User talk:Dornálaíocht
Welcome[edit]
Welcome to my talk page. I guess we can talk here. Leave me a message - Who knows, I might just get back to you? I speak both English and Irish, so feel free to use both!
Messages[edit]
Smashing[edit]
I've reverted your addition of "Smashing" to List of English words of Irish origin. Unless you can find a reliable reference that details it, it belongs in the ranks of etymythology. Note that the OED:
- Does not even think that the derivation of this sense "Very good; greatly pleasing; excellent; sensational" from the basic sense "That smashes, in various senses" requires a comment
- Mentions no Irish connection whatever
- Lists as its first two citations of the word in this meaning first an American and then an English writer.
Dictionaries, even the OED, have got things wrong before. But to establish your claim you will need to find, not just a source where somebody has speculated about the Irish phrase, but at the very least a solid demonstration that the English word was used in Ireland first. --ColinFine (talk) 19:32, 29 March 2011 (UTC)