Erse (was: Gaelic thing)

On Wednesday, July 10, 2002, at 05:39 , Jeff Jones wrote:

> On Tue, 9 Jul 2002 19:21:40 +0000, Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:
>
>> On Monday, July 8, 2002, at 02:43 , Keith Gaughan wrote:
{snip}

>>> Um, maybe it's just a local thing here, but Erse *is* Scot's Gaelic.
>>> Irish, on the other hand, it Irish Gaelic.
>>
>> Quite right - and the term is not very polite either.
{snip}

>> One normally now speaks of (Scots) Gaelic.   Irish is and always has
>> been Irish (Gaelic).
>
> Then why has every book I've seen that mentioned the subject say that
> "Erse" is a proper term, or _the_ proper term, for Irish Gaelic?
It ain't so in Ireland or, indeed, anywhere this side of the Pond.  Either
the
books are incorrect - and I've found many errors in books in my time - or
for some reason, unfathomable to me, American usage is different.

> There's
> something extremely screwy going on. Another CIA conspiracy?
I doubt whether it's anything so deliberate as a conspiracy.   My guess
is that somewhere along the line someone misunderstood things
and the misunderstanding has got perpetuated.

Anyway, Irish or Irish Gaelic is clear and neutral.  'Erse' quite obviously
is liable to be misunderstood - some thinking it means 'Irish Gaelic' and
others that it means 'Scots Gaelic' - and many regard the term as
offensive.
For both reasons IMO it is better to avoid the term.

Ray.