WE’VE all seen them – ridiculous viral news stories about Brits going to Spain and being upset that there were too many Spanish people there. These kinds of things pop up every now and again, and prompt mockery from the vast majority of reasonable people.
With amber lists, testing and isolation, foreign travel is a bit trickier this year. So an anti-independence Twitter account had to get creative with their complaints about local residents daring to speak in their native tongue.
The account, with the bio “A British woman against a separated Scotland” and a Union flag banner reading “proud to be British, proud to support our United Kingdom”, makes their position clear from the outset.
“Son on bus on Lewis,” she announced to her 4000 followers. “The locals spoke Gaelic and made him feel unwelcome. Locals negative attitude towards tourism.”
READ MORE: Why EVERY Scot has a part to play if Gaelic is to be saved
Friendly reminder: Gaelic is the first language of the Outer Hebrides. It is hard, near impossible, to see why people speaking it while travelling around their local area would represent any kind of negativity towards non-Gaelic speakers.
Maybe this became clear to the original poster, who deleted the ridiculous post when it started generating outrage.
Twitter was totally stunned by the suggestion. Duncan Hothersall, a Labour activist and pro-Union campaigner, responded: “This reminds me of my first ever trip abroad as a child, a day trip to Boulogne, during which one of the (very drunk) men from our ferry walked down the main street, shouted ‘I've never seen so many f****** foreigners!’, and then fell off the pavement.”
Others pointed out that the account holder posted only last week calling for Gaelic budgets to be focused on Gaelic-speaking communities, adding: “If Glaswegians want to [learn], they can move to Stornoway”. In other words: Get all the Gaelic speakers on the islands, but if me or my family visit said islands they better speak English for our benefit.
Prior to the tweet’s deletion, fellow Union flag accounts had responded insisting that islanders should speak English because it’s “not the 18th century”.
READ MORE: Government urges Scots to speak Gaelic to save 'fragile' language
Another complained about Gaelic speakers daring to use their native language, writing: “I find it ignoranct [sic]. I wouldn’t go back to any part of the country that is Gaelic speaking for that reason or parts of North Wales for the same reason.”
Throughout the whole exchange, the anti-Gaelic crew have demonstrated the holes in their arguments perfectly. They insist their only concern with having Gaelic signage across Scotland is because few people speak the language – but when communities do use the language, they call them ignorant.
There is certainly ignorance involved in the debate – and it’s not within the Gaelic communities.
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