Ta mee er jeet dy ve ny smoo granganagh er y gherrid.

Lesh eash dy vea ta creenaght as tushtey cheet ort, as lesh shoh foddee oo toiggal as goaill taitnys jeh’* theihll ayns aght smoo dowin. Agh ny s’menkey dou hene ta foddeeaght as graih son reddyn nhione dou freayll fo smaght lowaltys as foshlaght da eieyn noa.

Noddym gymmydey my eash, myr leshtal son y ghranganys aym? Foddee bit beg, agh ta granganys, neu-lowaltys, as dy ’irriney, poullraghey, lheeinaghey yn theihll feer as yn theihll soyllee ain ny laghyn t’ayn jiu, er lhiam.

Veign’s my vreagerey my dooyrt mee dy row mee red erbee agh my noid da Brexit as ny fadeyryn as cleayneyderyn echey, as adsyn jannoo ymmyd jeh conrieughtyn far-skeealeragh jeh laghyn t’er *’gholl shaghey as noidys da joarreeyn son cosney. Myr shen, tra va’* troddan bainney messagh cheet rish shiaghtin ny ghaa er dy henney, ghow mee taitnys oolagh ass surranse ny politickeyryn hooar bainney messagh orroo.

Va mee booiagh dy row pobble ayn va caggey nyn noi fy yerrey hoal, cha nee lesh feeridyn nagh vel feeu ny laghyn t’ayn jiu, agh lesh jough bainnagh, gleiynagh as breinn. Ta mee toiggal nagh vel eh kiart as kenjal dy yannoo lheid my shoh, agh ayns seihll raad t’eh jeeaghyn dou dy vel meecheeayllid yn red ta reill, cha noddym freayll rish reillyn cadjin. Cre’* aght share son caggey noi meecheeayllid na jannoo ymmyd jeh meecheeayllid eh hene?

Choud’s va’* taitnys gyn neayrey va mee goaill veih "ceau bainney messagh" soie er y chooinsheanse aym, ghow mee toshiaght er arganey beg lesh Gaelgeyryn cumraagagh mychione jannoo focklyn Gaelgagh noa, er y fa nagh row ad coontey money jeh focklyn va crooit ain hannah.

Myr ta’* cliaghtey ec peiagh ta gaase ny shinney foddee, b’laik lhiam ny focklyn v’ayn hannah as va jymmoose cheet orrym beggan dy row lhing ny Gaelgeyryn noa gobbal ny focklyn bynney as bare lhiam. "Quoi adsyn, ny spithagyn beggey shoh lesh ny eieyn noa oc, nagh vel er ve ayn rish tammylt beg, ta meearrymaghey adsyn t’er *’gholl shaghey" ghow mee toshiaght er smooinaghtyn.

Ayns my aegid va mee goaill moyrn ass ve my "spithag beg lesh eieyn noa" as dy tappee ta mee bwooiagh goaill rish, ren mee toiggal marranys yn granganys v’ayms as ren mee lhiggey da’* arganeys lheie ersooyl lesh spotch. Ta rour mynchengaghyn mygeayrt yn theihll jeant faase kyndagh rish arganey eddyr troddanee ta caggey eddyr oc hene er mynpoyntyn neufeeu lesh ooilley yn bree crooagh oc ceaut er fardailys ayns ynnyd jeh reddyn ymmydoil. S’treisht lhiam dy jean Gaelgeyryn cur yn smooinaght shoh heose er ash dou my vees eh jeeaghyn daue dy vel mee lhiggey stiagh neu-lowaltys ayns my smooinaght reesht.

Agh ny yei shen as ooilley, ta mee foast boirit mychione gaue ny cummaghtyn ta jannoo scoltaghyn dowin mooarey foddey beayn ayns ny boodeeysyn ain. Ta ouyrys aym dy bee caggey ayn kyndagh rish bainney messagh ny jannoo raghyn as focklyn noa, agh ta shennaghys gynsaghey dooin dy vel neu-lowaltys as poullraghey nyn vadeyryn jeh guinn as streeu.

Ta’* aght ta streeuailtee cur nyn marelyn lesh greesaghey as shickyrys, cur ayns my smooinaght shennaghys yn Oarpey ayns ny 1930yn roish yn Nah Caggey Vooar. S’treisht lhiam dy vodmayd cheet dy ve smoo surrallagh as coardailagh dy gerrid as shagney shennaghys soie orrin reesht.

I’ve found myself getting increasingly grumpy of late.

As you get older your life experiences give you the wisdom and knowledge to more fully understand and enjoy the world, but with age I’m finding that nostalgia and fondness for familiarity are increasingly trumping tolerance and openness to new ideas.

Can I use my advancing years as an excuse for grumpiness?

Perhaps a bit, but there is a more widespread grumpiness, intolerance or perhaps more accurately polarization of views which seems all-pervasive in our real and virtual lives.

I’m no big fan of Brexit and its prophets and cheerleaders who it seems to me have played on romantic notions of the past and added an unhealthy sprinkling of it’s all the foreigners’ fault. So, when the milk-shaking phase appeared a few weeks ago I rather guiltily found pleasure in the misfortune of those milk-shaked.

I was pleased that finally people were fighting back, not with facts which seem decreasingly important in our lives, but with sticky, smelly, milky drinks. I know it’s wrong to do such things but in a world in which absurdity appears to rule, normal rules no longer apply. What better way to fight absurdity than by using absurdity itself?

At the same time as my conscience was being rattled by the shameless delight I was taking from ’milk-shaking’, I was entering a modest dispute with some fellow Manx speakers over making up new words in Manx because they didn’t like some words previously created.

True to my middle-aged stereotype I rather liked the words that already existed and felt a degree of indignation that in some way these words were no longer acceptable for newer generations of Manx speakers

’Who do these young pups think they are, coming late in the day to the table with their new ideas and disrespecting those who went before them?’ I began to think.

As someone who had prided himself on being a "young pup with new ideas" in my youth I rather quickly realized the error of my ways and found a way to mollify the argument. So many small languages have ended up with activists fighting among themselves as a result of intolerance, with all their creative energy going into the fight rather than improving the position of their language. Hopefully by writing about this here, I will be reminded by fellow Manx language activists if I allow intolerance to creep back into my thinking.

I do worry though about the forces that are in danger of causing deep and lasting conflict and division in our communities. I doubt that we’ll go to war over milkshakes or coining new words and phrases, but throughout history, intolerance and polarisation have been the prophets of pain and conflict.

The excitement and certainty with which opposing sides assert their views these days reminds me of Europe in the 1930s. Let’s hope that we can learn to compromise and resolve our differences before history repeats itself.