They say that ‘when you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It is those who know you who endure the suffering’. The same can be said for idiots.
I wrote in last Saturday’s column about our love for a good whinge, and I must thank those of you who reached out with your lovely messages.
I laughed out loud at a comment under the social media post where one man was outraged at the headline. How dare I tell him to practise gratitude? Apparently I should “tell that to the people working two jobs” etc.
You may have noticed how I haven’t referred to this happy chap as “a reader” because it transpired he doesn’t read the paper and had no intention of clicking the offending link. That’s some top-level grouching there.
If a sentence about gratitude with zero context is enough to make your blood boil, I would recommend you see a GP immediately.
But I’m done giving health advice. Laughter is the best medicine when dealing with ‘trolls’ - though again, no remedies from me.
Which leads me to an interesting article by our very own Paul Ainsworth, who conducted an interview with Jack Sinnott, founder of a group called Protestants Against Gaelic Language (PAGL).
I tip my proverbial hat to Paul for his self-control and professionalism. I honestly don’t know how he kept a straight face. Perhaps he read the death notices beforehand just to put himself on a downer.
Mr Sinnott, who is 62 and from Co Dublin, says he “despises” the Irish language and has sent emails to the various unionist parties in the north in an attempt to gain support for his campaign which already has “around” a whopping 30 members.
Ironically this is probably fewer than the number of Irish students who left a night class in December to find pamphlets on cars which were reportedly very similar to those that PAGL distribute.
This other group go by the acronym “PAIL”, understood to stand for Protestants Against Irish Language - a lot catchier than Sinnott’s group, which you could say pales in comparison when it comes to wordplay.
He said he is motivated by his “feel[ing] that religion is being targeted, and if it is, then the Irish language should be”.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that like saying “I feel like people have it in for football supporters these days so I’m gonna go after local choirs, so I am”?
Then again this is the fella who professes that “English is our mother tongue”, despite the well documented history stating that Gaelic was spoken on this land for thousands of years and had a rich literary history before it was snatched from our mouths, beginning with the Norman invasions – but an angry man will never let the truth spoil a good aul rant.
If anything this has inspired me to invest some time into learning more Gaelic, and in keeping with last week’s theme of gratitude, I would like to thank PAGL for the motivation.
Upon researching this group I even learned a really useful Irish word, which one Irish News reader used to describe the man in the article with a handy hashtag when re-posting it – and that word is #amadán.
Speaking of eejits, those who tied signage to a school in Lurgan in an attempt to intimidate anyone who may be living there that is not ‘local’ might want to consider brushing up on the English language themselves.
Despite how it might look, I highly doubt that this was an art project undertaken by the children, who I am sure would have had no trouble in spelling MOURNEVIEW without the need to make any haphazard corrections and would definitely have a better grasp on how to use capital and lower case letters.
Would it be wise to recommend a collaboration between PAIL and these graffiti artists? After all, they share a certain hatred of other languages and leaving unwanted negative messages in unexpected places.
I’m sure the group which is a PAIL imitation of PAGL would be happy to help the xenophobic spray-painters brush up on the language they love so much?
Could PAIL become PAIL AF? Protestants against Irish Language and Foreigners?
I really shouldn’t be giving them ideas, but I reckon if they band together they might even have about 40 members?