Irish Gaelic | Irish American Mom

Irish Language Learning Project In Northern Ireland

June 16, 2018 by Irish American Mom 8 Comments

I believe the Irish language is one of our greatest national treasures, and an integral part of our ancestral heritage. Much of our appreciation of our culture and traditions is dependent on understanding the significance of the Irish language.

Our music, our way of speaking the English language, our literature and poetry, our theater, our legal system, our pastimes and sports have all been greatly influenced by our language. In fact, I will go so far as to say that many facets of modern Irish society and our very psyche as a people have been infused by the Irish language.

I suppose you could say I’m an enthusiast when it comes to the importance of the Irish language in furthering our understanding of our culture and heritage.

And so, you can imagine how excited I was to learn of recent language research by the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College, Dublin, that underscores the importance of language-learning projects to revise harmful interpretations of history, and to facilitate critical self-reflection and empathy for others.

Today, I’m delighted to publish this guest post from Trinity College Dublin, explaining their investigation of the “Turas” Irish language project in East Belfast that encourages exploration and study of the Irish language as a reconciliation initiative.

Here is a piece written by Trinity College explaining the study….

Language-learning projects can help revise

destructive understandings of history in a polarized society.

A study by Dr. David Mitchell of Trinity College Dublin of the East Belfast ‘Turas’ Irish language project found language classes help groups in conflict find shared heritage.

Language learning has the potential to build empathy between groups in conflict and help revise destructive understandings of history, according to researchers in Trinity College Dublin, who have conducted a study of the ‘Turas’ Irish-language center in East Belfast.

The academic study of the Turas Irish-language project comes at a time when the Irish language has never been more politically contested in Northern Ireland. Bitter political disagreement over a potential Irish Language Act is a primary cause of Northern Ireland’s political parties’ failure to restore power-sharing government in Belfast.

Based in a traditional working-class, unionist area, the Turas project runs Irish language classes and community workshops on the little-known historical links between Protestants and the Irish language, and the Irish ‘all around us’ in place names, phrases and linguistic structures derived from Irish.

Turas also provides Irish language singing classes, set dancing classes, and large-scale cultural events. Some 8,000 people have taken part in Turas events and it has around 200 enrolled learners. The project is run by East Belfast Mission, an outreach of the Methodist Church, and led by Linda Ervine, sister-in-law of the late loyalist leader David Ervine.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin at Belfast, sought to explain why the Turas project is flourishing and to examine the nature of its contribution to peace and reconciliation in the area. Their findings, based on in-depth interviews with leaders and participants and observations of Turas events, have been published in the journal ‘Ethnic and Racial Studies’.

The researchers found that the project’s success could be attributed to an appetite among many members of the Protestant community to discover an aspect of their heritage that had been denied them by Northern Ireland’s polarized society. The relaxed and welcoming ethos of the project and the charismatic and energetic leadership of Linda Ervine, were also major factors in the project’s success.

Since the advent of power-sharing in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, the question of what official status or protection should be accorded the Irish language has become a bitterly contested aspect of Northern Ireland’s ‘culture war’, explains Dr David Mitchell, Assistant Professor in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, Trinity.

“The Turas initiative is explicitly re-casting Irish as a shared heritage of all the people of Ireland, and indeed Britain and Ireland, given the close links with Scots Gaelic. By challenging the tendency towards cultural polarization this unlikely grassroots peace building project in East Belfast which uses language learning and cultural encounter as its main focus has made a notable contribution to peace and reconciliation. Our study suggests that language learning initiatives have a unique potential to make valuable contribution to peace building initiatives.”

“Unlike other peacebuilding tools such as sport, the arts or inter-church activities, language learning has the advantage of being naturally accompanied by learning of the history of the language. This can open up a space for the discovery of a shared historical experience or the revision of destructive understandings of history.”

The Turas project has wider lessons regarding the capacity of language learning to build peace between groups in conflict, Dr Mitchell continued:

“Language learning also has the potential to develop empathy for the members of another linguistic community. This is not simply because language acquisition creates ‘common ground’ but also because learning a language opens a window into another linguistic community’s inner world revealing nuances of culture and ways of life which would otherwise remain impenetrable. In addition, the close connection of language and place means that language learning may have a unique power to reframe groups’ strong, exclusive identification with particular territories.”

The study did, however, find that some learners were reluctant to reveal the fact that they were learning Irish to friends and family, and many were concerned that the political battle over Irish was working against the progress being made by Turas towards ‘detoxifying’ Irish among unionists.

Reference for this article:

Mitchell, David and Megan Miller (2017) ‘Reconciliation through language learning? A case study of the Turas Irish language project in East Belfast’. Ethnic and Racial Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1414278.

Sincere Thanks To Dr. Mitchell and his team:

Many thanks to Trinity College for sharing this study and findings with us today.

