Gaelic Academic on speed binge to deal with conference overload

With the launch of the Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic at Glasgow University on Monday and the launch of Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig at Edinburgh University on Tuesday, concerns have been raised about young Gaelic academics getting strung out on cheap and nasty speed to get them through the intense backlog of papers and audiofiles.

”I did three months at DASG archiving recordings of Grimsay fisherman talking about various names for ling and about the time one of them won the Pools but couldn’t tell the minister because it was a sin and also he’d have taken all the money to build a new church hall. The pay got me through a year of my PhD about the St Maol-Rubha and Placenames in Nether Lochaber so I thought I’d head along to the launch. But with Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig the very next day, I just couldn’t keep up the pace.” Said Beathan Mac Ille Odhair, (somewhere indeterminate between 23 and 46).

”I needed something stronger than a Kate Forbes peptalk to keep me awake today, so when my colleague Dr Angus Mackinnon suggested we take advantage of nearby Tollcross we wandered down and scored some cheap amphetamine.” He continued, without footnotes.

”Anyway, it powered me through the afternoon session, where we pretty much looked at a paper which said Gaelic is f***ed because of lazy Leòdhasachs and then another about St Columba’s penchant for making waffles. But then I got heart palpitations and an aran jumper isn’t the best when you’re overheating.”

“Another day of this and I’ll either be hospitalised, break bad or even worse be made chair of Gaelic at Aberdeen Uni!”