Dian, I love all of this. Is it possible for you to put in the pronunciations of the Irish terms so that we can actually hear them so we don’t go around sounding like idiots. Ahaha.
Haigh Kate and Allysha! Sometimes I miss a word (there's a lot of them to catch while copy editing!) and my intention is to give a hyperlink to the pronunciation of each word, either to Teanglann.ie or Abair.ie/ga. I prefer that over IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) since that would break up the text more, put me over the recommended word limit at Substack, and also there are several dialects of Irish. When you go to the links, you can choose which one you want to learn or practice all of them! I like Teanglann better for individual words because you also get the definition, usage, and grammar there; Abair is just pronunciation but you can put a whole phrase or sentence in at once. This is helpful because Irish is a highly relational language; words often change spelling and pronunciation based on how they are used in the sentence. For example, "cara" is friend; "mo chara" is "my friend" and "mo chairde" is "my friends." By using Abair. ie you can hear how the word will be pronounced in context. Hope this all makes sense! So just click on the word to hear the pronunciation. If I've missed one, just copy it and go to Abair. ie. :) And SO glad you want to learn some Irish. Go hiontach! (that's great! :)
This is an excellent piece.The English interpretation of ‘love’ seems to me that it’s something ephemeral- unrelated to your environment, like an invisible fog. It’s a pale simulacrum of love often monetised by corporate interests.
Yes- interesting point. When love is not grounded (in our bodies and the natural world) it's easier to distort, romanticize (another kind of fog--indicative of the chemicals that surge the body when infatuated) and easier to manipulate and commercialize for sure. But human relationships are often commodified in this way --look at Coco Cola ads. They are not selling bubbly sugar water with caramel coloring (which is what you're actually buying) --they are selling human connection.
It’s a double whammy, create the conditions which starve human beings of the connections they need to thrive- by trapping them a hamster wheel of work/consumption and then sell them an artificial solution to the addictive longings that you are stoking in the form of sugar rushes/dopamjne fixes.
I used to work in domestic violence for many years- more and more I am coming to the view that what we are seeing is a scaled up version of IPV.
Beautiful!! I have always told myself that other languages are too hard to learn. Such a naive English speaker perspective. As I keep reading and learning about languages and how very different most are compared to English, I appreciate being able to change my mind. I am slowly learning Italian with the goal of reading Dante in his language. It is so beautiful to hear language and know the stories of ancient cultures. Thank you. ❤️
Hearing this characterization of love as an alive, flowing experience grounded in the body inspires me to be much more creative with expressions of love in my native English. Thank you!
Haigh Jocelyn! GRMA (thanks) for reading! Many key words in my essays are hyperlinked (modern day magic!) so you can learn more if ye want! In this essay, both Jeanie Johnston AND the Great Hunger are linked to more info. So just click on those to learn more about coffin ships and the famine-- a good starting place! (BTW, briefly: the famine is often presented as a natural disaster; the crops failing was a natural event; people starving was not ---that was a result of British policy in Ireland.)
Yes, I may write about it some time in detail. There was a similar potato blight in Spain and nowhere the number died that did in Ireland, because the government took decisive action. What's even more disturbing is that Edmund Spenser --yes, famed British author of The Faerie Queene and a landlord in Ireland for a while-- actually recommended this as British policy about two hundred years earlier, as a way to also destroy the Irish language. See more about this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_View_of_the_Present_State_of_Irelande.
I “loved” what I read here. But I have to tell you, I specific read this piece to make sure I was correct about the reference regarding “the body electric.” I’m happy to say I was correct! 👍
Yes- I would not want to borrow from Walt Whitman without giving him credit, and quoting some from his actual poem! :) I may include more of that poem in the next issue of Poetry Sundae (comes out once a month on a Sunday as part of The Gaelic Effect project).
I am usually bad at remembering who wrote the lines I recognize, but I spent a lot of time on Whitman in a class I took (long ago), so I was happy I remembered it correctly! In my own writing, if I want to use a line for effect, but can’t remember where it is from (and don’t have time to research for whatever reason), I actually say, “according to someone I read somewhere…” At least that way if I’m not giving proper credit, it’s at least clear that I am not trying to pass it off as my own. 😎 And for the record, I knew I would find a correct citation in your piece — I can tell you are more well versed in these things than I am!🤣
I can really feel this difference. There’s something ineffable that’s always bothered me about the phrase “I love you”, and this piece helps me zero in on it.
The sense that those words are timeless and simultaneously ungrounded always leaves me feeling as if they have somehow been hollowed out. Though I mean them when I say them, it’s as if there’s no substance to them… as if the words themselves are meaningless.
Im not yet sure what I’m trying to say, but thank you for helping me circle closer to an idea that’s haunted me since I was 19.
Dian, I love all of this. Is it possible for you to put in the pronunciations of the Irish terms so that we can actually hear them so we don’t go around sounding like idiots. Ahaha.
