THE BLUFFER hopes the hour less in bed at the weekend hasn’t dulled your senses for another Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.Isn’t it amazing how our lives have changed over the past week or so.People have said: Tá mo shaol bunoscionn - My life is upside down or tá gach rud as a riocht - everything is distorted and other less family-friendly phrases.But humans are used to having their lives changed by events, sometimes of their choosing and others not.No-one decides they are going to be born but they do decide if they are going to tie the proverbial knot.Tá muid ag dul a phósadh - we’re getting married you can proudly tell your friends and that indeed heralds another change in your slí bheatha - life-style as nights out with the lads/ladies take a back seat to the joys of buying or renting a house or a flat. Then when the time comes, you will hear the patter of tiny feet.Tá mé ag iompar clainne is how to say I’m pregnant or I’m expectin’ and wow, what a change in life-style that brings.Stad mé de na toitíní - I gave up the fags is a sacrifice some women find it hard to do but most will persevere anyway.
Then there is the all-consuming duties of looking after a new-born baby.
Bíonn sé ag caoineadh ar feadh dhá uair a chloig gach oíche - he cries for two hours a night.
Now you might be getting the idea from the above that the Bluffer is one of life’s big moaners, but there are of course great times involved too.
Ag bogadh isteach i do theach úr - moving into your new house is an unforgettable moment and babies bring you such joy – even amongst your own crying and the nervous breakdowns!
Life is in a state of constant change which can be brought about by an dífhostaíocht - unemployment, drochshláinte - bad health, anything really but I know of a woman how believes that life begins at 65.
D’fhág sí a cuid oibre - she left work and had pinsean an stáit - the state pension.
“People think you don’t exist if you are over 65,” she says, “but tá an fuinneamh céanna ionam - I have the same energy that I had when I was 20.”
And she uses that energy to good affect.
She is part of what is called An Tríú hAois - the Third Age which the dictionary defines as “the period in life of active retirement, following middle age.”
So life changes for people in their mid-60s and older but that doesn’t just mean arthritis and whingeing about young people - the type of people teenagers used to torture but they will end up too in this Third Age!
Now older people are travelling more (thanks a lot to free bus and train travel) and they’re adding to society like never before and having fun while doing it.
So we human beings are totally adaptable, whether we are changing from children to adolescents to adults to senior citizens so change is not something to be feared.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” as the saying goes.
CÚPLA FOCAL
Tá mo shaol bunoscionn(taa maw heel bunoskyun) - my life is upside down
tá gach rud as a riocht(taa gakh rud iss a rikht) - everything is distorted
Tá muid ag dul a phósadh(taa midge eg gul a fawsoo) - we’re getting married
slí bheatha(shlee vaha) - life-style
Tá mé ag iompar clainne(taa may eg umper clinya) - I’m pregnant
Stad mé de na toitíní(stad may de na tutcheenee) - I gave up the fags
Bíonn sé ag caoineadh ar feadh dhá uair a chloig gach oíche(beean shay ag keenoo er faow ga oor a khlig gakh eeha) - he cries for two hours a night
Ag bogadh isteach i do theach úr(eg bugoo ishtyakh i daw hakh oor) - moving into your new house
an dífhostaíocht(un jeeawsteeakht) - unemployment drochshláinte(drawkh-laantcha) - bad health
D’fhág sí a cuid oibre(daag shee a cudge ibra) - she left work
pinsean an stáit(pinshan un staatch) - the state pension
tá an fuinneamh céanna ionam(taa un fwinyoo keerna unim) - I’ve the same energy
An Tríú hAois (un chreoo heesh) - the Third Age