Blogger ridiculed over Gaelic road signs

Local MSP Kate Forbes has slammed a blogger who blamed road signs also featuring the Gaelic name for Fort William for getting lost.

Effie Deans was ridiculed on social media last week after saying the signs should be in one language, not both English and Gaelic.

She said she had got ‘lost endlessly searching for Fort William among all the An Gearasdans' and claimed her concern was because the dual language signs made driving in the Highlands ‘dangerous'.

Online magazine Bella Caledonia commented: ‘The sublime irony of Effie Deans careering around the Highlands confused by all the garrisons has warmed my heart this Friday.

‘She's like a post-imperial psychotic sat nav gone wrong. I do like her call for signs in one language or the other though. Gaelic it is?'

Others highlighted the fact there were only two main roads into Fort William so wondered how difficult it actually was to find the town.

Commenting, Ms Forbes, herself a Gaelic speaker, said: ‘If the blogger in question got lost, then one might wonder if she's fit to drive at all. Thousands of visitors and locals alike travel these roads and use these road signs without much difficulty.

‘It never ceases to amaze me how exercised people get about road signs. At a time of global crisis, I can think of a long list of issues that are worthy of a blog post - Gaelic road signs isn't one of them.

‘Ironically, of course, there are plenty of Gaelicspeaking, pro-union people in the Highlands and Islands who watch in disbelief as ignorant people like this blogger trying to turn their language into a constitutional issue.

‘I'm sure they'd be delighted if bloggers like this dealt with real issues, rather than tired tropes.'