Ireland's Greatest Person...

He is not remembered as having any great affinity with Ireland. Indeed there is a story, possibly apocryphal, about his reply to somebody who reminded him of his Irish origins: "Being born in a stable doesn't make one a horse".
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I remeber that now...well wasnt around at the time. Thanks for the info though
 
but Burke was also an advocate for the abolition of slavery (not popular with his limited-franchise voters in Bristol at the time),
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Im not suprised. Never quite understood what the problem was. They always seemed happy enough singing in those films
 
Hume was an important piece of the jigsaw.

I would agree with Mel that Trimble was too. And Adams, and Ian.
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Very much so and by far the least appealing aspect of the peace process is that it resulted in (a round about way) in the extremes grabbing power.

Trimble sacrfificed his political career to get this through. That makes him a top man by any estimation

Certainly more so than someone who coldly executed a mother of nine
 
As a youngster I remember the news reporting Hume talking to the IRA - with the media and the political establishment ripping him to shreds for doing so. When you look back at it, it truely was a remarkable act in what he had to face as a result.

I agree about Trimble, but he had be brought along the way where as Hume was the leader of it. Great great man.

It is actually crazy to believe that was so much was going on not that long ago.
 
What's the difference between Enniskillens and Inniskillings, anyone? Years ago I had a little Arabian horse which had apparently been used by 'the Inniskilling Rifles' as a polo pony.
 

“Enniskillen” is derived from a Gaelic word meaning
Ceithleann’s island, the town being situated on an island between
two loughs (lakes) connected by the river Erne. According to Irish
mythology, Ceithleann was the wife of Balor, the one-eyed king of a
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race of giants.
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Marvellous, gentlemen. Thank you very much. So, much like Cabool, Kahbul, Kabool, and Kabul - all attempts at transliteration over the ages by the Inglisi!

Just one more thing... how do you properly pronounce Inis Ceithleann? It looks like Innis Keethleen, but that's to my Gaelically untrained eye. What do you do with 'th' in Gaelic - if it's not pronounced, why's it there?
 
Just one more thing... how do you properly pronounce Inis Ceithleann? It looks like Innis Keethleen, but that's to my Gaelically untrained eye. What do you do with 'th' in Gaelic - if it's not pronounced, why's it there?
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I'll chance my arm and try to answer.

In Irish Gaelic the 'th' generally creates the same sound as 'h' on its own, and the degree to which it is emphasised depends on where you come from. Northerners give it stronger emphasis than in the south and west where sometimes it almost disappears.

Inis Ceithleann is pronounced Innish Kellan in the south and west, with maybe a little hint of an 'h' before the two 'l's and with a stronger 'h' sound in the north.

If the 'th' comes at the end of a word it is silent, in all regions, unless the next word starts with a vowel.

Regarding your second question, it's true that spellings in Gaelic appear to contain many superfluous letters, even after they were standardised and simplified in the last century, much like English. Part of the reason is that the Gaelic alphabet has 18 letters compared with 26 in English, so sounds similar to English's 'v' and 'w' are created by using more than one letter.

Here endeth the lesson.
 
Grey - that's great, thank you! I have a little Irish-English dictionary, but it lacks an exposition that would be helpful. I'd like to say 'I understand now' but the Irish for 'now' is missing, it's that 'little' - so, me tuig, agus buiochas (??!).
 
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