Comments on: Northern Ireland http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2004/03/22/380 Every day the Prime Minister's Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as 'the lobby' for a topical chat, or 'briefing'. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:00:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: David Boothroyd http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2004/03/22/380#comment-549 David Boothroyd Mon, 22 Mar 2004 22:41:29 +0000 http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2004/03/22/380#comment-549 Lots of Irish institutions are named in Irish only and so we refer to An Taoiseach, Dail Eireann, the Gardai, and even to An Post. I suppose the reason to refer to them as such is because Ireland is an English-speaking country predominantly, but Germany is not, so we do translate Kanzler (but not Bundestag). In France we transliterate President but not gendarme. Lots of Irish institutions are named in Irish only and so we refer to An Taoiseach, Dail Eireann, the Gardai, and even to An Post. I suppose the reason to refer to them as such is because Ireland is an English-speaking country predominantly, but Germany is not, so we do translate Kanzler (but not Bundestag). In France we transliterate President but not gendarme.

]]> By: John Murphy http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2004/03/22/380#comment-539 John Murphy Mon, 22 Mar 2004 19:33:38 +0000 http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2004/03/22/380#comment-539 "Asked to predict where we would be tomorrow, the PMOS said that we would have a clearer view at the end of the day" Anyway why does the PMOS refer to the Irish Prime Minister as the Taoiseach which is an Irish word he doesn`t refer to the German Chancellor as the Chavcellvor or whatever the German is for his postion. Journalists do it to and it always bugs me. "Asked to predict where we would be tomorrow, the PMOS said that we would have a clearer view at the end of the day"

Anyway why does the PMOS refer to the Irish Prime Minister as the Taoiseach which is an Irish word he doesn`t refer to the German Chancellor as the Chavcellvor or whatever the German is for his postion. Journalists do it to and it always bugs me.

]]>