them or ask them a question in Gaelic you use English because you do not naturally assume that anyone can speak Gaelic now and it is no longer natural to speak Gaelic with any stranger. In my case i find it very bizarre and indeed a challenge to speak fluent Gaelic with anyone who is not either direct family or a friend of decades as it is only usually with people of one of these two categories that i would speak the language and im sure this is probably the case for a lot of others. Theres a socio-linguistic term for this phenomenon i believe but i forget what its called.

Stornoway is a bit notorious as a non-Gaelic (often anti-Gaelic) black spot. Indeed some chap or other stated about 50 years ago that one of the best things that could happen for the survival prospects of Gaelic would be for Stornoway to drop off the island and find itself suddenly in Aberdeenshire or some such. As for the position of Gaelic with the youth being precarious - well as youve no doubt guessed yes it certainly is. Indeed its beyond precarious and probably terminal. People of my generation (roughly those between 20 and 30) will be the last to have any memory of a time when Gaelic was a community language and of going to school with a majority of Gaelic speaking children.

Of my two siblings - 19 and 17 respectively - neither ever speaks Gaelic with any of their similarly native, and Gaelic-medium educated, friends and not because of any deliberate attitude, shame or social consciousness but simply because it isnt natural to them. Gaelic largely survives as the family language within many homes, but it is very very rarely used outside the home or with people who are not family. It will be effectively dead by the end of this century (unless of course some truly unimaginable change in attitude and policy comes along, but that wont happen) siarach 14:35, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stop oppressing us!

Yes you. Can't ewe feel our sorrow?--feline1 20:36, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "British Isles"

Hi. Thanks for your note; I assure you that the detailed explanations you offered weren't necessary — for somebody who doesn't live in Ireland or in the UK, I think I have an excellent knowledge of the region.

Where I differ from you is in my understanding of the word "British." To my ears, "British Isles" is an ancient and 'unmarked' (to use some linguistics terminology) phrase; to my ears, the anamalous thing is the use of the adjective "British" as though it were the proper adjective for the United Kingdom. It's not; when used as such it's imprecise shorthand. You call the phrase "British Isles" Victorian; but of course it is much older than that; and the ancient origins of all this terminology vastly predates the modern political situation (even if we define "modern" as meaning "the past millennium").

The deeper question, of course, is whether you have a terminological objection or a geographical one— do you object merely to the phrase "British Isles"; or do you object to the whole notion that these particular islands can be considered together as a set? Because, see, I think it's pretty obvious at a geographical level (far before humans arrived to hurt each other's feelings) that the islands can reasonably be considered a group. But once we consider them as a group, we have to call them something. I don't think any alternative to "British Isles" has much currency.

I understand that for some Irish people the phrase rankles; but if they think that the phrase, when used by people from the UK, is full either of arrogance or ignorance or triumphalist glee, I'm quite confident they're mistaken in thinking so. Certainly in the rest of the world, outside those two countries, "British Isles" is a phrase used constantly and frequently by well-educated people who are fully aware of the two countries / two islands involved, and who have no emotional investment in their sometimes strained history. Doops | talk 20:42, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Incidentally, I just noticed your edit summary saying that Island of Ireland is not a 'British Isle'. I just want to say I agree: when I use the phrase "British Isles" I am using the whole phrase as one proper noun; I do not think of "British" as an adjective modifying the word "Isles". Doops | talk 23:33, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
I demand that y'all stop referring to Canada as part of "North America".--feline1 12:22, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

British Isles is the correct term and we will use it forever. Ireland is the second largest of the British Isles, regretably far too little of it is in British hands at present. :( We certianly won't stop because a tiny minority of crackpots in the world pretend they don't understand the meaning of the phrase. Death to Irish nationalism throughout the island of Ireland! YourPTR! 18:59, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 3RR warning

You currently appear to be engaged in an edit war according to the reverts you have made on Lough Neagh. Note that the three-revert rule prohibits making more than three reversions in a content dispute within a 24 hour period. Additionally, users who perform a large number of reversions in content disputes may be blocked for edit warring, even if they do not technically violate the three-revert rule. If you continue, you may be blocked from editing. Please do not repeatedly revert edits, but use the talk page to work towards wording and content which gains a consensus among editors. Thank you. --kingboyk 00:37, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

This edit war seems to be on the go again. I've reported it to some admins.--feline1 16:12, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What possible connection can the length of rivers in England, Scotland or Wales have with the length of a river in Ireland?

Answer: They are all part of the British Isles. Northern Ireland which you conviently left out is also part of the UK. Only Southern Ireland is not in the UK. Southern Ireland is an anamoly. Southern Ireland is offensive nonsense. Southern Ireland has no right to exist and shouldnt exist. Southern Ireland should be united in the Union like the rest of the British Isles. The United Kingdom and the Republic should reunify. YourPTR! 18:53, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lough Neagh

Hi. I notice that in one of your edit summaries on Lough Neagh you wrote "consensus on this subject was reached many months ago", and I can't let that pass. Just because the article remained static for many months doesn't mean there was consensus — the more aggressive proponents of inclusion of the phrase "British Isles" either got burned out and quit in a huff, or perhaps they didn't notice that the phrase ended up being excluded. As for myself — well, you may recall that I favor including the phrase (alongside "Ireland" and alongside "United Kingdom" — in my view all three are useful points and worth mentioning). But even though I knew, for all these months, that it was being omitted, I let it slide; I didn't think it was worth fighting over. So while, yes, a modus vivendi of sorts was reached, it's not fair to call it a consensus.

My main concern is to have a well-written article. And I am very unhappy to see the inflammatory language used on talk pages and (even worse) edit summaries where issues like this are concerned. Some of that has been directed at you, and that's definitely inappropriate and you have my sympathy. Doops | talk 19:48, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lough Neagh in the British Isles or not.

Hello - I see you've participated in the TalkPage discussion at Lough Neagh. I have created a table of the different contributors and their views/arguments about the geographical description to be applied. I am proposing that, if there is a clear consensus then the article is modified to reflect the consensus amongst editors. I am notifying each of the people I've identified as having been interested of this fresh opportunity to reach a consensus and settle this matter. Wikipedia has a policy on canvassing, please do not breach it with actions that are, or could be seen as being, partisan. PRtalk 07:20, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Irish-language place names

Muimhneach, coming out from a few conversations, I've created a Gaeilge task force to coordinate translations of Irish place names and other Irish-language related work. You expressed an interest in this kind of work before, and from our brief exchanges before, I'm pretty certain that you'd make a great contribution (to say the least!). Maybe you could add your name to the list of participants and drop a line on the talk page so that we can all "get to know eachother" as the man might say. --sony-youthpléigh 15:36, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Kilrea

Would it be wrong to change Kilrea Here to Cill Ria? Aatomic1 16:35, 11 November 2007 (UTC)