A US cop made an Irish "Blue Lives Matter" shirt that accidentally said "Black Lives Matter"

This is one of my personal favorite bits of Schadenfreude in the world.

This photo was taken by Karen Reshkin at the 2016 Milwaukee Irish Fest, and depicts a somewhat Irish-inspired riff on the standard Blue Lives Matter fascist fashion chic. Except no one explained to this idiot cop how translations work, especially when it comes to idioms.

A blogger named the Geeky Gaeilgeoir breaks this hilariously ironic failure with eloquent detail, and a much firmer grasp of the Irish language than I have. But essentially, this mean translated individual word of "Blue Lives Matter" without considering context or grammar. "Gorm" is indeed "blue." But "chonai" means "lives" with a short "i," as in, "I live here." And "abhar" means "matter," yes, but in the noun form - like a subject matter, or a material, as opposed to the verb of "mattering."

The syntax is all wrong, too. And that helps with the absurdity. Essentially, this shirt doesn't say anything.

But the real chef-kiss moment is with the word "Blue." "Gorm" is, technically, correct...in a certain context:

When color is used to describe a person in Irish, it typically refers to hair color. For example An bhean rua: The red-haired woman.

There are exceptions, of course: For example, Na fir bhui (The orange/yellow men") is used to refer to members of the Orange Order because of the color of their sashes. But blue/gorm" would not be used to refer to police officers as a group. That's an American thing.

All that having been said, though, here's the lovely, delicious irony: When the word gorm is used in reference to people, guess what it means?

It means Black."

What a glorious, glorious self-own.

The Geeky Gaeilgeoir goes way more in-depth with her explanation, and it's especially if you (like me) get a kick of linguistics.

Even Racists get the blues [The Geeky Gaeilgeoir]