The existence of a dialect continuum doesn't make them the same language. By that logic, Dutch and German are the same.

Irish and Scottish are very similar, but they are not mutually intelligible. It's very annoying when people use the word "Gaelic" because I never know which language they're referring to. Just say "Scottish"/"Scottish Gaelic", "Irish", or "The Gaelic languages".

> Irish and Scottish are very similar, but they are not mutually intelligible

Not true.

They are mutually intelligible to a high degree. Native speakers, speaking slowly and clearly can understand most of what each other are saying.

I speak some Irish and have personal experience of this.

Yeah, to a degree, my dad speaks Irish and he says the same. But it's not quite enough to be considered the same language. It's comparable to Norwegian and Swedish, or Portuguese and Spanish.

Irish speaker here who has attempted to learn some Scottish Gaelic, and currently lives in Denmark, I think the Norwegian-Swedish comparison is probably apt. Although I think Irish/Scottish Gaelic are possibly even more divergent than that.

Side note: as an Irish speaker, reading Manx Gaelic, with its Welsh/English derived spelling system feels like what I imagine having a stroke feels like.

> Side note: as an Irish speaker, reading Manx Gaelic, with its Welsh/English derived spelling system feels like what I imagine having a stroke feels like.

Ha! That's a great description for how completely unsettling reading Manx is.

> Irish and Scottish are very similar, but they are not mutually intelligible. It's very annoying when people use the word "Gaelic" because I never know which language they're referring to. Just say "Scottish"/"Scottish Gaelic", "Irish", or "The Gaelic languages".

Are they American? Then they mean Irish.

Are they Scottish? Then they mean Scottish Gaelic.

Are they Irish? Trick question, Irish people don't use the word.

Northern (Donegal) Irish is to some extent mutually intelligible with Scottish, but it is very different from the eastern and southern varieties. The notion of the dialect "continuum" is a bit misleading here since the three varieties of Irish have been separated by English speaking regions for some time, and there are no intermediate forms.

I've often heard "Irish" for Irish and "Gaelic" for the Scottish one. Is that not used systematically?

Yes, Irish in called Irish in English and never Gaelic, which is used as an adjective. For example, the Gaelic Athletic Association.

In Irish, Irish is Gaeilge.

A lot of people call Irish "Gaelic" colloquially. I hear it especially often from Americans. No idea how common it is in more formal settings.