Hey Beav,
I never made any effort to learn how to speak Gaelic. Both of my parents came from households where Gaelic was the first language. They both could speak it fluently when they were young. When I was a child, they spoke in Gaelic when they wished to discuss matters that they didn’t want the children to know. Because of disuse, they eventually lost their ability to speak it fluently. When I visited Ireland in the 1950’s, there was one little girl cousin in the McGee household who had not yet learned to speak English. The Irish Government has tried to encourage Gaelic usage with financial incentives but it is a dying language. The overwhelming majority of the Irish population never speaks it even though they were taught Gaelic in school. There was a bit of a revival in usage as a reaction to the heavy-handed tactics of the British forces in Northern Ireland. With the ceasefire, that factor is ebbing. The basic fact is that English is the first language of the Irish people and will remain so. I picked up a few vulgar words and phrases when I was young but that is a long way from knowing the language.
My sister has applied for and received Irish citizenship and an Irish passport. As a child of Irish born parents, I am also entitled to Irish citizenship. I do not consider myself to be Irish. In my heart, I am an American citizen and I seek no other allegiance. I am a native born American whose parents were immigrants from Ireland. Most of the adults in my childhood community were Irish immigrants. I was quite accustomed to hearing English spoken with an Irish brogue.
I was stationed in Germany when I was in the Army. I liked Germany and the German people. However, Germany was a foreign country to me. The same was true of England when I visited there. When I landed in Ireland, I immediately felt at home. The sounds of the language and the expressions used were identical to what I had first heard when I was a baby. I did not feel that I was a stranger in a foreign land.
I have studied Irish and Celtic history and culture.
I have tried to adopt the positive aspects of Irish culture and shun the negative practices. I listen to and enjoy Irish music. The Irish are a brave and cultured people. They clung to outmoded tribal customs and were almost exterminated by the feudal power of the English social-political system. I learned what happened to the Irish people when they were conquered and lost their freedom.
It took one hell of a lot of blood and suffering to regain that freedom. That lesson makes me very appreciative of the freedoms that exist in American society.
I will end this high-minded verbiage and return to the nitty-gritty sordid aspects of life. Nothing worthwhile is brewed in the British Isles. I never took a drink of Guinness that I enjoyed.
If you want to partake of the best of the brewing art, go to Germany or Holland and I understand that Belgium beer is quite good also. What is sold as imported German beer in America is slop compared to the real stuff. However the Germans do not make any good distilled spirits. Neither do the English! The best Irish and Scotch whiskies have never been surpassed.
