Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Millions of people around the world today are drinking Guinness and wearing green, even if they’re not of recent Irish heritage. As usual I forgot to wear anything green, though I did have a pint of Guinness and a whiskey. Though the Guinness wasn’t great, probably due to the journey from Dublin to Liège. Continue reading
But the Irish are racist, aren’t they? (internet commenter, 2016)
I don’t mean to be racist, but the Poles are the racist f**kers on the planet. (idiot who won’t be named, 2000)
Recently, I came across the first sentence above, somewhere deep in the comments section of an article I’ve long since forgotten about. I was surprised, as I didn’t consider myself to be racist, nor did the majority of my compatriots seem to be. Reading on, things were cleared up a little.
I came to realise that the person was referring to a belief that Irish-Americans are racist. Which let me off the hook, but then I remembered that the article was about an Irish actor, as in, from Ireland, so the person was not only indulging in wild generalisations, but also conflating being Irish-American with being Irish. There was a whole heap of confusion going on. Continue reading
Following on from yesterday’s look at mispronunciations (and “mispronunciations”) by native speakers, I want to look specifically at how we often pronounce surnames differently, specifically surnames from other languages. I thought about this after watching The Godfather Part II recently, and noticing the way the character Senator Geary pronounces the surname Corleone*. Notice how it changes in the clip below (contains salty language!): Continue reading
Just a quick post for today, unsurprisingly about the meaning of the word Christmas. You can probably guess that it is of course a combination of the words Christ and Mass. It’s a shortening of Christ’s Mass, which makes sense as a name for the day, and was first recorded in the 11th century. Linguistically, there’s not much else interesting about it, as its meaning is so opaque. I suppose there’s the fact that we use on before special days (on Christmas Day), and at for longer periods of celebration (at Christmas). And there’s Xmas! Even though it’s often considered a blasphemous, secular, lazy contraction of the word, it actually has a religious background. The X comes from the Greek letter chi, which in English is Christ, so it’s basically identical to Christmas.
But yeah, Mass! I remember, like many an Irish child in the 80s and 90s, thinking about when I should get mass: would I get Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and enjoy the pleasure of waking up on Christmas morning knowing I didn’t have to get Mass, and could spend the day playing with my new toys.
I always tried to get Midnight Mass, but sometimes I was just far too comfortable at home on Christmas Eve, and I’d leave it for the morning, which I’d always regret, although Mass on Christmas Day was always okay, because everyone was in a good mood, and you knew the Gospel story would be a good one. Midnight Mass could be great though, it always seemed to have a really special atmosphere, which even the tipsy men fresh from the pub standing at the back seemed to appreciate. Even when I started to become less religious, I’d still sometimes enjoy Midnight Mass.
I only very occasionally find myself at Mass these days. It’s interesting how I still remember lots of the responses, and find myself automatically reciting them before I realise I have. Although no-one seems to remember when to kneel anymore, so it seems everyone just sits and stands.
So whether you’re going to Mass or not, or spending Christmas in any of the other infinite ways to spend it, (or not even celebrating Christmas, but still hopefully having a nice end-of-year), I hope you have a merry one!
Why is Christmas sometimes referred to as Noël, particularly in old Christmas carols? It comes from the Latin natalis, meaning birth, as part of the phrase Dies Natalis, meaning birthday. One of the most common ways the phrase was used in Ancient Rome was to refer to Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of the Roman sun god Sol Invictus, which, in an amazing coincidence, took place on Christmas Day. Continue reading
I’ll be getting ready for my office Christmas party soon.
And by getting ready I mean probably changing my clothes.
it reminded me of a now probably old-fashioned Irishism, which is to refer to any kind of social gathering on a larger scale and more than simply going to the pub as a do.
Sorry, I can’t go out tonight, we’re having our work Christmas do.
We’re having a bit of a do next week, if you want to come.
I’ve been invited to the mass, but I won’t be able to make it, so I’m just going to the evening do. Were you at their engagement do? Continue reading
Have you ever heard one of your compatriots say something and thought to yourself, embarrassed, Oh my God, that’s so Irish/American/Indian/English etc? If so, you may be suffering from cultural cringe.
Oxford English Dictionary: The view that one’s own national culture is inferior to the cultures of other countries
Coined by Australian writer A.A Phillips in the 1950s, the term is often discussed in reference to (post)colonial societies, to demonstrate how a culture can internalise its colonisers’ view of it as inferior. Cultural cringe can often manifest itself as a reaction against the language or dialect of one’s culture. A common example would be someone who hates to hear certain colloquial terms from their region. Have you ever changed your accent, to avoid it’s “regional” sound? Made sure to pronounce your g’s, when perhaps your parents didn’t? Sometimes it’s a pragmatic decision to fit in in a new environment, sometimes it’s an unconscious, gradual process, but sometimes it’s because you don’t want people to know where you’re from, or at least to think you’re a stereotypical representative of there. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 