i love the way words and language give clues about a culture. or don't.
in Danmark, for instance, the word HYGGELIGT (pronounced, roughly, HUE-ga-lit) means "COSY" and when you want to tell someone you had a really great time last night you say:
"det var hyggeligt"
as in - it was COSY. and this says SO much about the Danes and about what they value.
we didn't really give Inverness a fair shake but we had a wonderful conversation with a guy at the information bureau who opened up to us about a lot of things OTHER than travel routes (though he was fabulous with maps too).
i began with a disclaimer, excusing myself if anything i said was insulting, then let fly a bunch of questions beginning with:
- WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAELIC AND CELTIC?
and he told us CELTIC is the CULTURE and GAELIC is the LANGUAGE and there is Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic (does everyone know this except me?). he also told us that England BANNED the language (and bagpipes and tartan) after defeating the Scots in 1745 and this made me incredibly sad, reminded me of wholesale oppression of Native Americans in the u.s.a.
the good news?
Gaelic is being taught in many Scottish schools again. also, Scotland will hold a REFERENDUM on INDEPENDENCE from England in 2014 and many Scots are very excited about this prospect.
easy to read Gaelic - fun to say OUTLOUD
this sign at McDonalds looks WAY BETTER in GAELIC - whatever it says
i love this version of YIELD though i was not always able to heed it
sometimes the signs are SO demure, they are almost nonexistent
tow-truck doubles as an advertisement for the 12 step programs
AT ANY TIME.... i love it.
ReplyDeletewelcome back to where mcdonalds looks like....... mcdonalds.
Count me in one who didn't know the difference. Culture and language - I've learned something!
ReplyDeleteDutch is remarkably similar to Danish, I've noticed (though I don't think you're supposed to say that to a Dane). Regarding the Danish way to describe an enjoyable evening, "det var hyggeligt," the Dutch say, "Het was gezellig." We don't have a word for it in English, so it's cool that it exists in both Dutch and Danish: a word that means social, pleasant, convivial, cosy, fun, enjoyable, cheerful, companionable, all wrapped up in one word. Language does say so much about culture. And I have to say, I'm looking forward to living in the Netherlands partly for that reason.
ReplyDelete