dia dhuit - religious discrimination?

nbrome

I'm having a light-hearted argument on a completely different forum with an Irishman who has lived all his life in England and doesn't speak Irish.
He says that the Irish language is stuck in the past and not able to embrace modern themes.
In particular he says that the use of Dia dhuit and its responses is an illustration of all-inclusive Catholicism (especially references to Mary) and could be insulting to people of different backgrounds and religions.
Now while I don't believe this for a moment, I wanted to hear what people here think of this.
Would an atheist happily use these terms? Is is like saying 'bless you' automatically when someone sneezes?
By the way, I pointed out to him that Goodbye was 'God be with you' but he said that doesn't count as its original meaning is lost in time.

onemorechance

Abair leis dul chuig dtí diabhal! :pac:

mr chips

As an atheist myself (and one who is pretty blunt about my views on faith/religion etc when the topic comes up), I adopt the same attitude to "Dia duit" as your pal does to "Goodbye" - it's a term whose original archaic meaning has been lost in modern usage. In any case, if he doesn't speak the language, what basis does he have for saying it's stuck in the past or can't embrace modern themes? He sounds like someone who doesn't need facts or knowledge to form an opinion ...

Still, if "dia duit" is so upsetting for him, he can always use 'Sé do bheatha to greet someone - even if it is used in the opening line of another prayer, it just means hello! (or literally, "it's your life"!)

Iomega Man

I'm no pagan but I don't get upset when people use the terms Odins day (Wednesday) and Thors day (Thursday)..Just sayin'

Paz-CCFC

I think that fella is focussing on certain "relgionisms" in Irish that support his argument, yet conveniently ignoring the many other examples in other languages. The names of the week and the months are largely based on Roman/Greek gods and plenty of English words (as stated above, goodbye) have evolved from originally religious meanings, for example. Religion has historically been a huge part of life in Europe in particular - of course it's going to shape languages.

As a fluent speaker, when I say "dia dhuit", it wouldn't even dawn on me that I'm saying god, just like if I were saying goodbye.

I think your man just has a grudge against the language.

nbrome

Yes, I think he has some kind of a grudge, although I don't know why.
I was curious to know what you all thought in view of the fact that all those other terms (goodbye, days of the week, months etc) have been changed over time and in some cases are unrecognizable. There are still some English speakers who don't know the origin of Goodbye, for example, whereas the Irish greetings are in a recognizable form. Similar to 'for heaven's sake' and 'thank god!' and 'bless you', which are still used in English. Just wondered if there was any kind of resistance to using them, but I really didn't think so.
So thanks for your input. Now to get back to him with expert views.......

An gal gréine

I think it depends on the intention of the individual who is greeting.
Does anyone really invoke The Nazarene when saying "Jayyyzus"?