the highway signs were interesting, each name a mile long, nothing a non-Gaelic speaker could recognize, and below it the name in English and a fraction of the length; almost as bad as some of the long names in Wales. But the Highlands look so much like the Virginia mountains, you can see why so many ended up settling in the mts. here. Must have felt a lot like home- with the added bonus of sun! (It rained the entire time I was in Scotland. How do they tell the weather in Scotland? If you can see across the loch, it's going to rain; if you can't see across the loch, it's raining.) Nancy ------- I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. --Daniel Boone On Jan 10, 2007, at 7:40 PM, Clara Callahan wrote: > I think the key to being able to quickly get comfortable with the > rhythm of Scotts is to always remember that they divide many one > syllable words into two: > > bird is burrrr-ud > word is wurrr-ud > > Watch their mouths when they speak and you'll catch on quickly. > I have been there many times (going again in April) and the sound > of their speech is one of the things I look forward to. It's > beautiful. > > You don't find much Gaelic outside the Western Highlands and > Islands and, even there it is dying. If you'd like to hear great > Gaelic, get a copy of Runrig's cd "Recovery." > > > > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html