It’s the end of the road: the Irish language is coming to a full stop

ST Patrick’s Day brought yet another Seachtain na Gaeilge to a close, but I wasn’t celebrating my national language.

I was standing in the changing room of UCD’s swimming pool and looking at a door that said ‘Stóras Bugaithe’.

‘Stóras’ is listed in my dictionary as an Irish word for ‘store’, though I’ve ever heard of it. But ‘bugaithe?’ The plural of ‘bugaí?’ Oh, come on. ‘Buggy’ is an English word of unknown origin, which once meant a four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage. But for 100 years we have pushed babies in it. In Ireland, it is the only word for what is a ‘push-chair’ in the UK and a ‘stroller’ in the US. ‘Bugaí’ is simply an Irish phonetic spelling of the English word.