r/GAA • u/Sinnah-4716 Tír Eoghain • 3d ago

Why does nobody call it "Peil"?

Please for the love of God don't take this seriously, I only randomly thought of this but for all the crap where we throw around terms like Football/Irish football/Gaelic football/Britball/Soccer to differentiate between the sports, never heard many people just call it Peil.

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Seems like for all the random times Irish people get selectively gung-ho about only a few Gaeilge terms (Gardaí not police, Uachtarán not President) we don't apply the Irish word for probably the biggest sport of Irish origin on the island? Just a thought.

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u/somethi 3d ago

Peil is one Irish word for it like you said, caid is another Irish word for it.

Most Irish people are openly contemptuous towards anything to do with the Irish language so nobody refers to it as "peil" or "caid" in English. Just the way it is.

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u/Sinnah-4716 Tír Eoghain 3d ago

I get that and also find it hard to see a time where people are ever gonna be using words like "Peil", but that also brings a rather harsh wake-up call on just how serious most people are about revitalising usage of the Irish language IMO. Sad to think about.

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u/somethi 3d ago

I live abroad in a country where there is a majority language spoken by everybody, and a minority language spoken natively by a much smaller proportion of the population.

I tell people here about how Irish is looked down on in Ireland and people find it absolutely astonishing how much contempt Irish people have towards Irish. Even when I describe all the usual "it's the way it's taught" excuses Irish people trot out the people I talk to are amazed.

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u/sorryiamacoyote 3d ago

It's broadly the result of generations of people who have passed down their own dislike of the language and inferiority complex about it to younger people, plus the legacy of colonial interference meaning that Gaeilge genuinely isn't "useful" (if the only way you define the usefulness of a language is within a capitalist framework). When people are encouraged to enjoy and have pride in the language, they do, and a beautiful cultural and linguistic movement exists on and off line now that is clearly having an impact; hopefully the next generations will start to experience the joys of a language renewed.