CAD É mar atá sibh a chairde, how’s she cuttin’ dear readers and loyal fandom of the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
The Bluffer spent last night watching a brilliant film on the BBC iPlayer called Nae Pasaran and afterwards I got to thinking about anteilifís - television and how it has changed over the years.
The first TV ever in the Bluffer home was an Ekco which had a 12-inch screen which could receive all two channels, BBC and ITV.
We loved it. We were now part of an cultúr coiteann - popular culture where we could enjoy peil/sacar - /football/soccer on Match of the Day popcheol - pop music on Top of the Pops and get hooked on sobaldrámaí - soap operas such as Coronation Street.
Bhí na cláracha uilig dubh agus bán an t-am sin - all the programmes were in black and white and not just the Minstrel Show.
The High Chaparral was the first TV programme in colour he ever saw. Teilifís dhaite - colour TV was obviously here to stay!
We took ourselves away from the dreariness of everyday life while watching The Avengers and The Man from UNCLE and laughed at Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part and marvelled at the great inventions on Tomorrow’s World.
However, in the north, we still couldn’t get RTÉ. Some people could with an aeróg speisialta - a special aerial or a crochadán éadaigh - a clothes hanger.
The next big invention as far as TV concerned was the fístaifeadán - the video recorder.
God, were they ugly! There were lines going up and down your recordings of Starsky and Hutch and Kojak, but físeán - video was a giant step for couch potatoes and regular trips to Xtravision became part of our routines.
However, video gave way around 2004 to DVDs (it’s DVD in Irish too) and a new televisual vista opened up.
Bhí an caighdeán níos airde - the standard was higher, tape didn’t get clogged in the machine and they became a feighlí páistí - a childminder for parents the world over as you sat your wee pets in front of the Care Bears or Barny.
The fact that they;d be watching The Curse of Chucky and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when you left the room never occurred to you.
Then, around 2000, choice sky-rocketed with the arrival of an t-idirlíon - the internet.
Now we could watch anything, from The Sound of Music to Debbie Does Dallas on our ríomhairí computers.
But TV people were up to the challenge. Rather than trying to beat the new technology, they joined them and the era of teilifíseáin chliste - smart televisions was born, where your TV set connected to the internet and you could enjoy both worlds.
From two channels in the past to hundreds until the next innovation sruthú - streaming came laong, giving us Netflix and Amazon Prime etc.
On top of that we have the BBC iPlayer, televisions where you can go to the start of the programme if you’ve missed it, watch a programme from last week, record programmes or whole series from your mobile.
We’ve come from a 12-inch screens to the giants we have today - and in high definition on which we have an almost infinite choice of what to watch on TV.
CUPLA FOCAL
anteilifís(un chelafeesh) - television
an cultúr coiteann(un cultoor cutchan) - popular culture
peil/sacar(pell/sacer) - /football/soccer
popcheol(popkyawl) - pop music
sobaldrámaí (subbledraamee) - soap operas
Bhí na cláracha uilig dubh agus bán an t-am sin(ve ne claraha ilig doo agis baan un tam shin) - all the programmes were in black and white at that time
teilifís dhaite(chelafeesh guytcha) - colour TV
aeróg speisialta (ayrawg spesheealta) - a special aerial
crochadán éadaigh (crokhadaan aydee) - a clothes hanger
fístaifeadán(feeshtafadaan) - the video recorder
físeán(feeshaan) - video
Bhí an caighdeán níos airde(vee un kyjaan neess farh) - the standard was higher,
feighlí páistí(faylyee paashtee) - a childminder
an t-idirlíon (un tidderleen) - the internet
ríomhairí (reeooweree) - computers
teilifiseáin chliste (chelafeeshaan clishta)- smart televisions
sruthú(sroohoo) - streaming