CONCUBHAR Ó LIATHÁIN
Is maith is scéalaí an aimsir. Time is a great storyteller. Aimsir is a word which you hear alot in the Irish language. As Irish people we love talking about the weather in whatever language is handiest!
While aimsir is weather, aeráid is climate. Tá an t-aeráid ag athrú, the climate is changing – and isn’t it obvious or soiléir!
I remember storms like Lorenzo and Ophelia as ‘rare events’ in my youth. Is cuimhin liom bheith i mo mhacléinn ollscoile ag déanamh scrúduithe (ahem) an Fhomhair san Ollscoil, agus bhí Hurricane Charlie ag séideadh taobh amuigh. Ba bheag nár chaith mé an tréimhse ar fad sa halla scrúduithe ag féachaint amach an fhuinneog seachas ag tabhairt faoi na ceisteanna. Luckily I got back to the exam just in time to finish it.
Bhí stoirm mhór ann an tseachtain seo chaite. And who would disagree that there was a fierce storm last week. We seem to be getting them more and more frequently. Is ag éirí níos fiochmaire is níos minice atá siad.
Bhí sé ana ghaofar ar fad. It was very windy. Cuireann sé sin an sean fhocal i gcuimhne dhom, ní h-é lá na gaoithe lá na scolb. Or as my children say: Ní h-é lá na gaoithe lá na scoile. A day off school is almost guaranteed if there’s an adverse weather event these days.
Ní raibh sé chomh h-olc is a a cheapamar go mbeadh sé. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. Pity the poor forecasters – if they predict the weather is bad and it is as bad as they say, they get no credit for getting it right. If the weather isn’t exactly as they predict, they get lambasted.
Tá sé ag cur báistí go trom. It’s raining heavily. How else does it rain in Ireland? There are many words for rain in Irish – there’s báisteach, clagar agus fearthainn for starters. Báisteach is the Irish rain but you say ‘ ag cur báistí’ because, grammar alert, when you use the verb form ‘ag cur (or any other verb)’, that is followed by the tuiseal ginideach, normally. The above mentioned tuiseal is also used to denote possession – like the strength of the wind becomes neart na gaoithe.
That’s about as much gramadach as I will mention this week. Grammar is an essential part of any language but we still don’t like to talk about it too much. Níl gramadach gnéasach, an dtuigeann tú? It’s not sexy, don’t you understand?
Agus sinn ag caint ar an aimsir, is deas an scéal a fuair bialann i gCill Dhára an tseachtain seo. Fuair an bialann nua, Aimsir, dhá réalt Michelin as feabhas a chuid bídh, fograóiodh ar an Luan. Mar a dúirt mé, tá an aeráid ag athrú agus ní díreach mar gheall go bhfuil an geimhreadh ag teacht. The climate is changing and it’s not just the Game of Thrones explanation, that winter is coming. Climate is about far more than the changing of the seasons – which is one of the reasons why we have weather variations. It’s about how the weather appears to change in its entirety over a longer span of time. We get warmer winters but that means more storms and fiercer storms.
Is cuimhin liom bheith sa bhaile Lá Nollag i 2010 agus bhí an teocht ag lúide 13. An lá ina dhiaidh sin, Lá le Stiofán, bhí sé Móide 13. B’shin athrú teochta de 26 céim i lá amháin.
Nior cheart go dtarlódh sé sin. That shouldn’t happen.
Anois tá an t-aos óg ag ardú a nglór i gcoinne an easpa dul chun cinn atá déanta againne chun athrú aeráide a mhaolú. Mol an óige a deirimse, gan amhas. I would always praise the youth but it seems some, like Donald Trump, in his great and unmatched wisdom, an saoi gan locht, find it difficult to accept that anybody, particularly 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, has the right of it over them.
Go n-éirí leat, Greta, is iontach an bhean óg thú! Go raibh an ghaoth id sheol i gcónaí!