Look, I'm sharing already....

So, some stuff about me....

I am fluent in Scottish Gaelic. It's more than learning a language, for me. Seven generations ago, my folks came from Scotland when most of the Gaels were getting kicked/thrown/burned out of their homes by their own relations so that the land could be used to raise sheep. Learning this language to fluency has changed me a lot more than I thought it would. It changed how I think, how I form sentences, and how I look at the world. It's also made me realize how much of it all is in the blood. I've heard some pompous asses try to say that this idea is ridiculous - you can't convey language or experiences through bloodlines. These people also don't know how to dream, or imagine. Screw 'em.

Anyway, I look at my fluency and immersion in the culture of the Gaels as a way of reclaiming what my family used to have as my own again. It's really now so much a part of me that I couldn't lose it unless I made a concerted effort to divest myself of it all. When I'm musing, or rambling to myself in my head, I'm just as likely to do it in Gaelic as English. When I yell at stoopid drivers on the road, I'll just as likely use invectives in Gaelic.

So that's where the nametag comes from (a Gaelic word for "exile"), and that's what I mean by "separated by birth". But for where I was born, I could have been a little Scottish kid growing up over on the other side of the pond - or I could have been born right in the Gaidhealtachd. Even though I wasn't, I'm still there in spirit, and I connect with the people whose ancestors knew my ancestors. They are good people, the Gaels. It's about as good as it'll get for me - and it's enough.

You'll therefore see some posts here in Gaelic, and some ramblings about nice phrases that apply to our world today, coming from the Gaelic world. Heck, you all might even pick up some words/phrases, and be the more erudite for it. You will never see stuff like "pòg mo thòin" or any pseudo-celtic crap. The Gaels are not a stereotype any more than you are, and should not be romanticized.

No Riverdancetm! No Rabie Burns idolatry! And no damned sheep jokes!

Tioraidh an dràsda, y'all.