The Scottish Brogue Wins Many Merry Souls
Someone – ironically, a good friend with a pronounced British accent – sent me this tongue-in-cheek article from the Babylon Bee: Study Finds Preaching With A Scottish Accent Results In 300% More Salvations
I do have something of a bias and attachment to the Scotch brogue, which I consider – and pardon my provincialism – the most perfect way to speak English, and please do hear me out. Like Latin, in Scottish – at least, proper Scotch – every, single syllable is pronounced, the clarity and meaning of one’s diction unmistakable, the very lilt adding to the tone and phrasing.
Oh, you can say what you like about Irish, Aussie and the aforementioned British – never mind French. As for which is the more pleasant, well, to paraphrase Saint Thomas, beauty is quod auditum placet – that which pleases upon being heard, and we all like what is familiar to our ears. But just ponder how one might say the word ‘car’ in England versus Scotland. In the former, its ‘cah‘, which could mean a vehicle, or the sound a crow makes; while in the latter it’s ‘carrr‘ – undeniably a motor carrr. Test any other word, phrase, sentence or paragraph ye like. I read once that in Shakespeare’s time, the accent was much closer to Scotch than to modern British, which makes recitation all that more intelligible. Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow… Ian Fleming even added a Scottish ancestry to James Bond, once Sean Connerrrrry took on the role. And jokes are usually funnier when told in Scotch, from Billy Connolly, to Craig Ferguson to Shrek.
Now, I say this, even though, when friends back in high school came over, and heard my dear mother – God rest her soul – address them in her own unmistakable Dumbarton brogue, they would turn to me and ask what language she was speaking.
Ah, well, they’d probably say the same of Latin and Rabbie Burns, those Philistines. But, still, a man’s a man, for a’ that.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→