I think the name of the project is very apt. ‘Turas’ pronounced ‘thur-us’ is the Irish word for journey and this project is truly an amazing journey of shared inheritance and understanding.

Wishing the leaders and participants of the ‘Turas’ project every success for the future.

Slán agus beannacht!

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Putting The Kybosh On Things

March 22, 2018 by Irish American Mom 13 Comments

“That put the kybosh on things!” Have you ever heard this phrase? I know it is one I often heard when I was growing up in Ireland. My granny loved to use the word “kybosh.”

If you came up with an idea she wasn’t too keen on, she might reply by saying …

“We’ll put the kybosh on that now.”

The word “kybosh” means to put an end to something, to stop or halt its progress, and I know it is a favorite word in County Cork.

But lo and behold, when I moved to New York many years ago, I discovered the word “kybosh” is also a favorite there.

And so today, I thought we would dive into a little Irish linguistics and try to discover the origins of the word “kybosh.”

Kybosh – Jewish or Irish Word????

I heard the word “kybosh” so frequently as a child the phrase became part of my regular speech. Many years later I used it when talking to a friend in New York.

“Are you Jewish?” she asked me, with a look of bewilderment.

“No, not as far as I know,” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

“The word “kybosh” is Yiddish,” she explained.

I was totally surprised, but when I considered the pronunciation of the word kybosh, I agreed it did sound very Germanic in origin. Many of the patients I worked with in New York spoke Yiddish, so my ear was accustomed to the tones and intonations of this Jewish language.

“I wonder why we also use the term frequently in Ireland, especially in Cork,” I questioned.

Neither of us had any idea.

A Dictionary Of Cork Slang:

It was only when I found a little gem of a book that explores the origins of Cork slang, that I remembered my conversation many years ago with my New York friend.

Kybosh actually features in “A Dictionary of Cork Slang” by Seán Beecher.

And here’s what I found out about the derivation of the term kybosh.

The word is a noun and its definition is to put an end to something, to terminate or stymie.

This will put the kybosh on everything, meaning this will put an end to everything is how the phrase is used in Cork.

Now the Irish use of the word comes from the Irish language. It derives from the Irish phrase “Caidhp Báis” (pronounced ky baw-sh) and is translated as the death cap.

So when we Irish say we are putting the kybosh on something we are quite literally putting the death cap on it.

This explanation was also supported by the Irish poet Padraic Colum who theorized it comes from the Irish words meaning cap of death, the mask worn by an executioner at the block or the black cap donned by an English judge when delivering the death sentence.

Kybosh – Used In The English-speaking World for 150 Years:

Believe it or not, the word kybosh, or kibosh, has been used throughout the English-speaking world for more than 150 years.

Charles Dickens used the word in “Sketches by Boz” with the first printed examples of “putting the ky-bosk on it” being found here.

It has been suggested that kibosh originates from the Yiddish word kabas or kabbasten, meaning to suppress or stop.

Webster’s New World Dictionary suggests it may derive from the old German word “kiebe”, meaning carrion.

The word was also popularized in the First World War song called “Belgium Put the Kybosh on the Kaiser.” He put the kibosh on him means he defeated him.

On the World Wide Words website there is a detailed explanation of all the historical uses of the word Kybosh. Check it out if, like me, you are interested in linguistics.

Kybosh – An Irish Word????

And so, there you have it – a few linguistic theories all about the word “kybosh.”

We’ll probably never know where it truly originated from, but for me, being Irish, I’m going to accept the Irish origins of the word. Have you or your family ever used this term.

And that, being said, I’m going to put the kybosh on this blog post.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Never Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story

July 14, 2017 by Irish American Mom 12 Comments

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,” is a saying I often heard when I was growing up in Ireland. I automatically assumed it to be an old Irish proverb, but since living in America I learned this quotation is widely attributed to none other than Mark Twain.

Have you ever heard this saying before??

Do you believe it to be an old Irish proverb??

Or perhaps you accept these witty and wise words were first uttered by the wittiest of all Americans, Mark Twain.

The Case To Support The Irish Origins Of This Phrase:

Irish storyteller, Mattie Lennon has called his new CD of Irish stories, ‘Truth and Lies,’ since the notion of including an odd embellishment or two for the sake of a good story is entrenched in Irish tradition.

The fact we’re running a giveaway this week for Mattie’s CD, got me thinking about this old Irish saying, and so arose this very blog post.

There’s another Irish or Gaelic expression that supports this idea and may even be the original expression from where this particular phrase found root. In the Irish oral storytelling tradition, the ‘seanachaí,’ or storyteller often says at the end of a tale:

Sin mo scéal díobh, agus má tá bréag ann, fá é,

Mar ní mise a chum ná a cheap.”

For pronunciation notes – click here.

“That’s my story and if there’s a lie there, so be it,

For it wasn’t me that composed it.”

