Irish civil rights group takes aim at iPad launch
Gaelic speakers want to give Apple a good boxing
April Fools Apple's iPad launch could be thrown off course by a last minute objection to the device's name by a small Irish American civil rights group.
Boston-based Féach ar na Féilire claims it registered the name 11 years ago for a now-defunct online advice service for Irish Gaelic speaking immigrants in the US.
Pádraig O'Súil, national convener of the group, told The Register, via a translator, that the organisation had written to Apple numerous times, but had yet to receive a reply.
Its lawyers were now preparing a filing to freeze the launch of the ground breaking device in an effort to bring Apple to the negotiating table.
"This is just another example of Apple's arrogance towards the American Irish speaking community, in both America and Ireland," O'Súil said. The Mac maker had consistently failed to provide Irish language capabilities in its operating system, he claimed, and had never localised its products for Irish and other Gaelic-speaking markets.
"Yet at the same time they're happy to raid the Irish lexicon for their product names when it suits them. Look at the Mac - that means son in Irish, you know" he said. "It's just one slap in the face after another." When pressed for other examples he said he'd get back to us.
O'Súil added that the organisation had raised its latest concerns with Apple as soon as it heard about the upcoming launch, but the computing giant had consistently ignored its complaints.
He admitted that Apple's lack of a response could've been down to the group's insistence on writing to Cupertino in Irish. However, a change in the organisation's constitution had been necessary before it could engage a firm of bilingual trademark attorneys, Mahone, Butt and Mahone, which was able to take instruction in Irish and issue writs in English.
An Apple spokesperson said, "Saoire le do thoil teachtaireacht tar éis an ton." ®
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COMMENTS
Irish not Gaelic....
People in Ireland speak 'Irish' or (in Irish) 'Gaeilge'
You really are...
...an idiot, aren't you? Stop giving Apple fans a worse name than they have already.
Isn't "íPad" a completely different trademark (for small stationery sheets on a perforated roll)
If this was real they'd be saying "You couldn't make it up."
I think an "intosh" means "yer feckin raincoat", an indispensable hereditary garment in all Celtic lands. It has been determined with great care that "feckin" is a word in its own right distinct from others with similar sounds, although not what, if anything, it means. Perhaps "Please give your attention to what I am saying".
Oh dear!
Lots of people taking this seriously, aren't there? I love the idea of a few cainteoiri Gaeilge taking on the might of Apple, but let's be honest: we'd soon get sidetracked from our just and righteous protest into the nearest pub, wouldn't we? :-)
Dead Language?
Looks like Englissh is a dead language as well, did you mean "translating all manner of stuff"? Here, I'll explain it to you.
Main Entry: man·or
Pronunciation: \'ma-nər\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English maner, from Old French manoir, from manoir to sojourn, dwell, from Latin manēre — more at mansion
Date: 14th century
1 a : the house or hall of an estate : mansion b : a landed estate
2 a : a unit of English rural territorial organization; especially : such a unit in the Middle Ages consisting of an estate under a lord enjoying a variety of rights over land and tenants including the right to hold court b : a tract of land in North America occupied by tenants who pay a fixed rent in money or kind to the proprietor
Main Entry: man·ner
Pronunciation: \'ma-nər\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English manere, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *manuaria, from Latin, feminine of manuarius of the hand, from manus hand — more at manual
Date: 12th century
1 a : kind, sort <what manner of man is he> b : kinds, sorts <all manner of problems>
2 a (1) : a characteristic or customary mode of acting : custom (2) : a mode of procedure or way of acting : fashion (3) : method of artistic execution or mode of presentation : style b plural : social conduct or rules of conduct as shown in the prevalent customs <Victorian manners> c : characteristic or distinctive bearing, air, or deportment <his poised gracious manner> d plural (1) : habitual conduct or deportment : behavior <mind your manners> (2) : good manners e : a distinguished or stylish air
There; fixed it for you.
