Bertiespeak or Bertie-speak is a way of speaking the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

as spoken by former Irish

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served ...

. Ahern's use of Bertiespeak has been credited as playing an integral part in the

Northern Ireland peace process The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political develop ...

and former

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

was noted on at least one occasion to have allowed Ahern to use Bertiespeak when confronted with a tricky question posed by a journalist. On another occasion when Unionists on a visit to

Government Buildings Government Buildings () is a large Edwardian building enclosing a quadrangle on Merrion Street in Dublin, Ireland, in which several key offices of the Government of Ireland are located. Among the offices of State located in the building are: ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

made a complaint Ahern was said to have "drowned" them "in a torrent of Bertie-speak", according to

Deaglán De Bréadún Deaglán de Bréadún, Irish journalist and author. Education Deaglán de Bréadún was educated at Synge Street CBS, University College Dublin, Tulsa University in Oklahoma and, more recently, Trinity College Dublin. Work An award-winning journ ...

. References to Bertiespeak appeared regularly in the Irish media during Ahern's administration.

Will Hanafin William Hanafin is an Irish journalist, researcher, television producer and radio presenter from Youghal, County Cork. Hanafin was a print journalist with the ''Irish Examiner'' before working as a researcher on '' The Late Late Show''. He spen ...

's ''De Little Book of Bertie'', published in 2001, features numerous examples of Bertiespeak.

Description

Bertiespeak has been described by witnesses as being constructed of sentences which are "coherent and logical" when taken individually but are "calculated to bemuse and mystify" when said consecutively, with one observer remarking: "You would want to be

Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

to understand it". Pat Leahy, writing in ''

The Sunday Business Post The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland. Founding to Irish financial crisi ...

'' in 2002, suggested in relation to Ahern's speech, "one is seldom in doubt about what he means, but there is sometimes confusion over just what he is actually saying" before citing one example from a press conference during which Ahern said "neutrality is not and never has been anything but absolutely clear". ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' book reviewer Edward King described Bertiespeak as being "characterised by a combination of

malapropism A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An exam ...

s, grammatical infelicities and general confusion" and said the following was the most famous example of Bertiespeak:

Examples of use

One example of Bertie-speak noticed by the Irish media (''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...

'') occurred in 2003 while Ahern was addressing

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

and referred to "the road map", the

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peace plan, as "the road crash" on several occasions. Another famous example is his call for people not to "upset the apple tart". Political opponents too have recognised Bertiespeak. Then Labour Party TD

Derek McDowell Derek McDowell (born 11 September 1958) is an Irish former Labour Party politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1992 to 2002, and member of Seanad Éireann from 2002 to 2007. McDowell was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1989 general el ...

, speaking at the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service on 19 April 2000, is recorded as having registered his confusion at some of Ahern's points: Speaking of media opposition to his Stadium Ireland proposal in 2002, Ahern complained: "I’ll not have it whinged to death in the press".

Book

''De Little Book of Bertie'', written by

and published by Merlin Publishing in October 2001, was the first book dedicated to Bertiespeak. As part of his research Hanafin browsed newspapers and watched television programmes which featured Ahern. Hanafin's personal favourite is: "People should stop throwing white elephants and red herrings at each other".

References

{{Reflist Bertie Ahern Forms of English Terms for quotations of notable persons

Description

Examples of use

Book

See also

References