Haigh Kate and Allysha! Sometimes I miss a word (there's a lot of them to catch while copy editing!) and my intention is to give a hyperlink to the pronunciation of each word, either to Teanglann.ie or Abair.ie/ga. I prefer that over IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) since that would break up the text more, put me over the recommended word limit at Substack, and also there are several dialects of Irish. When you go to the links, you can choose which one you want to learn or practice all of them! I like Teanglann better for individual words because you also get the definition, usage, and grammar there; Abair is just pronunciation but you can put a whole phrase or sentence in at once. This is helpful because Irish is a highly relational language; words often change spelling and pronunciation based on how they are used in the sentence. For example, "cara" is friend; "mo chara" is "my friend" and "mo chairde" is "my friends." By using Abair. ie you can hear how the word will be pronounced in context. Hope this all makes sense! So just click on the word to hear the pronunciation. If I've missed one, just copy it and go to Abair. ie. :) And SO glad you want to learn some Irish. Go hiontach! (that's great! :)
Yes! That would be amazing!
Hope…and inspiration💕
GRMMA — a thousand thanks! I appreciate your letting me know. :)
This is an excellent piece.The English interpretation of ‘love’ seems to me that it’s something ephemeral- unrelated to your environment, like an invisible fog. It’s a pale simulacrum of love often monetised by corporate interests.
Yes- interesting point. When love is not grounded (in our bodies and the natural world) it's easier to distort, romanticize (another kind of fog--indicative of the chemicals that surge the body when infatuated) and easier to manipulate and commercialize for sure. But human relationships are often commodified in this way --look at Coco Cola ads. They are not selling bubbly sugar water with caramel coloring (which is what you're actually buying) --they are selling human connection.
It’s a double whammy, create the conditions which starve human beings of the connections they need to thrive- by trapping them a hamster wheel of work/consumption and then sell them an artificial solution to the addictive longings that you are stoking in the form of sugar rushes/dopamjne fixes.
I used to work in domestic violence for many years- more and more I am coming to the view that what we are seeing is a scaled up version of IPV.
Tá sé sin fíor. True! And interesting on a mass level... so much of consumption is a poor replacement for meaning and human connection.
How wonderful!
Beautiful!! I have always told myself that other languages are too hard to learn. Such a naive English speaker perspective. As I keep reading and learning about languages and how very different most are compared to English, I appreciate being able to change my mind. I am slowly learning Italian with the goal of reading Dante in his language. It is so beautiful to hear language and know the stories of ancient cultures. Thank you. ❤️
so glad you are inspired to jump in to learning another language! Comhghairdeachas! (congratulations!)
Hearing this characterization of love as an alive, flowing experience grounded in the body inspires me to be much more creative with expressions of love in my native English. Thank you!
Tá fáilte mhór romhat, a chara. (You are very welcome my friend, mo chara anam! Thanks for reading and your interest, as always.
Great article but I am really interested in the "coffin ship" because of my ancestors. Thanks for sharing.
Haigh Jocelyn! GRMA (thanks) for reading! Many key words in my essays are hyperlinked (modern day magic!) so you can learn more if ye want! In this essay, both Jeanie Johnston AND the Great Hunger are linked to more info. So just click on those to learn more about coffin ships and the famine-- a good starting place! (BTW, briefly: the famine is often presented as a natural disaster; the crops failing was a natural event; people starving was not ---that was a result of British policy in Ireland.)
Oh wow. I honestly didn't realize that about the British policy.
Yes, I may write about it some time in detail. There was a similar potato blight in Spain and nowhere the number died that did in Ireland, because the government took decisive action. What's even more disturbing is that Edmund Spenser --yes, famed British author of The Faerie Queene and a landlord in Ireland for a while-- actually recommended this as British policy about two hundred years earlier, as a way to also destroy the Irish language. See more about this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_View_of_the_Present_State_of_Irelande.
Thank you. I will do some research on it. I appreciate all this information.
I “loved” what I read here. But I have to tell you, I specific read this piece to make sure I was correct about the reference regarding “the body electric.” I’m happy to say I was correct! 👍
Yes- I would not want to borrow from Walt Whitman without giving him credit, and quoting some from his actual poem! :) I may include more of that poem in the next issue of Poetry Sundae (comes out once a month on a Sunday as part of The Gaelic Effect project).
I am usually bad at remembering who wrote the lines I recognize, but I spent a lot of time on Whitman in a class I took (long ago), so I was happy I remembered it correctly! In my own writing, if I want to use a line for effect, but can’t remember where it is from (and don’t have time to research for whatever reason), I actually say, “according to someone I read somewhere…” At least that way if I’m not giving proper credit, it’s at least clear that I am not trying to pass it off as my own. 😎 And for the record, I knew I would find a correct citation in your piece — I can tell you are more well versed in these things than I am!🤣
I can really feel this difference. There’s something ineffable that’s always bothered me about the phrase “I love you”, and this piece helps me zero in on it.
The sense that those words are timeless and simultaneously ungrounded always leaves me feeling as if they have somehow been hollowed out. Though I mean them when I say them, it’s as if there’s no substance to them… as if the words themselves are meaningless.
Im not yet sure what I’m trying to say, but thank you for helping me circle closer to an idea that’s haunted me since I was 19.
BTW, if you want to learn more about this, I wrote about it also in my old blog on Nonviolent Communication, where this concept comes from (Marshall Rosenberg): https://workcollaboratively.com/2016/10/15/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-a-thousand-ways-to-say-i-love-you-in-giraffe/
Awesome, thanks!