A SIMPLE £3.99 coir door mat is making waves in Gaelic-speaking online communities in the run-up to the Christmas period.
European supermarket Lidl is stocking “Nollaig Chridheil” (Merry Christmas) door mats across its Scottish stores.
It comes after the chain sold controversial Gaelic door mats earlier this year. The previous coir mats featured the outline of a terrier in a Tartan jumper and were meant to read welcome home, but the text stated “Dachaigh failte”, which means “home welcome”.
READ MORE: Joy Dunlop announces first ever World Gaelic Week
Gaelic speakers declared it “word salad” and rated it “1/10 for effort”, with lecturer James Eglinton suggesting rival supermarket Aldi should design an alternative. He suggested working in collaboration with someone who “actually speaks Gaidhlig”.
Now the chain appears to have redeemed itself with the community, as Gaelic-speaking groups online proudly share photos and even memes about the new Christmas product.
The mat comes in three different colours and designs, and each costs £3.99.
On the Scottish Gaelic Duolingo group page – a space for the 300,000 people registered to learn the language on the app – members across the country share their tales of where to find the in-demand product.
Others living outside of Scotland request information on how to get their hands on their popular item, and suggest they can make DIY versions themselves.
On Twitter, Murdo MacSween wrote that it was “great” to see the mats for sale in Glasgow’s Partick area, while Ruth Whitney said she took an “emergency trip” to her local Lidl to grab one after seeing it shared in a Gaelic Facebook group.
- “is that the…”
— mz. ʀᴋ (@rachelkatemc) November 16, 2021
- “Nollaig Chridheil Lidl Doormat? Yes it is” pic.twitter.com/EYjuLbFySr
The mats are so popular that they have become a meme – with Gaelic speaking @rachelkatemc offering a brilliant version of a well-known Devil Wears Prada image.
In the film, Anne Hathaway’s character makes her colleagues jealous by walking in wearing in-demand Chanel Boots. In the new meme, Hathaway is edited to be proudly showing off the Christmas door mat.
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