XPost: uk.media.tv.sf.drwho, alt.usage.english   
   From: clh@candehope.me.uk   
      
   On 02/01/2026 17:57, Hibou wrote:   
   > Le 02/01/2026 à 15:37, The Doctor a écrit :   
   >> Hibou wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>> [...] We native English speakers are lucky people.   
   >>   
   >> Exactly!   
   >>   
   >> Still how are the Scots doing to preserve Scottish Gaelic?   
   >   
   >   
   > Badly:   
   >   
   >    
   >   
   > There's no percentage scale there, but Gaelic speakers are currently   
   > about 1% of the population - and there's a question about how well they   
   > speak it. No-one in Scotland speaks Gaelic but not English.   
   >   
   > It is essentially impossible to preserve a language like Gaelic. If it's   
   > to handle all aspects of modern life, then it must acquire a mass of new   
   > words, and its nature changes. If one rejects that course and seeks to   
   > preserve it as is, then it becomes limited and obsolete.   
   >   
   > IMHO, it's no use being able to say, "Put some more peat on the fire,   
   > Donald" in Gaelic, and then having to resort to English to discuss   
   > Morag's doomscrolling on Facebook.   
   >   
   I know a Gaelic speaker living on the isle of Lewis Apparently her dog   
   is bi-lingual = she talks to it in Gaelic, but the neighbour who looks   
   after the dog when she's away on;y speaks English.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)