I’m afraid that my southern Irish hinterland, or mainland, would be America or Europe, or both. And according to a recent Bill Bryson radio broadcast, the US brand of English, (among their other fluencies), is frankly archaic to British ears.

So how should I, as an Irish woman in 2007, even begin to relate to our common grounds? Divided by a common language, Innit?

Oh well, it could be worse, I at least have a supreme court to appeal to .
I can’t shake off my insular conviction though. What if there were a perfectly equitable civil code, rather than a punitive one?

What if the Brehon Laws still worked? Only a thought … sigh.

What if Britain had ignored Rome, and supported the Irish Church back in the seventh century, discarded clerical celibacy, rejected the concept of an arch high
church; trusted their own best interests at the council of Whitby, and
perhaps averted a later purge and civil war of their own people?

Interesting thought experiment! Thanks for making me see history
in a different light – I relished the mental exercise! I’ll certainly try
harder to see our common aspects, through any minor conflicts, in my future
career. I had supposed that a row can clear the air. But we really don’t have
all that much spare air, these days, do we? Or not for many more centuries, as
things stand.

“I know that you think
you understand what you
thought I said,

but

I do not think
that you realise that
what I said is
not what I meant.”

I know that you believe
you understood
what you think I said,

but

I am not sure
you realise that
what you heard is
not what I meant.

‘.. meeting you for the first time I do not know through what subconsious and unconscious gestures of attunement I will start to understand you’

Rings a bell, even in the mind of an uneducated (and unread) prole like me.

Do we lack a common ‘interface’ language (rather than just ‘values’) with people of a wildly different culture, which would normally enable the easy transition of an observered ‘foreigner’ from outsider to insider? Hooks that would ensure this process – instead of (without the benefit of concerted effort) condemning multicultured communities to an element of seperation?

It is hard to learn another language, when we do not even know how, or when, we speak our own version of it. Understanding that ‘incommunicability’ is but a fantasy is a good first step to take though.