Re: Irish Gaelic is evil!

Steg Belsky wrote:
> On Mar 1, 2005, at 8:24 PM, Carsten Becker wrote:
>
> I think my teacher said that _Dia duit_ and _Dia is Muire duit_
> literally mean something like "God be with you" and "God and Mary be
> with you", and that people who might feel uncomfortable using
> theologically-loaded greetings could just stick to "cad é mar tá tú"
> type 'how're you doing?' greetings.
I wouldn't say they're theologically loaded. At least they've been
completely bleached of meaning. I'm areligious, and prone to avoiding
religious terminology in English ("thank God", etc), but I wouldn't have
a problem saying "Dia dhuit". Now the response "Dia is Muire duit" is
a little bit less bleached (because less used), so I'd be less likely to
use that. And there's alleged to be a further response form, after "Dia
is Muire duit", namely "Dia is Muire is Páidrig duit". After Patrick, the
next saint in line is "Bríd". I've never heard anyone use the "is Páidrig"
or the "is Páidrig is Bríd" forms, except in jest. I don't know if they
were ever authentic...

s.
--
Stephen Mulraney   ataltane@ataltane.net
     Klein bottle for rent  ...  inquire within.