Grrrr....

[Redwolf]

Was at a session at an Irish language immersion weekend last week. As I was setting up, a man came up to me and, pointing at my harp, asked me "what do you call that?"

Looking over my shoulder to see if my Ravenna had suddenly changed shape, I answered "er...it's a harp."

Him: "Oh, but it's called something different, isn't it?"

Me: "Well, sometimes they're called "Celtic harps" or "lever harps."

Him: "Oh no...my wife's a harpist... -- she plays a 'real' [sic] harp with the symphony -- and she says those are called something different."

At which point, the other harper in the session growled at him: "It. Is. A. Harp."

I can only imagine the conversation he had with his wife when he got home!

Redwolf

[voggy_dog]

Next time, just make up a name, i.e., Its a "Masa Aoileach". I don't speak gaelic, but this is the best online translation I could get for "Cow paddy".

With any luck, he'll accept it as gospel, and then go off to impress others with his knowledge of traditional celtic instruments.

[MTGuru]

Cheese slicer. That's what he was thinking of.

I can imagine that a hoity-toity spouse who plays a hoity-toity pedal harp might insist on calling yours a cláirseach. Because that sounds hoity-toitier.

[Redwolf]

Cheese slicer. That's what he was thinking of.

I can imagine that a hoity-toity spouse who plays a hoity-toity pedal harp might insist on calling yours a cláirseach. Because that sounds hoity-toitier.

I doubt that said hoity-toity spouse would know what a cláirseach is, let alone how to pronounce it!

I should have just looked blankly at him and said "ní thuigim."

Redwolf

[Redwolf]

Next time, just make up a name, i.e., Its a "Masa Aoileach". I don't speak gaelic, but this is the best online translation I could get for "Cow paddy".

With any luck, he'll accept it as gospel, and then go off to impress others with his knowledge of traditional celtic instruments.

Cow sh*t: Cac bó

I'll have to remember that one!

Redwolf

[MTGuru]

I doubt that said hoity-toity spouse would know what a cláirseach is, let alone how to pronounce it!

Maybe in this case. But believe me, I'm an expert on hoity-toity. And I've known people who, if they learned the word "cláirseach", would insist on nothing less. They'd take a 2-week Irish course in the Gaeltacht just for the pronunciation, then go to sessions to impress everyone by loudly ordering a pint of "Cláirseach".

[mutepointe]

Maybe the man has a thing for harp players and you dodged that bullet.

[Innocent Bystander]

Tsk. France Ellul was playing his harp at the Hellfire Caves gathering last week, and I helped him carry his gear in from the car. One of the Hellfire club asked what the instrument was, and France and I answered simultaneously "Harp" and "Clairseach".
Then we had to explain that "Harp" was generic and "Claireach" was particular.
Am I hoity-toity, MTG?

[MTGuru]

Am I hoity-toity, MTG?

Oh bien sûr, mon vieux, bien sûr.

[Redwolf]

Tsk. France Ellul was playing his harp at the Hellfire Caves gathering last week, and I helped him carry his gear in from the car. One of the Hellfire club asked what the instrument was, and France and I answered simultaneously "Harp" and "Clairseach".
Then we had to explain that "Harp" was generic and "Claireach" was particular.
Am I hoity-toity, MTG?

"Cláirseach" isn't all that particular. It's just the most common and generic Irish word for harp and, among Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht, would be applied to everything from a wire-strung Gaelic harp to a Paraguayan harp to a pedal harp. Certain factions within the historical harp movement want to MAKE it apply to the wire-strung Gaelic harp in particular, but that doesn't reflect the practice of people who actually speak and live through the language.

When speaking of my harps with other Irish speakers, I usually identify the lever harp as "cláirseach nua-Ceilteach" (Neo-Celtic harp) and the wire-strung as "cláirseach Gaelach" (Gaelic harp).

Redwolf

[Innocent Bystander]

In my hoity-toity way. (I'm trying to live up to it, now) not being in the gaeltacht, I understand "clairseach" to be a celtic harp as opposed to a concert harp. That is how we would cry it in Scotland, and I think it is the same in Wales. That would be using "clairseach" as an English word for a celtic harp, rather than as an Irish word for "Harp". I came across a personally-designed greetings card on nationalistic themes, which had a Green, White and Gold (or Orange) flag, and a concert harp. The concert harp just looked plain wrong and out of place. I would say it had to be a clairseach. Sorry. Hoity-toity, I know, but there it is. And when I say celtic. in this context, I mean Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish or Breton. Or them'uns in Spain.

[Redwolf]

In my hoity-toity way. (I'm trying to live up to it, now) not being in the gaeltacht, I understand "clairseach" to be a celtic harp as opposed to a concert harp. That is how we would cry it in Scotland, and I think it is the same in Wales. That would be using "clairseach" as an English word for a celtic harp, rather than as an Irish word for "Harp". I came across a personally-designed greetings card on nationalistic themes, which had a Green, White and Gold (or Orange) flag, and a concert harp. The concert harp just looked plain wrong and out of place. I would say it had to be a clairseach. Sorry. Hoity-toity, I know, but there it is. And when I say celtic. in this context, I mean Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish or Breton. Or them'uns in Spain.

I don't know about Wales, but typically in Scotland "clàrsach" (note spelling) refers to any small folk harp, not just the wire-strung Gaelic harp.

In Ireland "cláirseach" (note spelling) refers to any harp (including concert harps). "Cruit" is the preferred term for the wire-strung Gaelic harp (such as the one that belongs on the Irish flag).

Some players of the Gaelic harp would prefer to limit "cláirseach" and "clàrsach" to just the wire-strung harps of Ireland and Scotland, but that's really neither historically nor linguistically accurate.

Redwolf

[Innocent Bystander]

[

I don't know about Wales, but typically in Scotland "clàrsach" (note spelling) refers to any small folk harp, not just the wire-strung Gaelic harp.

Redwolf

That'll do for me. My Gaelic and Irish run into each other.

[JTC111]

They'd take a 2-week Irish course in the Gaeltacht just for the pronunciation, then go to sessions to impress everyone by loudly ordering a pint of "Cláirseach".

Screw that, I'm sticking to eilc fual.

[Nanohedron]

They'd take a 2-week Irish course in the Gaeltacht just for the pronunciation, then go to sessions to impress everyone by loudly ordering a pint of "Cláirseach".

Screw that, I'm sticking to eilc fual.

Oh, Labatt, you mean?