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I would also use "ye" to refer to a group, even if only one person of the group is there, just as I would use we to refer to a group I'm in, even if I'm the only representative. Is that also the case in languages that have a clearly defined singular and plural 2nd person pronoun?

I agree, it definitely helps, because it cuts out a lot of explanation. However, you're still left with a lot of practice to be able to apply those rules without having to think about it. In some ways, I think actually learning a few languages might be more helpful because you get used to the proces...

I only use you for plural in formal written contexts, ye is my normal 2.PL pronoun, which is the norm for a lot of Ireland. I actually thought it was rare in colloquial speech for you to be used in the plural, because in an awful lot of dialects there is some variant.

I forgot, "in all fairness", "technically", "literally". In finishing conversations, I always use anyway to sum up my final point. The amount of texts I finish as, "Anyway, see you whenever" is ridiculous. And that illustrates a further word I tend to use, ridiculous, which reminds me of, "eejit", "...

Phrases like, "suffice it to say", and others that I can't bring to mind right now. Also, I say probably a lot, even when I have no uncertainty!

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Surviving the World wrote:Dante Shepherd and everyone else at STW

Presumably that's why he's using we.

I'm a "me neither" person too, and that's normally /i/ not /aI/ similar to Salmaneus. I use nor all the time, such as, "neither x nor y are true" etc., but absolutely never as nor me or anything of the sort. "Me either" is impossible for me, and I'd always say "me too". A French friend of mine alway...

Shouldn't importers simply be importing from the country which gives the lowest aggregate prices for its goods, no matter the currency? That's the point. If 1$ buys 100 yen instead of 85 yuan, that'll make Chinese goods a good bit cheaper, hence lots of Americans will buy Chinese goods. The opposit...

Interesting, thanks. It doesn't sound like a particularly Hiberno-English word to me, which is probably why I took no notice of it. The Scots connection also seems the most likely route to me.

Hey Linguoboy, I was just wondering did you ever get to check that up? I've been asking around a bit more, and all I could come up with was a doubtful connection to "latching on to", but I don't think the person who told me believed that one!

I recently used this term to describe someone locally, and a German I know hadn't a clue what we were talking about. So I was wondering, does anyone know where this hiberno-English term for a "good-for-nothing" person comes from?

Listening to The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov, reading die Schachnovelle by Stefan Zweig and The Otherland Trilogy by Tad Williams. I'll start reading or listening to The Wheel of Time again soon, given that the second last one just came out (I really can't wait for it to be finished so I can just...

Was there really that much variation? I have read some of Swift's work with original spelling and punctuation, and it always seemed to me that the main difference was that he capitalized all nouns instead of just proper nouns.

jal wrote:Perhaps you thought so because it was German, not Dutch, that was ridiculed in the comic?

Probably. When I saw kennen (which I do know), that probably sealed it.

Ha ha, retard English doesn't know the difference between "kennen" and "weten". Weten? German and Dutch distinguish (and I bet English did too historically) between "to know/be acquainted with so./sth." ( kennen ) and "to have knowledge of sth." ( wissen/weten ). Ah, weten is Dutch's wissen? I thou...

jal wrote:Ha ha, retard English doesn't know the difference between "kennen" and "weten".

Weten?

Going by Guy Deutscher's recollections of learning English in The Unfolding of Language the big stumbling block in English is the horrible mess of verb conjugation. Agreed, in particular the difference between I am going and I go. For Irish (not native language, but the closest I am to proficiency)...

I remember some years ago someone here posted a scan of bona fide handwritten X-SAMPA. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I use the one that's easiest for me to read and write. To type and on a computer that is undoubtedly X-Sampa, but if I was ever doing anything formal, I'd learn to type the ...

I'm not surprised that a lot use X-Sampa to be honest, particularly those who have no formal linguistic training (like me). It's easier to learn X-Sampa than IPA (typing at least), and once you're used to either, they're both pretty easy to read.

marconatrix wrote:Bhithinn ag radh, "A bheil thu a' faighinn Gàidhlig na h-Alba glé dhoirbh a thuigsinn? 'S urrainn dhomh Gàidhlig na hÉireann a leughadh ach tha i a' cur dragh orm"

Tuigfinn cuid maith é sin. But I feel with just a few lessons, I would pick up a lot more very quickly.

I still can't look at a form like chuaigh muid without feeling it's some sort of abomination. I always preferred the combined forms too, and despite having to still use the Caighdeán, I nearly always use the combined forms, especially for the Modh Coinneallach and Gnáthchaite. Nach bhfuil sé sár-dh...

Do you still have a dual number which is in the same as the dative singular, dà chloich 'two stones' ? To be honest, I'm not sure, but I think that bróg (shoe) in Conemara has a dual form, I can't seem to find a reference now though. In general however, there's no dual form. The only distinct forms...

I was going to ask about this. The most obvious slender-broad distinction that someone who wouldn't pronounce it right would be in <s> ([s] vs. [S]). IIRC, some people pronounce broad and slender <v> [w] and [v] respectively and some with broad and slender <t> and <d> as [t] vs. [tS] and [d] vs. [d...

I should have said "people who know what .. or their Irish equivalents mean"; i.e. "how much awareness is there among speakers of Irish of phenomena we as conlangers find interesting?". Ah, ok! Well, that I can't answer as well, and I'll have to be much more vague and I will talk about just the peo...