‘How’s the serenity’

[BrianK]

Hi everyone, great forum.
My name is Brian and would like the translation for the phrase ‘how’s the serenity’.
I have been doing some homework and came up with ‘ conas tá an suaimhneas’. Can anybody please confirm or correct my effort.
Also the correct pronunciation please.
This phrase will bring my Australian and Irish roots together 🙂
If it makes a difference my ancestors came from Tipperary, a beautiful place I visited 2010.
Thank you in advance,
Cheers Brian

[Onuvanja]

G’day, Brian! 🙂

Sorry for my ignorance, but what exactly does that expression mean? Can you put it in other words or explain it what context it is used?

[BrianK]

It’s a quote from a classic Australian movie ‘The Castle’, relating to a peaceful and tranquil environment. Although in the movie when the phrase is used it is far from serenity, very funny scene and is often quoted by all Aussies. Worth a look for a humourous insight of Australian life, the main characters are the Kerrigan family (possible Irish ancestry 🙂 ).
I hope the context helps.
Cheers Brian.

[Onuvanja]

Thanks for your explanation, Brian! I’m still not sure I get it – the humour’s too deep for me. 🙂

In you own usage (I mean, outside the film), do you use it as a question or is it rather like an ironical statement on the predicament the speaker finds himself to be in? Or am I completely barking up the wrong tree?

[Onuvanja]

Hello again! For all of you who want to give a stab at it, the scene from ‘The Castle’ is available on Youtube. Looks like a great film. 🙂 I suppose you could translate the sentence in a million different ways. Here are a few options, but I’m not very happy with any of them. So, perhaps other contributors can join in?

A leithéide de shuaimhneas! – What serenity!
Nach suaimhneach an saol é seo! – This life is just serene!
Nach muide atá sona sásta anseo! – Aren’t we happy/serene here!
Nach orainn atá an t-ádh! – Aren’t we the lucky ones!

[Héilics Órbhuí]

I believe I’ve heard people say “Cén chaoi a bhfuil an chraic?” (which obviously has a literal meaning) and it seemed that the meaning was somewhat more general, meaning “what’s the situation, what’s it like?” but I could be wrong. It just made me think if “cén chaoi a bhfuil an suaimhneas?” (direct literal translation from the original question, incidentally) wouldn’t be entirely inappropriate. Just a thought – I could be totally off base, but there is something not entirely un-Irish about the Aussie syntax.

[Onuvanja]

True. That’s quite a good idea actually. Such a phrase doesn’t exist in the language, but the analogy with craic is there. Why not settle for that? Don’t know if the other contributors would want to add something…

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