Speaking Irlish
I suppose everyone has seen that hilarious thing from Oxfam?
It is so Woke that it even has the Woke confused and amused.
For example the words “elderly” and “senior” are out as I might be offended by them and their reminder that I’m getting on in years. Instead I am to be referred to as an “elderly person” which presumably contradicts itself. I’ll be offended by “elderly” but won’t be offended by “elderly person”. If you can see the logic in that then you’re a better man than I, Gunga Din.
Probably the best one they came up with is that English is a reminder of a colonial past. Are we therefore not to speak English [overlooking the fact that their little tome is written in – you’ve guessed it – English]? Everyone who passes by this little corner of the Web is going to be offended by the language I use? I grant that some people have commented of my “language” but I think they’re referring to something other than the general use of English.
Actually I am one of those who is supposed to be offended. After all, my native tongue is Irish but that was beaten out of us centuries ago by the colonial English. My ancestors were forced to use the tongue whether they liked it or not. Do I bear a grudge? Am I constantly resentful at the very language I use? No. That’s ancient history and no Englishman has tried to colonise me in my lifetime.
It does cross my mind the odd time when I describe my language as English yet I am not English. There seems to be an opinion abroad that in fact the Irish speak English better than the English themselves, hence the annoying influx of continental yoof that descend on us each summer to learn the lingo. Maybe I should describe my native tongue as Irlish? That has the benefit of declaring my nationality and also pissing off the English.
Of course Americans think they speak English but their language is different also. Why does my spell checker insist on trying to get me to use American English? I have for years tried to get it to spell correctly [colonize? For fucks sake!] They should call their language Amish. There again there is already an Amish mob who refer to non-Amish as English which confuses things even more as they in fact are Americans.
Anyhows, I hope you all can understand my Irlish?
And I hope you’re not all offended by it?
I got an email Friday. It was the first time I have been informed of a sender’s pronouns. *sigh* I suppose the positive take is that at least the wokerati are learning enough grammar to know what a pronoun is.
I think I got one a while back. It was most likely spam so I wouldn’t have replied anyway. If I did had to reply it probably would have been in the time honoured fashion – “Dear Sir,”
I am always concerned that calling someone of the Hebrew faith a Jew is not as polite as saying they were Jewish. Maybe because of the Nazis; they made it into a slur. But saying of someone’s ancestors that they were Lithuanian Jews seems ok; saying Jewish people from Lithuania is a bit clumsy.
The thing to do is to ask [assuming you know a Jew]. I had an interesting chat with a fellow scribbler some while back. He is blind and I asked him how he liked to be described. “Visually impaired?” I suggested. “Optically challenged? I mused. “Blind” he replied.
âYour talk,” I said, “is surely the handiwork of wisdom because not one word of it do I understand.â
â Flann O’Brien, The Third Policeman
A great book, if somewhat artistically and darkly clever!
You will know the great Gaelic-speaking feish of Corkadoragha in Flann O’Brien’s ‘The Poor Mouth’ (pp. 41 – 51 in the Grafton books paperback edition)?
Alas I have not [yet] read that one. It is now firmly on my reading list
Well now, I am 71 and after looking over the contents of what the link took me to, all I can say is that I am offended only by the tripe contained in the document.
To be honest I just found it very funny. Do they really expect us all to start talking in circles, tip-toeing around the Perpetually Offended?
I also found it amusing, I was only irritated by the assumption of some snot nosed kid that an old man’s feelings could be so easily hurt.
When I was a kid, I learned quite a bit just by sitting with a group of old guys and keeping my mouth shut. When I had questions, I just saved them and asked dad later.
It is very funny, but it is important to resist and push back against it too. Failing to do so results in more of the same and the rising compulsion to obey the requirements of wokeness. That compulsion can be “just” social pressure but is increasingly legal compulsion too, whether threat of a “non-crime hate incident” (UK) or an actual hate crime such as mis-gendering or the consequences of refusing to call a child “they/them” (Ireland).
So, next time I buy any nick-nack in the local Oxfam charity shop I’ll be using all the wrong words and explaining exactly why I’m not putting the change in their donation tin. Which is a shame because the volunteers working in the shop are mostly old folks with little understanding of how their once-fine charity has been captured.
I can’t see it ever catching on. You cannot change one of the basic structures of a language we have all grown up with and used all our lives. Out of sheer habit we will continue to use the old and correct terms. I hope.
One thing that annoys me is when people refer to an old person saying they are so many years young. I’m not 74 years young damn it, I’m 74 years old. Don’t patronise me. 🙁
Aha! That’s one that gets me going too. The first person to refer to me as 73 years young is going to get a swift response. It really is patronising and assumes the victim is in his [or her] dotage.
I’m with you and Frank on this one.
(Admittedly at 71 I am the kid in the trio.)
As I’m 78 years young in a couple of week I would ask that you children play nicely and respect your elders.