(no subject)

[kittydesade]

The phrases "the easiest thing" or "the most difficult thing" become "the thing which is most easy/difficult" in Irish.
furasta, easy
an rud is fusa, the easiest thing
deacair, difficult
an rud is deacra, the most difficult thing

The copula form 'is' can mean either is or which is depending on context. Compare:
Is deacair é a dhéanamh. It is difficult to do (it).
Sin an rud is deacra a dhéanamh. That is the most difficult thing to do. (lit. That thing is the most difficult to do.)

Here are the corresponding forms of various other common adjectives. The most common procedure is to ad e (which makes a broad consonant slender). Adjectives ending in a vowel are not usually affected. The most common adjectives tend to be irregular. (As with everything, I guess.)
saor, cheap
Sin ann cean is saoire. That is the cheapest one.

daor, daoire - dear
deas, deise - nice
maith, fearr - good
dona, measa - bad
mór, mó - big
beag, lú - small
fada, faide - long
gearr, giorra - short

Note the construction of these is é...ná sentences. Is is pronounced ish before é, í, iad, ea.

Is é an rud a chonaic mé ná capall. What I saw was a horse. (Really?)
Is é an duine a bhí ag caint liom ná Liam. The person who was talking to me was Liam.

This construction can also be used to express preferences.

Is é an spórt is fearr liom ná peil. The sport I like best is football. (... OH.)
Is é an ceol is fearr liom ná jazz. The music I like best is jazz.
Is é an rud is fearr liom ná luí faoin ngrian. What I like best is to lie under the sun.
Is é an tslí is fearr liom teanga a fhoghlaim ná bheith ag éisteacht le téipeanna.


I inherited my grandmother's menorah this weekend. It's been fifteen years this coming June, so it's not a new thing, but my grandfather is finally moving into a smaller place and a lot of his stuff is getting distributed... I probably talked about this before. And among the various things that came to me in this first disbursement of stuff was my grandmother's menorah. We were never exactly observant (ahahahahahha or at all, really) but I grew up with it on the mantel, and the stories, and knowing what things meant even if we didn't say the words or do the rites. And now it's on my mantel. And I don't know how to feel about that. I'm not sure we've ever kept the traditions down from mother to mother, but in a way we've kept the knowledge of it, I think? Maybe the practice of the traditions got lost under the butcher's floorboards a century or so ago. Or more. I think more, by now. It's all fuzzy. Along with my feelings.

ETA: And the penny just dropped that it's a temple menorah, which a) explains why it never saw use and b) ?????

So, yeah. That happened this weekend. Fortunately a fair bit of writing and cleaning also happened, so there's that. Okay, cleaning might be a bit of a stretch, somehow the house didn't get too much cleaner but a bunch more stuff got unpacked and moved out of the garage, plus I finally hauled the damn card table up from the patio after Elf Lord kindly unbent the one hinge that was bent so it would stand upright again. So at least I have a sewing table now.

Still so much stuff to do. Picking up from this weekend, I have smoothies to make before the materials go bad, I have mopping and sweeping to do, I think, and I have at least two major things to write and one smaller thing to write and promote before the end of April. One of those before Wednesday. And. I kind of want to take a day off except no. I also have lyrics to help with, at least one mailing list campaign and a payment thing to set up, plus promotional copy to write, and I have to get rid of this weasel that says I should just publish the stupid serial and shouldn't expect payment for this. (The reasons I should do exactly the opposite of what that weasel is telling me are probably detailed in Scalzi's post on Fuck You, Pay Me. It's just hard trying to believe I deserve money for my time and effort to make an intangible, non-physical thing.)

The operative phrase of the day or week or whatever seems to be that "It's a great life if you don't weaken." Here's hoping this week is better than the last one at least, though I hardly see how it could be worse. No, that's not true, I can totally see how it could be worse, I'm just not dwelling too much on that.

For my own porpoises: To Do
1. Promotional copy for Gods and Monsters.
    a. Potential tweets
    b. couple paragraphs of blog copy
    c. preview/sample/teaser
2. Another chapter in G&M
3. Rewrites for the first chapter of G&M
4. White Lightning
5. Person of Interest
6.

Comments

[kikibug13]

For a moment, I thought you meant "It's a great life if you don't waken."

Which also makes sense.

*snugs tight* At least now you have a mantel that is your own! And you can start figuring it out from there.

[kittydesade]

There is that. It's even somewhat clean. >.>

[kikibug13]

See, now that I've brought that up, the thing can even end up in its rightful location. Maybe.