Who will come out on top on the Caithness Gaelic signposts?
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:27 pm
By Iain Maciver, Press and Journal
Published: 02/03/2009
THEY are worrying in Wick, horrified in Halkirk and they have a bad case of the jitters in John O’Groats. And well they might. Reports reach me that the Mafia is packing its knuckledusters and heading for Caithness.
Such is the panic among the throbbing throng in Thurso that mutterings are heard in Sir George’s Street that the Inquisition is coming. A community leader has spoken out and confessed he fears they may be forced to give in to those shadowy figures known as the Bòrd.
The big question on everyone’s lips up there is whether the road signs in the far north should pay homage to history and political correctness by displaying Inbhir Uige or just the ever-so-dull and plain Wick. Or both. And, if both, which should be above the other. Oh yes, both sides in the argument want to be on top.
Now the Gaelic Mafia, known officially as Bòrd na Gàidhlig, is going to sort out the hairy Caithnessians with their horny helmets and point out to them that they are not actually Vikings, as they seem to think, but were converted by Gael forces long after all that unseemly raping and pillaging had gone out of fashion.
However, a frightful number of the great and the good of Caithness are proving themselves to be really, really awkward. When you hear politicians say they are pleased they will have the opportunity to have a frank exchange of views with the Bòrd (which just means table), you should worry. It’s just political gobbledegook for them expecting the entire exercise to be a complete and utter waste of time because no one will give an inch.
Mark my words. It’s going to be a right old stooshie. What an utter failure for the Bòrd if northernmost Scotland denied its own Gaelic heritage.
Mike Russell, the bright and shiny minister for cultural and teuchteral things, gave us a few clues when he installed Arthur Cormack as the proper chair of the table last month. In his welcome spiel, Russell threatened to take an interest in the Bòrd's work as it continued to identify interesting and innovative ways of enabling current and future generations of Gaelic speakers to use the language in a variety of situations.
Haoi, they wondered in Thurso, did he mean their signposts?
Gheibhear tuilleadh an seo:
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Articl ... 3?UserKey=
Published: 02/03/2009
THEY are worrying in Wick, horrified in Halkirk and they have a bad case of the jitters in John O’Groats. And well they might. Reports reach me that the Mafia is packing its knuckledusters and heading for Caithness.
Such is the panic among the throbbing throng in Thurso that mutterings are heard in Sir George’s Street that the Inquisition is coming. A community leader has spoken out and confessed he fears they may be forced to give in to those shadowy figures known as the Bòrd.
The big question on everyone’s lips up there is whether the road signs in the far north should pay homage to history and political correctness by displaying Inbhir Uige or just the ever-so-dull and plain Wick. Or both. And, if both, which should be above the other. Oh yes, both sides in the argument want to be on top.
Now the Gaelic Mafia, known officially as Bòrd na Gàidhlig, is going to sort out the hairy Caithnessians with their horny helmets and point out to them that they are not actually Vikings, as they seem to think, but were converted by Gael forces long after all that unseemly raping and pillaging had gone out of fashion.
However, a frightful number of the great and the good of Caithness are proving themselves to be really, really awkward. When you hear politicians say they are pleased they will have the opportunity to have a frank exchange of views with the Bòrd (which just means table), you should worry. It’s just political gobbledegook for them expecting the entire exercise to be a complete and utter waste of time because no one will give an inch.
Mark my words. It’s going to be a right old stooshie. What an utter failure for the Bòrd if northernmost Scotland denied its own Gaelic heritage.
Mike Russell, the bright and shiny minister for cultural and teuchteral things, gave us a few clues when he installed Arthur Cormack as the proper chair of the table last month. In his welcome spiel, Russell threatened to take an interest in the Bòrd's work as it continued to identify interesting and innovative ways of enabling current and future generations of Gaelic speakers to use the language in a variety of situations.
Haoi, they wondered in Thurso, did he mean their signposts?
Gheibhear tuilleadh an seo:
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Articl ... 3?UserKey=
