An Irish Phone Call

Vitaee · **Joined:** Wed 16 Nov 2016 11:12 pm **Posts:** 196

Bríd Mhór wrote:

I made a mistake in the calculation Vitaee. And made you two years older than you are. That was the joke. Maths was never my strong point. :LOL:

I'm old enough as it is. Please don't give me any more years!! :razz:

Vitaee · **Joined:** Wed 16 Nov 2016 11:12 pm **Posts:** 196

Labhrás wrote:

Vitaee wrote:

Bríd Mhór wrote:

53

you can say like in English.
Tá mé caoga trí (bliana d’aois).

Or like the older people, and traditional way to say it.
Tá mé chúig bliana déag is dhá fhicid (d’aois).

No idea how to parse that last one. Any hints? My attempt to brute force that one came out as "I am towards ten and two of twenty years (of age).

chúig bliana déag is dhá fhichid = 55 years

c(h)úig bliana déag = 15 years
is dhá fhichid = and two twenties

15+2x20 = 15+40 = 55

???? First, why the seimhiu on chúig.
Second, how typical is it to say "15 years and two twenties" like this, and would anybody ever say something like "3 years and and 5 tens"?

Bríd Mhór · **Joined:** Sun 28 Aug 2011 8:29 pm **Posts:** 2994

Vitaee wrote:

???? First, why the seimhiu on chúig.

It's a Conamara thing. We put Hs where nobody else puts them.

Vitaee wrote:

Second, how typical is it to say "15 years and two twenties" like this, and would anybody ever say something like "3 years and and 5 tens"?

No, it has to be multiples of 20s. I don't know why.

Everybody used that system of counting long ago. Probably only the old people use it now. I doubt many young people use it, but I'm not sure really.

Labhrás · **Joined:** Sat 03 May 2014 4:01 pm **Posts:** 1973

Vitaee wrote:

???? First, why the seimhiu on chúig.

Same h as in dhá (two) and cheithre (four)

Vitaee wrote:

Second, how typical is it to say "15 years and two twenties" like this,

Very typical.
It has been the normal way for centuries - before Irish children started learning Irish (and maths) in school.

Normal also in other languages:
Berrogeita hamabost (Basque) = 2x20 + 15 = 55
Quatre-vingts-dix-neuf (French) = 4x20 + 19 = 99

Vitaee wrote:

and would anybody ever say something like "3 years and and 5 tens"?

Fifty three = "fif" (5) x "ty" (tens) + three (3)
Irish caoga doesn't mean anything else than "five tens" (deich is only a bit more disguised)

Ssalzano · **Posted:** Sat 07 Aug 2021 9:44 am

Asarlaí wrote:

Ssalzano wrote:

.... Níl sé anseo. Che seo ? (she isnt here - who is this)...

Hi Ssalzano, I think you may have a spelling mistake there with Che seo

it would be -
Cé hé seo? - Who is this? (if talking to a man)
é or in this case hé means he or it (if the it is masculine)

Here are a few more for Vitaee to chew on.

Cé hé sin - Who is that?

í/hí means she or it (if it is feminine)
Cé hí seo (if talking to a woman) - Who is this?

If like me you get annoyed when people call me up on my phone and then ask 'Who is this/Who is that?
I like to reply with - Cé tusa!? - Who are you!?

You can also respond in the same way Yu Ming did (doing his Robert De Niro impression

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hql4qOFkuYs

Gaeilge Abú a chairde.

Hi Asarlaí yes of course I made a mistake there - thanks for spotting it - I should have said Níl sí anseo. By the way should it be cé thusa ?

Sláinte mhaith agat :GRMA:

Slán !

I hope I got this reply format right . I need to start going on this forum more frequently.

djwebb2021 · **Joined:** Thu 27 May 2021 3:22 am **Posts:** 1758

Ssalzano wrote:

By the way should it be cé thusa ?

Without looking it up, I don't know for sure what the standardised form is, but what I'm familiar with cé hé thu? or cé hé thusa?

Ssalzano · **Posted:** Tue 24 Aug 2021 9:10 am

Hey Bríd you're as young or old as you feel ! Ive got more on Irish phone calls from gíota beag which Im reviewing as its in another thread: Ulster dialect:

guthán
phone

uimhir ghutháin
phone number

Cad é an uimhir ghutháin atá agat?
what's your phone number?

scairt ghutháin
phone call

cuir scairt ghutháin orm (anocht , ar maidin, amárach ar a hocht a chlog etc)
phone me tonight, in the morning, tomorrow at eight O' Clock ....)

maith go leor
ok

ba mhaith liom labhairt le .... (Róisín)
I'd like to speak to Róisín

fan bomaite le do thoil
wait a minute please

Cé atá ag caint?
who's speaking?

Róisín ag caint.
Róisín speaking.

Sláinte !!!

Bríd Mhór · **Joined:** Sun 28 Aug 2011 8:29 pm **Posts:** 2994

I'm 59 today !

I really should change my profile pic to what I look like today LOL.

I can't comment on what is common in Donegal. But in Conamara everybody says "fón" and a mobile phone is "fón póca".

We never say "scairt" in Conamara, we use "glaoch". "Glaoigh air amáireach/Cuir glaoch air amáireach - Phone him tomorrow.

djwebb2021 · **Joined:** Thu 27 May 2021 3:22 am **Posts:** 1758

I'm not sure what is said in the Munster Gaelthacht, but I don't get uimhir theileafóin or uimhir ghutháin. This is because lenition implies an indefinite noun, "a number of a phone". I think teileafón is a generic there, just as baile is in obair baile.

Why not: m'uimhir teileafóin/ m'uimhir gutháin?

Does anyone have Gaelthacht knowledge on this point?

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