In a section on verbal nouns in the book Essential Irish Grammar, I came across this sentence: “The correct way of saying ‘beating me’…is do mo bhualadh, and not ag bualadh mé."

That is "beat" in the sense of "to strike someone"? Is there any other way of understanding this word in this particular phrase? It seemed like an odd example, so I'm wondering if it was meant in some other sense.

GRMA.

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Brand new Irish learner inclined to ask questions. Writer, Words & Worlds of New York, a website about language-learning. http://www.ellenjovin.com

Yes, do mo bhualadh = (verb to be +) striking me, hitting me, beating me.
It means "at my hitting" etc, actually.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

That's how I learned it – but with a totally different spelling and, I assume, a different pronunciation.

This is probably just a dialect difference, but instead of "do mo" I was taught:
ag + mo = am
am bhualadh – "at my hitting" (hitting me)

ag + do = ad
ad bhualadh – "at your hitting" (hitting you)

etc.

Right but this is Munster Irish only, as far as I know

In Ulster we say "bhí sé 'mo bhualadh", "bhí sé 'do bhualadh" ("ag do" etc but we drop the "a(g)" in this case)

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Hmmm … I guess maybe it's in Connacht that they say "do mo" – I dunno

Thank you, everyone. This answer was more complicated than I expected!

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Brand new Irish learner inclined to ask questions. Writer, Words & Worlds of New York, a website about language-learning. http://www.ellenjovin.com

I seem to remember that there was a slight difference in meaning, or emphasis, between "do" and "ag" here.
Maybe with the impersonal?
Does that sound familiar?
Wish I'd paid more attention when I had the chance....

So, they don't say "do mo bhualadh" in Munster Irish, nor in Ulster Irish. A reliable person has just let me know that they also don't say "do mo bhualadh" in Connacht Irish, either. It looks like this is an example of one of those things that is in the "official standard", but is not used by any native Gaeltacht speaker.

am bhualadh – Munster

'mo bhualadh – Ulster

go mo bhualadh – Connacht

That's just how do mo bhualadh is pronounced in Connacht.

The "spelling" is do mo bhualadh because that's where it came from, but it is pronounced like go mo bhualadh, because do and de are both pronounced /gə/ in Connacht.

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WARNING: Intermediate speaker - await further opinions, corrections and adjustments before acting on my advice.
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Ah, I see what you mean.

Still, I think my informant was right when he said that nobody actually says "do mo" in Connacht.