Gaelic Storm, a Celtic rock band, performs a song bearing the name, “Don’t Let The Truth Get In The Way.” Here are the lines from the chorus ….

“Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story

No harm, no foul, no crime.

Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story

It’ll get ’em everytime.”

Did the songwriter from Gaelic Storm quote Mark Twain in this song, or are these words borrowed from an old Irish proverb? I’m going to assume a Gaelic band is referring to an Irish saying.

“Never Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story”… Were These Words Ever Uttered By Mark Twain?

For anyone doing an internet search on this saying the inevitable answer found is that Mark Twain is the author of this quotation.

Is this true???? Or have we reached a stage that the notion Twain said it is so utterly entrenched on the world wide web, that there is absolutely no point in arguing against the idea.

Has this internet ‘fact’ regarding Twain, come to be so totally accepted, that there is no changing the belief? True or false, has it become fact simply by repetition of this attribution on multiple websites.

This thought made me laugh, especially when I considered the context of the quote in question.

To complicate matters further, I found a website called the “Unquotable Mark Twain.” Here this saying is included amongst those that should not be attributed to Twain.

But a big question remains … Is uncyclopedia.wikia.com just as unreliable as wikipedia.com?

And so, we may never find the answers to our questions about the origins of this saying.

However, I do not doubt that Twain may have heard and even repeated this expression, especially during his time in Nevada territory when he worked as a miner on the Comstock Lode. Many of his fellow miners where probably Irish.

A Good Life Lesson:

But let’s face it, does it really matter if the attribution of this quotation to Mark Twain is true or not? I think our Irish forefathers, who definitely had their own versions of this saying couldn’t have cared less if it was attributed to Twain, once we realize the saying itself can teach us a good life lesson.

A good life lesson???

How could lying be a good life lesson?

At its essence this saying tells us it’s alright to lie, omit the facts, or twist the plot for the sake of a good story.

Now, don’t worry! I won’t quote this expression to teach my kiddos how to tell a few fibs.

What I believe is this saying’s life lesson, is never to trust what you are being told. Many a story has been embellished or stripped down to its core, solely for the teller’s purpose.

How valuable is that little nugget of knowledge in our world today.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Sin mo scéal díobh, agus má tá bréag ann, fá é

July 14, 2017 by Irish American Mom 2 Comments

Here’s the meaning of this old Irish saying, together with some pronunciation tips ….

Sin mo scéal díobh, agus má tá bréag ann, fá é,

Mar ní mise a chum ná a cheap.”

in English means …

“That’s my story and if there’s a lie there, so be it,

For it wasn’t me that composed it.”

Here’s a sound file so that you can listen to the saying expressed in Irish or Gaelic with a munster dialect.

Here is the phonetic pronunciation, phrase-by-phrase ….

Sin mo scéal díobh = shin moh sh-kale dee-uh-ve

agus má tá bréag ann, fá é = ah-gus maw thaw bray-ugh ow-in

Mar ní mise a chum ná a cheap – mar nee mish-eh ah come naw ah khap eh

The exact translation of the last line is ….

“Because it was not me who made it up or thought of it.” For the sake of brevity, this is better translated as “For it wasn’t me that composed it.”

I hope this helps, as you read my post about the old Irish proverb ….

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,”

Thanks for checking out my Irish pronunciation tips.

Language-learning projects can help revise

destructive understandings of history in a polarized society.

Sincere Thanks To Dr. Mitchell and his team:

Slán agus beannacht!

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

“We’ll put the kybosh on that now.”

Kybosh – Jewish or Irish Word????

A Dictionary Of Cork Slang:

Kybosh – Used In The English-speaking World for 150 Years:

Kybosh – An Irish Word????

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

The Case To Support The Irish Origins Of This Phrase:

Sin mo scéal díobh, agus má tá bréag ann, fá é,

Mar ní mise a chum ná a cheap.”

“That’s my story and if there’s a lie there, so be it,

For it wasn’t me that composed it.”

“Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story

No harm, no foul, no crime.

Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story

It’ll get ’em everytime.”

“Never Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story”… Were These Words Ever Uttered By Mark Twain?

A Good Life Lesson:

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Sin mo scéal díobh, agus má tá bréag ann, fá é,

Mar ní mise a chum ná a cheap.”

“That’s my story and if there’s a lie there, so be it,

For it wasn’t me that composed it.”

Sin mo scéal díobh = shin moh sh-kale dee-uh-ve

agus má tá bréag ann, fá é = ah-gus maw thaw bray-ugh ow-in

Mar ní mise a chum ná a cheap – mar nee mish-eh ah come naw ah khap eh

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

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Sin mo scéal díobh, agus má tá bréag ann, fá é,

Sin mo scéal díobh, agus má tá bréag ann, fá é,

Sin mo scéal díobh = shin moh sh-kale dee-uh-ve