Cassidy

[David Bergdahl]

I sent  some of our recent posts to a former colleague who's an Irish/Celtic
specialist (though not primarily a linguist).  He writes:

David:

Forgive me if I have said this before.  Daniel Cassidy's reputation is zilch
in Irish American scholarship.  The two leading journals, NEW HIBERNIA
REVIEW and EIRE-IRELAND, have both rejected him.  He takes such rejection
with vituperation.  He's a credulous empire-builder.  That does not mean
there is not much influence of spoken Irish (Gaelic) on spoken English.  One
is the lenition of initial B's in some NYC place names, "Vrooklyn" for
"Brooklyn." As for vocabulary, slob and phony are pretty well accepted, I
think.

There is other Irish influence not from spoken Irish.  Stephen Foster was
Irish (and gay), and the words and music for "Dixie" were written by
Irishmen in New York.  You probably know about the naughty implications of
the title "Dixie."

None of this means Cassidy is right.

Best,

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