Wednesday, August 11, 2010

What's in a name?

We've been speeding full force into August. What a crazy, hot season it has been! Some of you may have noticed the inconsistency on weather predictions for the Chicago area. While thunderstorms and rain have been predicted for many days, very few of those have actually hit Chicago.

If you're curious about whether we'll actually have thunderstorms, check out the radar and hourly weather prediction from Weather.com. Then check it every couple of hours. Generally, storms have been marching back further and further in the day or breaking up entirely. Regularly checking to see how weather systems are developing will give you a more accurate picture of the day's forecast.

This season, we've enjoyed the addition to our staff of Frank and Des from the University College of Cork. Des was sitting in the office one day when he commented on the pronunciation of one of our boats, Cathach.

As rumors go, Cathach was named by Ronan and is Gaelic. The American staff members have struggled with how to pronounce it properly for a long time. People generally vary between ca-thach or cat-hach. As it turns out, neither of these are correct!

Des informed me that it should be pronounced ca-hawk with long a's. It took me a couple of tries to remember how to properly pronounce it.

Des wasn't quite sure what it meant, so we consulted the internet. Turns out Cathach means Battler. So, next time you're on the boat with the green shamrock take on a warrior's pose at the tiller.