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A Canadian website called Irish a "forgotten language" after RuPaul's tweet as Gaeilge

Eh, rude.

IF YOU FOUND yourself under a rock all day yesterday, you might have missed world famous drag queen RuPaul tweeting in Irish.

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She sent the tweet in support of her bae Michelle Visage, who’s currently acting as a judge on Ireland’s Got Talent.

People went MAD for it, obvs. Everyone, except a website called On The A Side.

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‘Forgotten language’? Excuse me?

Taking a quick look at your Twitter feed on Friday morning, you might have done a double-take at a certain tweet posted by the reigning empress of drag, RuPaul. Maybe it made no sense to you.
It was written in a strange, ancient language that very few RuPaul Drag Race fans in Canada or the US would instantly recognise. Yes, RuPaul had tweeted in Irish, also known as Gaeilge or Gaelic.

The article goes on to explain to translate the tweet, and outline it’s cultural significance. It also explained how the number of daily speakers is on the decline.

The schools are terrible at teaching it. In a country with one of the highest birthrates in Europe, people who speak the language on a daily basis are dwindling. Irish governments have consecutively failed to truly boost the language.
This tweet sent in a language that is struggling to stay alive and relevant in the 21st century — one that has often been unfairly portrayed as belonging to a conservative, religious past. That’s not far from the truth, the most common form of saying hello in the language involves an invocation of God.”

Twitter was not here for the Canadian shade.

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One Twitter decided to share some knowledge about the language beyond the clickbait-y tweet.

Irish has more than 70K daily speakers outside the system of education. And more than 1M of people with some knowledge.  A bit subjective and evaluative statement you have there. Minority language, not forgotten.”

You tell ‘em, sis!

In fairness to the writer, they did include by saying:

In fairness, RuPaul’s decision to use the language gives these activists a much-needed boost, granting them a platform amongst her millions of fans.

But was there a need for this line?

In choosing to tweet 46 words in this weird, irregular, hard-to-learn language, the runway queen has helped to guide young, internet-savvy fans towards this unique language.”

The shade of it all.

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