Monday 15 October 2012

Ma twa minutes oan Kist





















If ye hae twa minutes tae spare ye cud click oan http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nd5vz
an gan tae 15.30 oan the timeline.
Tae regular listeners o Kist yer stuck wi me ivery ither week tae aboot christmas.

Monday 8 October 2012

Anither Inconvenient Truth


Anither Inconvenient Truth 












A wunner hoo mony o ye hae herd o' a film caa'd 'An Inconvenient Truth' aboot tha former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign tae edyecate folk aboot global wermin'. It wus yin o' tha maist successful films o' twa thoosan an seiven. It won twa Academy awerds an is uset aroon tha wurld tae edyecate weans.

Stillanaw iver faftie percent o' Amerikans dinnae believe in tha idea o' global wermin'.
A suppose thur's sum folk hoo jist cannae bae edyecated. Wether it's tae mitch boather, oor jist plain thranness, thur jist naw willin' tae appen thur mind tae tha truth, even an undeniable yin. Aff coorse thur's aye thon wi an interest in hidin' tha truth. Pooerfu organisations hoo profit fae tha ignorance o' ithers.

Ay, A can sympathise wi Mr Gore fer oor ain leid haes becum anither yin o' thon inconvenient truths. Tha Ulster-Scots people alang wi thur culture an language hae bin aroon fer iver fower hunner year. Yet accordin' tae twathry creeters, wi access tae a keyboord, bit no tha Internet it wud seem, tha Ulster-Scots language is a racent invention.

Hoo the' managed tae ignore tha screeds o' evidence tae tha contary is beyont me. Am dumfoonthered es tae hoo tha failt tae cum acroass wurks sitch es tha poems o tha weaver poets published in Irish newspapers throughoot tha late seiventeen hunners oor tha popular scrievens o' W. G. Lyttle in tha nineteenth century, aa o' whuch haes bin republished in tha last wheen o' years.

An a wee skelly oan tha internet wull inform oanyin aboot tha humorous an at times poignant buks o' Archibald McIlroy, sitch es, 'When Lint was in the Bell' (1897) an 'The Auld Meetin Hoose Green'. (1898).

Ay, aa o' tha abine ir fill't wi tha hamely tongue, wi oor ain undeniable leid. Efter aa hoo dae ye think I learnt tae spell aa thon Ulster-Scots wurds. Tae oanyboady hoo haes a notion tae scrieve in tha hamely tongue oor if yer jist lukkin tae fin oot mere aboot tha Ulster-Scots ye can gan tae, http://lowcountrylad.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/anither-inconvient-truth-links.html

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Anither Inconvient Truth - Links

In this weeks 'Fae Tha Pen o' an Aul Han' (published in the Belfast Newsletter 06/10/12) I directed those who wanted to find out more about the Ulster Scots people and their language to my blog.











Now to quote the words of Andy Dufresne, "...if you've come this far then maybe you're willing to come a little further".
In this case to those with a more experience than myself:

To find out more about the Ulster-Scots people click on the link below
http://clydesburn.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/what-is-ulster-scots-people-and-their.html

To find out more about how to address those ill informed doubters and detractors click on the link below
http://clydesburn.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/ulster-scots-and-platypus.html

To find out more about the Ulster-Scots language click on the links below
http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/what-is-ulster-scots/language/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/learn/lesson/1