Day 59 na Gaeltachta

I love the idea of Irish Gaelic and I love the sound of it. We have the rental car radio tuned Radio na Gaeltachta as the language is melodic and mysterious and very evocative of the place. I can see why Tolkein based his languages in part on it. But it is also entirely incomprehensible, entirely unpronounceable and, moreover, entirely impossible to remember, as if the words and names were teflon coated (although I'll freely admit that it may be my brain that is teflon coated). At least Turkish, Ndebele, Indonesian and Australian English were merely incomprehensible.

Also, it is sadly now only still spoken by a fraction of the Irish population, mostly in the parts of the western fringe of the country designated as the Gaeltacht, where Gaelic is given special protection. Here there are, for example, unilingual Gaelic road signs such as the ubiquitous "Go Mall" (but probably pronounced blggkchig) which, unexpectedly, means "Slow". This is laudable, but I do have to wonder about my topographical map, produced by the official Ordnance Survey of Ireland, that resolutely gives place names only in Gaelic (although the name of the agency itself paradoxically is displayed only in English...). These names often bear little or no resemblance to the English universally used in the locally produced hiking guides, rendering the map a quirky navigational aide. This strikes me as a stubborn and eccentric gesture given that most Irish don't speak Gaelic either, but all speak English.

At least the signs warning of impending fatal cliffs are usually bilingual and generally also helpfully depict the universal stick figure capering over the edge. As an aside, there is a charming variation in the design of these cliff signs, showing either the ground at the edge crumbling away under Stickman's feet or solid but with him sprinting (bad idea!) or doing a John Cleese stride to his doom.