Journal johndiii's Journal: Today 9
Lá Breithe Sona Dom.
(There seems to be some disagreement over whether "Sona" or "Shona" is correct; I am going with "Sona" because an adjective modifying a masculine noun is not lenited in the nominative or accusative case, and this is clearly not dative or vocative, and does not seem to be genitive. Anyone who feels differently is welcome to speak up. (snowgirl?))
It seems appropriate that I started a new canister of tea today, after yesterday using the last of the Comfort and Joy tea that I bought just after Christmas. The new tea is Sip for the Cure Red Cherry White Tea. It's quite good, the subtle flavor of white tea complemented nicely by the cherry flavor, which is present but not overly so. The Republic of Tea company always makes very good tea; I've never been disappointed in one of their offerings. SolemnDragon got me started on white tea five years ago, and I like it very much (though it tends to be on the expensive side).
Birthdays nearly always find me in an introspective mood, and this one is no exception. Looking back over the last five years, my life has seen a lot of changes. Though there has been sadness, the changes have been overwhelmingly positive. Much of this was due to Koria's too-brief presence in my life, for which I am thankful every day. Experiences are not just what they appear to be; they are what we make of them.
There was an appropriate poem in my gmail inbox this morning, from the Panhala mailing list (poetry archive).
The Way
Friend, I have lost the way.
The way leads on.
Is there another way?
The way is one.
I must retrace the track.
It's lost and gone.
Back, I must travel back!
None goes there, none.
Then I'll make here my place,
(The road leads on),
Stand still and set my face,
(The road leaps on),
Stay here, for ever stay.
None stays here, none.
I cannot find the way.
The way leads on.
Oh places I have passed!
That journey's done.
And what will come at last?
The road leads on.
-- Edwin Muir
I thought this an interesting juxtaposition with the poem that was sent out yesterday:
The Future
For God's sake, be done
with this jabber of "a better world."
What blasphemy! No "futuristic"
twit or child thereof ever
in embodied light will see
a better world than this.
Do something! Go cut the weeds
beside the oblivious road. Pick up
the cans and bottles, old tires,
and dead predictions. No future
can be stuffed into this presence
except by being dead. The day is
clear and bright, and overhead
the sun not yet half finished
with his daily praise.
-- Wendell Berry
And last but not least, at the bottom of this page there is a song for the day (albeit two weeks early) (Lyrics). It's from Marc Gunn, one half of the now-defunct duo Brobdingnagian Bards. (MP3s on Amazon (the free MP3 link on the page is broken))
Beannactaí ar do lása!
Happy birthday (Score:2)
Live long and prosper
white tea (Score:1)
Have a joyous natal remembrance solar time period! The planet has been blessed with your presence!
Question on white tea. I know the difference between black tea and green tea. Black tea is fermented longer before final drying to correct moisture levels before packaging. (similar to how long we let cut hay sit before baling, you have to get it just right, unless you are wet baling "hayage" then wrapping it really well to suspend the composting/fermenting aspect that starts up. Too wet, you get problems and t
Happy Birthday (Score:2)
And may there be many many more good ones from here on out.
Happy Birthday! (Score:1)
who me?! (Score:2)
I don't have a clue... lol
I know only a superficial amount of various languages... if you were asking about German or Japanese, maybe I could give you some insight, but I have no idea about this.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought that you might have some insight into what case "Happy Birthday" might use. If nominative or accusative (which I think it is, then "Sona" is correct. Otherwise (genitive or accusative), it would be "Shona". I'm pretty sure that it's not vocative. :-)
It's interesting learning Irish, because I'm rediscovering a lot of grammar that I had forgotten. Plus there are interesting differences, like the expression of emphasis though a suffix rather than tone of voice, and the lack of words for "yes" and
Re: (Score:2)
I thought that you might have some insight into what case "Happy Birthday" might use. If nominative or accusative (which I think it is, then "Sona" is correct. Otherwise (genitive or accusative), it would be "Shona". I'm pretty sure that it's not vocative. :-)
The interesting thing here, is that it depends entirely upon the language. English and French colloquially use the "objective" case, which is used for pretty much everything but subjects of sentences. For example, "who is it?" "Me" or "Moi".
However, German uses nominative for this case, "ich".
So... this is one where I wash my hands of it and say, "you would need to ask a native Irish speaker about it."
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting. Thanks.
My problem here is that I'm somewhat unsure of how the phrase "Happy Birthday" should be treated, grammatically. In English, it's presumably short for "Have a happy birthday", which would call for the imperative form. But Irish does not have a verb for the possessive verb "have"; the English "I have a book" would translate to "Tá leabhar agam" - literally, "A book is at me" (there is also no indefinite article). "Tá" being the present, non-habitual form of the verb "to
Re: (Score:2)
I intend to do so. I should have access to several at the North Texas Irish Festival this weekend. :-) If not then, there's an immersion weekend scheduled for April.
Would it be selfish of me to ask you to post an update journal entry? hehe.
By the way, would you mind presenting a gloss of your translation? I might be able to help you out with some information that way. There might be grammatical information that helps... although, I could be entirely wrong myself... let me give you an example:
In English, we say that the copula is like an equal sign, thus whatever case one side is, the other must match. This follows from Latin, where this is the case, and German follo