Comments on: Why do we have to go on about “what it means to be Irish”?

By: Tri

Tri — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:39:19 +0000

I think that Irish are the only ones who actually swear affectionately - like when someone tells us something and we say, smiling - “ah fuck off, ”
or “I fucking love this,”
or “I fucking love you,”…

By: Tom Ennis

Tom Ennis — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:21:18 +0000

I think Shane you nailed AEs Irishness that she couldn’t identify: ‘Only in Ireland would a light parlour game turn into a serious examination of our identity’.
Despite what you may think AE, national introspection is not peculiar to Ireland. Its hardly unreasonable for people to occasionly examine what it means, if it means anything, to be from a place, especially with lighthearted lists of supposed national traits.
‘I AM A HUMAN BEING as the elephant man put it so eloquently. Not an Irish human being. Just a human being.’ really AE? thats straying into Thatcher’s ‘there is no society’ territory.
I probably dislike or even despise as many of the cod Oirish things you do and there is much that is despicable about the ‘Old’ Ireland but the New Ireland is no angel either. Despite this, whenever I go to the hometown or even arriving back in Dublin from overseas, I get a little buzz, a sense of place.
And I stand my round (even if someone is suddenly drinking doubles…)

By: David Bowie

David Bowie — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:03:28 +0000

Merry fucking Christmas, everyone.

I need a drink.

By: JD

JD — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:54:56 +0000

Ah for fufuckingcking sake, give it a rest lads!

By: Fergal

Fergal — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:49:52 +0000

You called it fairly Shane. I knew I was well beaten when Queenie turned up with her little gem

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:44:42 +0000

Fergal, it’s also another example of the kind of thing that would spruce up the letters page. And I hope you weren’t offended at being overlooked for your “top fucking five”. it was good, but it was no “ourfuckingselves”.

By: Fergal

Fergal — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:41:25 +0000

“Ourfuckingselves” is indeed outstanding. Post of the day, not to mention infix (look it up) of the day.

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:38:05 +0000

Queenie - For the surprise twist with the language at the end there, you win Post of the Day. Your prize is only the honour of winning, of course. I have nothing else to give.

By: Fergal

Fergal — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:30:37 +0000

Hey I’m not arguing with you Dave, I just thought I’d tell you something funny my friend said.

Though if you really do want an argument, I’ll point out that I never said Australians or Americans swore more than us, just that swearing isn’t uniquely Irish. I’ll grant you though that we are very good swearers. Certainly, I’d put us in the top fucking five.

By: Queenie

Queenie — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:21:22 +0000

As an Irish person living abroad, I find the fact that the rest of the world takes time out to celebrate our national day strange but really reassuring. Maybe the question we need to ask ourfuckingselves is why do they do that?