Second Meanings

This week, a group of students from my alma mater, George Fox University, arrived (with two of my favourite professors) for a three-week tour of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. I joined them in Dublin for a few days, and I’ll spend time with them again when they get to Belfast. One of my close friends is on the trip, in addition to several people I’m friendly with, so it was really lovely to be with that group of people for a little while. Also, being some form of “tour guide,” telling them about Northern Ireland while in the Republic, gave me a slightly different perspective on things. I realized a few things, or at least, was reminded of a few things that I had realized when I first got here but forgotten over the last nine months.

As I explained bits and pieces of the Northern Irish situation, one element kept re-appearing: the political nature of many apparently mundane things. For example, where someone lives is often an indicator of their political/religious leanings. As another example, whether someone refers to Derry as “Derry” or “Londonderry” depends on their political stance. Or what sports someone follows: Gaelic football and hurling for nationalists, rugby for loyalists. The list goes on and includes dancing, music, language, colours, flags, holidays, political parties, and more. I’d forgotten – or perhaps never noticed – how many indicators exist of whether someone is nationalist or loyalist. How political even the little things are.

While walking in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, I had a thought (which I shared with Katie, who was with me). It occurred to me how much chaos would ensue if the Republic of Ireland decided to follow the rest of Europe’s lead and start driving on the right-hand side of the road while Northern Ireland, being a part of the UK, would continue driving on the left. Not only would that be confusing for people crossing the border, but suddenly in Northern Ireland, you would be making a political statement by which side of the road you drove on. Nationalists would start driving on the right, while loyalists would continue driving on the left. That mental image made me giggle. While it’s rather a ridiculous manifestation, the principle holds true. The division of society here is perhaps most noticeable when you consider the many little ways that people make statements about their politics. This allows them to label (and be labelled by) the other side, and even encourages divisions.

Word of the Week: This week, I bring you Irish Gaelic. The Irish language is often spoken by nationalists (while Ulster Scots, a heavy dialect of English, is sometime spoken by loyalists). A common greeting in Irish is “Dia dhuit,” which means “God be with you.” The first word, Dia, is pronounced much as it looks (DEE-uh). The second word is roughly pronounced “gwitch.” It sounds like a cross between the words Deutsch, ditch, and git.