XPost: uk.media.tv.sf.drwho, alt.usage.english   
   From: daniel47@nomail.afraid.org   
      
   On 3/01/2026 11:32 am, The Doctor wrote:   
   > In article <10j9eb6$p43o$1@dont-email.me>, Peter Moylan   
   >  wrote:   
   >> On 03/01/26 04:57, 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.   
   >>   
   >> In that respect, Irish is worse off than  Scots Gaelic. The native   
   >> speakers live in little corners of the country.   
   >>   
   >>> 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.   
   >>   
   >> That doesn't have to be a problem. I've just been learning some   
   >> computer-related terms in Irish. The words -- e.g. riomhaire for   
   >> computer -- have the look and feel of native Irish words.   
   >> Occasionally you see a word that looks similar to English -- e.g.   
   >> idirlión for internet -- but overall the language is handling the   
   >> new concepts without introducing a pidgin.   
   >>   
   >> The real problem is that the English language so dominates the   
   >> society that you can't function properly -- get a job, do the   
   >> shopping, etc. -- unless you're fluent in English. That's also the   
   >> problem for minority languages in other countries.   
   >   
   > Irish at least offers language classes.   
      
   So why don't you take some classes, Binky. At least then you might be   
   able to communicate in one language, at least, Binky.   
   --   
   Daniel70   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)