Fair Play duit a Facebook!

Up until recently I have hated Facebook with a burning passion; unlike Bebo it never uploads my photos, refuses to let me perve on people I vaguely/don't know, simply will not entertain the idea of allowing me to add any of its applications or do anything that might make the experience of using it even minutely engaging, and is just made of poo to be honest. That was my opinion up until recently, this is, up until my discovery of FACEBOOK AS GAEILGE, which, as I will explain, is a revelation that has, if it has not changed my life or me as a person in really any way, at least given me a few brief moments of mildly satisfactory life experience being the nerd that I am.

I had heard about how Facebook was making itself available in different languages when everyone started talking about the comical (for some...) 'Pirate Language' which is basically just Facebook in English with 'arr!'s all over the place (very annoying... or 'quirky and fun', if you happen to be female, and retarded). Now this prompts two thoughts: firstly that the idea that Facebook has actually become so advanced that it could actually programme itself in new languages independently is pretty chilling, so much so that you may actually switch off your computer and burn it, lock it in a cage, roll it up in a carpet and throw it off a bridge, and secondly that this could be a very useful feature for users of Facebook who speak some of the less well-known languages of the world.

After much infuriating messing about trying to install the 'Translations' application onto my profile involving a lot of switching back and forth between Mozilla, Safari and Explorer (perish the thought!), the pressing of the refresh button approximately 376, 228 times, and ordering some advanced scientific lab equipment on e-bay that would magnify my computer screen sufficiently that I could actually locate the ovum-sized icon on my profile allowing me to access the application, I succeeded in setting the thing up. Oh was I pleased with what I found! My whole page was translated instantly into (almost) flawless Irish, feeding deliciously into my delusions about Irish having a place in modern society.

In nerdy raptures did I find myself. This was because of the ingenious idea behind Translations: instead of going to the trouble of employing people who are fluent in the many obscure languages Facebook gives you, yes you the opportunity to translate everything yourself! And then you vote for the most appropriate versions of everything from 'Send your friend a gift of a Juno Burger Phone' to 'Rawanda Jackson has tagged you in her photo album "Christmas in TJ" ' and these become incorporated into your page according to popular opinion of which translations are best. Needless to say I immediately began voting, sighing happily to myself as I came across particularly eloquent sentences and swooping down in annoyance to correct any grammatical errors. I'm going to go so far as to use the phrase 'I was in my element'.

From there my interest has just dissipated, and I'm kind of over it now. However, I'm keeping my profile as Gaeilge: 'is tá sé i bhfad níos fearr dá bharr.