Garda or Gardaí

sgds

Hi, can anyone help me to settle a disagreement? On the morning breakfast show on Tv3 the news ticker on the bottom of the scree read as follows:
"It has been reported that Garda are closely monitoring the movements of up to thirty individuals"
My son reckons that this is incorrect and that it should say "Gardaí" rather than "Garda".
I firstly think that TV3 wouldn't put up this sentence with incorrect grammar and that the word Garda refers to the force rather than a number of Gardaí.
Who is correct?

mikom

sgds wrote: »

I firstly think that TV3 wouldn't put up this sentence with incorrect grammar

Hard to believe I find that.

beauf

Whats incorrect grammar might also be a common use term though.

Everyone is human even TV3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garda_S%C3%ADoch%C3%A1na

Terminology[edit]
The force was originally named the Civic Guard in English,[1] but in 1923 it became An Garda Síochána in both English and Irish. This is usually translated as "the Guardian(s) of the Peace".[2] Garda Síochána na hÉireann ("of Ireland", Irish pronunciation: [ˈɡaːrd̪ə ˈʃiːxaːn̪ˠə n̪ˠə ˈheːɾʲən̪ˠ]) appears on its logo but is seldom used elsewhere.

The full official title of the force is rarely used in speech. How it is referred to depends on the register of the speaker. It is variously known as An Garda Síochána; the Garda Síochána; the Garda; the Gardaí (plural); and it is popularly called "the guards".[3] Although Garda is singular, in these terms it is used as a collective noun, like police.

An individual officer is called a garda (plural gardaí), or, informally, a "guard". A police station is called a Garda station. Garda is also the name of lowest rank within the force (e.g. "Garda John Murphy", analogous to the British term "constable" or the American "officer", "deputy", "trooper", etc.). "Guard" is the most common form of address used by members of the public speaking to a garda on duty. A female officer was once officially referred to as a bangharda ([ˈbˠanˌɣaːɾˠd̪ˠə]; "female guard"; plural banghardaí). This term was abolished in 1990,[4] but is still used colloquially in place of the now gender-neutral garda.

gaiscioch

sgds wrote: »

Hi, can anyone help me to settle a disagreement? On the morning breakfast show on Tv3 the news ticker on the bottom of the scree read as follows:
"It has been reported that Garda are closely monitoring the movements of up to thirty individuals"
My son reckons that this is incorrect and that it should say "Gardaí" rather than "Garda".
I firstly think that TV3 wouldn't put up this sentence with incorrect grammar and that the word Garda refers to the force rather than a number of Gardaí.
Who is correct?

Garda is correct as the short-form of the collective noun for the force, An Garda Síochána. This is why all Garda vehicles have the word 'Garda' written on the side of them. The Garda (police force) released a statement... a garda (policeman/woman) came to the door but three gardaí (policemen/women) came to the door. Note capital letter for the short-form of the force, Garda. All are correct. To call the force "Gardaí" would mean "Policemen/women". That wouldn't look right at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAHR1tk5xvU

MathsManiac

gaiscioch wrote: »

Garda is correct as the short-form of the collective noun for the force, An Garda Síochána. This is why all Garda vehicles have the word 'Garda' written on the side of them. The Garda (police force) released a statement... a garda (policeman/woman) came to the door but three gardaí (policemen/women) came to the door. Note capital letter for the short-form of the force, Garda. All are correct. To call the force "Gardaí" would mean "Policemen/women". That wouldn't look right at all.

I agree with all of this. But if "Garda" is being used as the shortened form for the force, it needs to be "An Garda" or "the Garda", rather than just "Garda" (unless being used as an adjective, as in "Garda car"). Also, it follows the normal rules for collective nouns in terms of singular/plural.

The net effect of all this is that the original sentence is not correct, albeit perhaps not in the way originally suggested.

That is, "It has been reported that Garda are closely monitoring the movements of up to thirty individuals" is not correct. If "Garda" is to refer to the force here (as I think was intended,) it needs a definite article, either in Irish or English, and takes the singular in this context.
Any of the following would be ok:
"It has been reported that An Garda is closely monitoring the movements of up to thirty individuals." (Best option, in my view, if the force as a collective is the intention.)
"It has been reported that the Garda is closely monitoring the movements of up to thirty individuals." (Still correct, but more likely to cause momentary confusion in interpretation as to whether it's the force as a whole or one specific member.)
"It has been reported that gardaí are closely monitoring the movements of up to thirty individuals." (Also correct, but this time referring to some individuals rather than the force collectively.)

tac foley

'The tribes of Ireland are permanently disunited by what would appear, at a cursury glance, to be the 'sharing' of a common language'.

tac

Yakuza

MM has summarised it perfectly, +1