Ceacht Ghaeilge a hAon: Cád a Dúirt Sé?

Here’s a lesson for those prospective Irish speakers among you — all two or three of you, anyway. It’s a joke sent to me via the Admiral Emeritus from my aunt in central California, but it gives readers a chance to learn a little Gaeilge for themselves, a particular passion of mine.

An Irishman walking through a field in Ireland sees a man drinking water from a pond with his hand.
The Irishman shouts “Na ól an t-uisce, tá sé lán de chac bo!”
The man yells back “I’m English, speak English, I don’t understand you”.
The Irishman shouts back “Use both hands, you’ll get more in.”

So what did the Irishman say as Gaeilge? I’ll answer in the comments later, but let’s see if any CQ commenters can figure this one out.

14 thoughts on “Ceacht Ghaeilge a hAon: Cád a Dúirt Sé?”

  2. Extrapolating from my foggy memories of *Scottish* Gaelic, I believe he is saying “That’s not water, that’s (something unpleasant and disgusting)”
    S’e bochd sin …

  5. A diplomat has written a book, too; not yet published. About how the art of translation doesn’t really give you “word for word.”
    In one example? Said in English, about “looking backward over a long career, the post in paris was the best.” Came out translated into french, “my backside has two parts, and I enjoyed paris, the best.”
    Well, word for word, that’s how it goes.
    In another “event” an American diplomat was speaking to koreans. When the translator lost it. To cover up that he was not following along, he just said, “this is the part where the diplomat tells you a joke. So when he stops be sure to laugh and applaud.” And, so the audience did as it was told.
    There’s also a Lincoln joke. Lincoln really loved “off color humor.” Anyway, he tells the story of Ethan Alan. Who went to England. And, at his host’s house, he excused himself for the out house. Where his host had hung a picture of George Washington. This was supposed to insult Ethan Alan.
    Instead, when Alan got back, inside, he said to the host; “ya know, that was a smart idea, hanging George Washington’s portrait in your outhouse. Nothing makes an English shit faster than seeing that portrait!” BINGO
    Or, maybe, what the french would say: Viva-la-difference. (I learned this one, years ago, when there were two babies, each one looking into their diapers.) Gee, the differences are sure noticed “early.”

  12. Excuse me, but how would a cow know to go shit in the lake? First, she goes to the lake. Sticks her tongue in. And, takes a slurp.
    And, then she turns around? And, it flies out of her ass.
    We all drink water that’s been processed clean. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t once “dirty water, either.”
    And, you can tell it’s an Irishman and an Englishman, because no one’s offering to buy the other one, a beer.
    Did you know Lincoln loved Burns? He had no trouble with the cadence. The rhythms. And, the dialect. He memorized oodles of poetry. And, he loved (and told) toilet jokes. So, this stuff is in good company.

  13. Danged Babelfish! Danged Google!
    Good job, everyone. Hope you enjoyed a little laugh on Labor Day. As several of you have posted, the phrase “Na ól an t-uisce, tá sé lán de chac bo!” means “Don’t drink the water, it’s full of cowshit!”

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