Toby Rider wrote:
> Sorry for the post in English. How many of you have encountered
> the attitude that a *few* Cape Bretoners have that the language and music
> belong to them entirely, and that you have to have it "bred into you" in
> order to truly understand it? So if you are from away (even from as far
> away as Antigonish :-) there is no way you can gain a true understanding of it?
A Thorcuil,
As a Cape Bretoner, I guess I'm not qualified to answer this question. I can
understand that you might encounter a few people who would feel like this. I hope
you and everyone else who encounter such pitifully small-minded people will ignore
them. From what I've experienced, the people who put down learners, wherever they
may be from, are people who really don't want to see Gaelic revived at all. Yes, we
have some of them in Cape Breton. Unfortunately, there's a law against shooting
them.......;D And anybody who would denigrate the Gaelic from Antigonish really
has no idea what they're talking about.
> 98% of the people I've encountered aren't like that, yet there is
> a small percentage who seem to ruin it by having that sort of attitude.
> These tend to be the same people who aren't willing to make the
> sacrifices to learn the language or really learn the music. Yet they are
> the first to claim that no one from away can ever really have it.
Kind of reminds me of Ęsop's fable about the dog and the manger..........
> Am I alone in having encountered this type of attitude?
To be honest, I've encountered this attitude outside of CB much more than inside
it, something that has made me very leary of contributing to e-mail lists such as
this one. As a matter of fact, this is the only list I contribute to, and that is
because of how I've been treated elsewhere. It seems to me that there are a few
Scottish Gaelic speakers, and some who have learned from them, who have a very low
opinion of CB Gaelic. This is something I've heard other fluent speakers in CB
mention also. This attitude has NEVER been noticed among native speakers from
anywhere, as far as I know, only from learners and academics. Such is the rant from
inside CB, anyway.
Keep to the high road, a Thorcuil. You're doing more for Gaelic with this list than
all of your nay-sayers put together.
Tapadh leibh,
Aonghas
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