Saoirse!

…de la Idaho Statesman:

“’The license plate on my green Jeep Wrangler is SAOIRSE,’ Caoimhin (that's the Irish spelling of Kevin, pronounced Keevan) Barr said. "This is the Irish language (Gaelic) word for freedom.

If you saw the movie ‘Braveheart' a decade or ago you will remember the scene where William Wallace is executed. After much torture, he is beheaded. As the axe comes down, his last word is ‘Freedom!' Wallace was a Celt, and since the Scots Gaelic is derived from the Irish (due to the fact that Scotland was under the influence of the Kings of Ulster in the north of Ireland 2,000 years ago), Wallace's actual last word was ‘Saoirse.'

Barr said the word was banned a few years ago by AOL in England, ‘as it was associated with Northern Ireland's desire and fight for freedom from British rule and occupation. I just learned yesterday that the British army is now out of Northern Ireland as a result of peace breaking out between Nationalists and Unionists. There is a new Northern Ireland parliament now, and the British army stood down on July 31. So we are getting closer to peace and freedom (saoirse) at last.

‘For me the word and license plate refer to my own freedom from working in the corporate world. I now have the saoirse to work when and where I want (mostly at Zoo Boise) and to travel to various places in the world, including wildlife safaris in Africa,’ Barr said.”