Good day to friends of the earth and coal lovers alike and welcome to the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
The Bluffer was reading a Press Association article last week which gave him food for thought.
It was all about plaisteach - plastic which is coming more into everyone’s consciousness because of pictures of Blue Planet II, and the 5p we pay for bags in supermarkets and talk about banning sifíní plaisteacha - plastic straws but our houses are still full of material that won’t decompose for 500 years.
As the author points out, there are some things you just can’t find plastic-free alternatives for - leitís - lettuce, piseanna - peas and arbhar - corn for example all come wrapped in the stuff.
Bia reoite - frozen food is particularly difficult, although fish fingers and waffles do come in cardboard boxes).
But what about packets of pasta, folcadh colainne - body wash and taos fiacla - toothpaste, for instance.
We’re often told to buy in bulk when it comes to items that, by necessity come in plastic.
Ceannaím páipéar leithrisar an mhórchóir - I buy toilet roll in bulk is what you’ll hear from parents of big families but the bog roll is covered in hard plastic.
You could buy ilphacaistí - multi-packs of apples but again, they come in plastic bags.
So how much plastic is in your house?
The author of the article, Ellie Walker says she is a conscientious shopper.
She wraps her lunch sandwiches in scragall stán - tin foil, uses clúdaithe atá déanta as céir bheach (beeswax food covers) and there has been scannán cumhdaithe - cling film in her drawer for ages.
However, Ellie was feeling despondent when she collected a month’s plastic to see what it looked like.
As she points out, there are hidden bits of plastic everywhere.
Some things like pasta come in paper bags but they have little plastic windows in them as do clúdaigh litreach - envelopes and the bags you buy baguettes in.
As for youghurt, tá an pota in-athchúrsáilte - the pot’s recyclable but the lid isn’t!
But that’s the way we shop nowadays.
“We have plastic-reliant supermarkets everywhere, just desperate to fill our cupboards swiftly and cheaply, while shopping locally via butchers, grocers and farm shops is difficult when you work full time, and are often - understandably - more expensive. The model is all wrong,” says Ellie.
When people say ‘make your own’ - it’s not always realistic
And what happened to the plastic we have used since we were children?
Na bréagáin - the toys we were bought from our first birthdays onwards to the gutháin - phones, pinn - pens, luchtairí - chargers, the stuff nearly all of us use everyday.
The polyester in your jumper, the chair you’re sat on, the handle of the knife you’re chopping with, the dlúthdhiosca - CD you ever played is, the plastic hair clips you wore to primary school, the polythene bag your fish from the páirc aonaigh - fairground came in when you were five and they were still allowed to hand them out as prizes...
Every toothbrush you’ve ever used is out their somewhere along with every chocolate bar wrapper – think about it!
CÚPLA FOCAL
plaisteach(plaashtyakh) - plastic
sifíní plaisteacha (shifeeneeplaashtyakha) - plastic straws
leitís(letcheesh) - lettuce
piseanna(pishana) - peas
arbhar(arwar) - corn for
bia reoite (beea roytcha) - frozen food
folcadh colainne (folcoo colinya) - body wash
taos fiacla(tees feeakla) - toothpaste
ceannaím páipéar leithrisar an mhórchóir (kyaneem paapayr lehrtish er un worekhore) - I buy toilet roll in bulk
ilphacáistí (ilfacashtee) - multi-packs
scragall stán(scragal staan) - tin foil
clúdaithe atá déanta as céir bheach (cloodeeha ataa janta as cayr vakh ) - beeswax food covers scannán cumhdaithe(scanaan coodeeha) - cling film
clúdaigh litreach(cloodee litchrakh) - envelopes
tá an pota in-athchúrsáilte(taa un pawta in-ah-khoorsaala) the pot’s recyclable
gutháin(goohaan) - phones
pinn(pin) - pens
luchtairí(lookhtaree) - chargers
dlúthdhiosca (dlooyiska) - CD
páirc aonaigh (park aynee) - a fairground