Dear Spurtle
Regarding your Briefly item in Issue 276, of course there will be no-one who doesn’t understand the English sign: ‘Police Station’. To display the Gaelic language sign at Gayfield Square is, in my eyes, a sign of respect to some of us who are still bilingual.
It is a proud display of on old, still spoken language, once widely prevalent. It is also a reminder of our past history of suppressing a native language of Scotland.
It might just teach some learners, it might just make some people think, and therefore could well be ‘of immense benefit to ‘any non-Gaelic speaker’, contrary to your rather degrading remark.
Gaelic language signs should never be ridiculed by you, as you did here, especially as you are the progressively minded ‘Broughton’s Independent stirrer’.
I wasn’t born in Scotland, but have lived here for 40 years. I feel privileged and honoured to have been allowed to learn some Gaelic and learn about its history of suppression.
Helga Rhein
(Claremont Bank)