YOUR LETTERS YOURletters
LANGUAGE SUPPORT Having read your article ‘Speaking my Language’ in February’s Scottish Field, I want to add some of my thoughts. Gaelic is not only a language, Scottish history was written in the language for a long time. It is one of the oldest in Europe, and besides Greek and Latin it was the fi rst written language north of the Alps. It is a very poetic and rich language. The Inuit of Canada may have 500 words or expressions for snow, but Gaelic has a thousand for rain! It would be terrible for all of this to get lost. Gaelic also served as the roots that connected the people to their land. By suppressing it violently, the people lost these roots and also some of their pride. The language was considered a second class one, not worthy to be spoken. There has been a long decline in numbers of Gaelic speakers, but the language is still alive and adapting to the modern world: you can even now talk in Gaelic about ‘computers’. It should be more supported by the Government, so that children can grow up bilingual, which would train their brains and make it easier to learn a third language. It would also fi ll them with pride for their country and their history. Other countries like Switzerland cope very well with three equal languages in their state. I would be very happy if I could speak better Gaelic, but it is very diffi cult to learn as an adult. Alba gu brath
Rita Dutz, Bocholt, Germany
CHICKEN RUN After the fi rst drive on the second day of a two-day shoot at Dungarthill Estate in Perthshire, one of the dogs got very excited around my Land Rover. On inspection we found the estate’s tame white hen on the anti roll bar behind the radiator grille. The next question was: when did the hen begin its perch there? If it was the Friday it would
have been there that evening for the six-mile drive to our house and then spent the night in my garage, only to return to the shoot with me the next day. To my surprise when I inspected the garage fl oor there was a hen plop proving that it did indeed travel to and from the estate and spent the night against the cosy engine miles from its home – it’s just as well I am a careful driver or it might have taken fl ight during the road trip! Ross Peters by email
CHARITABLE SPIRIT I always read, and often re- read, the articles and evocative adverts relating to Scotch Whisky. This month’s piece, ‘The spirit of giving’, anent a bottle of Bowmore 1957, the oldest bottle of Islay single malt, ever released, was no exception. The fact that it had been sold
for £100,000 and the proceeds donated to fi ve Scottish charities was interesting and uplifting. It illustrates the quotation: ‘The proper drinking of Scotch whisky is more than an indulgence; it is a toast to civilisation, a tribute to the continuity of culture, a manifesto to man’s determination to use the resources of nature to refresh mind and body and to enjoy to the full the senses with which he has been endowed’. (David Daiches, 1912-2005.) Thomas L Inglis, Fintry
THE WRITER OF THE STAR LETTER WILL RECEIVE A 70CL BOTTLE OF BALBLAIR SINGLE MALT WHISKY. ALL OTHER WRITERS WILL RECEIVE A MINIATURE (OVER 18S ONLY).
WWW.BALBLAIR.COM
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 13
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www.alba-pools.co.uk Tel. 01356 230400
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