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From: Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net>
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Absent RRs
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2024 16:52:16 +0100
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 Ar an chéad lá is fiche de mí Iúil, scríobh Aidan Kehoe: 

 >  Ar an chéad lá is fiche de mí Iúil, scríobh Ruud Harmsen: 
 > 
 >  > Sun, 21 Jul 2024 09:29:23 +0200: Bertel Lund Hansen
 >  > <gadekryds@lundhansen.dk> scribeva:
 >  > 
 >  > >Peter Moylan wrote:
 >  > >
 >  > >> Another comment of his that still sticks with me: Have you noticed
 >  > >> that Irish people never answer a question with "yes" or "no"? A
 >  > >> typical exchange:

(“Never” overstates it, we do speak English and make full use of its idioms.)

 >  > >>      Are you still living in Limerick?
 >  > >>      I am.

 >  > >> This is because the Irish language has no words for "yes" and "no", and
 >  > >> somehow this has affected Irish English.
 >  > >
 >  > >Amazing. Do they nod and shake their heads for yes and no?
 >  > 
 >  > They do.
 > 
 > Well answered, Ruud!

Classical Greek and Latin also did not have words for “yes” and “no”; you see
an echo of this in the marriage ceremony. In English, translated without regard
for idiom, it is: “Q: Do you take [this woman] to be your lawfully wedded
[wife], [...] A: I do.” German has something like:

  »Q: N., ich frage Sie: Sind Sie hierher gekommen, um nach reiflicher
  Überlegung und aus freiem Entschluss mit Ihrer Braut (Name) / mit Ihrem
  Bräutigam (Name) / den Bund der Ehe zu schließen? A: Ja«

which is a more idiomatic translation.

-- 
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)