Breandán wrote:
Conas go ndéanfaidh mé gáire amárach nuair nach bhfuil mé ábalta fiú miongháire a dhéanamh inniu? (an Caighdeán Oifigiúil) (done to the best of my abilities—make sure to get corrections from people who actually speak CO!)
I'd say
Conas a dhéanfaidh... (just like
Conas atá tú as opposed to
Conas a bhfuil tú or
Conas go bhfuil tú.
About
amáireach - I'd like to ask this question yet again, especially since Lughaidh is around: Surely the CO never prescribed anything other than grammar rules and general spelling rules. Other than the small dictionary at the back of the CO book, I don't see much evidence of one word or phrase being more standard than another. Perhaps FGB should be seen as the source of standard vocabulary (although even suggesting there should be a 'standard vocabulary' in any language is absurd, given the continually changing nature of language). FGB gives
prátaí / préataí / fataí. I don't understand how some people are reluctant to use
préataí for example because they want to use the CO and they feel
prátaí is the standard. Who says
préataí isn't caighdeánach?
Spelling, then, is probably what is being referred to when we talk about what is standard and what is not - not just general rules but spellings of individual words. For this, as in English or French, it is usual to check a dictionary. FGB gives
amárach but also says
amárach = amáireach.
So, I don't want to get into the debate about the merits or otherwise of the CO. I would just like clarity on whether the CO actually precludes the use of individual words - let's say
fosta, for example, instead of
freisin or
leis or
chomh maith or whatever.