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If one were to say “Ní ólaim.” would it be understood to mean that they didn’t drink alcohol, as “I don’t drink” is in English? Or would you need to specify alcohol?
I think “ní ólaim” would mean that you don’t drink anything, even water etc.
I think you’d say “ní ólaim alcól” if you want to say you don’t drink alcohol.While strictly speaking Lughaidh is correct, depending on context it could.
For example, if I offered to buy you a beer, and you answered “Ní Ólaim” I’d understand that to mean that you are teetotal.
GRMA, a chairde. Absence of context is what actually sparked my question, something I saw on a t-shirt (“I don’t drink”). I phrased my question badly. So let me ask it another way. If you saw someone wearing a t-shirt that said “Ní ólaim” how would you interpret that? Would an assumption be made that they meant alcohol? Would it actually be taken to mean that they didn’t ingest liquids? Or would it simply be bad Irish, meaningless, absent any specifics or context?
I think I’d probably assume teetotal since the other makes no sense.
Similarly in other languages, e.g Ich Trinke Nicht.
If I saw that, I would either think :
– that it’s a joke because you can’t live if you don’t drink anything
– or that the person doesn’t drink alcohol (but then I wonder why the person is wearing a t-shirt with such sentence on…)Grma, arís, a chairde.
A Lughaidh, I must admit that my first thought was “Why on earth would someone wear that?” But I didn’t see the back of the shirt; that may have provided a context. Or perhaps not. Maybe it was just a really stupid shirt. No shortage of those….:lol:
I’d like to offer an alternative interpretation:
I take “Ní ólaim” to indeed mean “I don’t drink alcohol”. The fact that it is written in Gaeilge conveys a very nice, clever message: “Don’t assume that because I’m Irish I must be a drunk.” I take it as a statement of pride and a rejection of a very hurtful stereotype that gets pinned on our people a lot.
I’d like to offer an alternative interpretation:
I take “Ní ólaim” to indeed mean “I don’t drink alcohol”. The fact that it is written in Gaeilge conveys a very nice, clever message: “Don’t assume that because I’m Irish I must be a drunk.” I take it as a statement of pride and a rejection of a very hurtful stereotype that gets pinned on our people a lot.
Yes, had it been in Irish I could have seen it as rather clever.
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