February 27, 2001

The perils of popularity

A few years ago, when I was trying to learn Gaelic, I decided to create a very simple search engine that would make looking up words in Gaelic faster. I used it for my own purposes at first, but a friend convinced me to add it to my web site.

For a few months it just sat there, virtually unused. Then, someone happened to come across it and posted a note on a site somewhere and I was getting hundreds of hits a day.

Soon after, I was contacted by the Gaelic Society of America, inquiring if they could feature the search engine on their home page.

Fine with me.

Just recently, a representative from the BBC contacted me to say they are creating a special Gaelic section, and could they use my search engine on their site.

Sure!

Now I'm starting to get requests from people to translate things into Gaelic, which is a little ironic, considering I don't know how to speak any Gaelic.

So, to all those who have contacted me hoping that I could translate their wedding vows, a name for their villa in the country, an inscription for a ring or any number of other requests: Duilich (I'm sorry).