Broadcaster and journalist Andrew Marr caused a stir last week when he said Scotland’s Gaelic signs were “offensive”.
Yesterday, our columnist Brian Wilson wrote of the long struggle to keep the language alive.
Today, one our readers rails against prevailing anti-Gaelic attitudes.
Dorothy Dennis of Islay writes:
"I don't often agree with Brian Wilson, but I agree 100 per cent with his article.
I grew up without Gaelic although it was my family’s language and my father spoke it all his life. Since I retired and came home, I have tried to put that to rights and can now speak, read and write Gaelic and have access to the wonderful Tobar an Dualchais, the wealth of song, poetry and literature therein, and modern Gaelic writers of whom there are many.
Why do people despise this? Why do they feel threatened? Why do they make 'jokes' about Gaelic words, for example 'What is the Gaelic for spaghetti?'. I wonder what the English is?
Also, 'the words don’t sound like they look'; what about 'cough, bough, and chough (the bird)'?
English is a language which has swamped many minority languages. English is a great language with wonderful literature and poetry, but let us have our Gaelic."
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