Today I seem to be Oirish

[gothwalk]

It's cold, and it's not snowing. This is annoying, because over in London, it's snowing like a good thing. I'm jealous.

However, I have a new Dungeon, and some ideas, and an update project that's more a simple redesign to be getting on with, so things could be worse. And I'm really enjoying the copy of Understanding Earth that I got so as to brush up on basic geology.

For your further entertainment, a conversation overheard yesterday in the DART station. All of this is delivered in good Irish country accents, except where noted:

Blonde Girl: ... fucking tourists.
Dark-haired Guy: Tourists in January?
Blonde Girl: Yeah. Masses of them. Cos some wanker chalked in "Corned Beef and Cabbage" on the menu.
Dark-haired Guy: Shit *starting to laugh*
Blonde Girl: So we had them coming in all day going *imitates American drawl* We're lookin' for some real irish food, can y'all fix us some cabbage and corned beef?
Dark-haired guy: *now laughing*
Blonde Girl: And by the fifth or so, I was like, look, we don't serve it, why do you think we serve it, it's not Irish, it's about as fuckin' Irish as Independence Day!

And further, I'm told by a Ballina native that a perfume ad in a chemsist's window there was objected to in a big way by the Mayor - it was apparently a rather tasteful nude. His words were along the lines of: "Take it down, it's offensive to women. It's Christmas, and they've enough to be getting on with with the shopping and cooking and cleaning." And he took the ad home.

Still not snowing.

Comments

[caturah.livejournal.com]

Yeah but try dealing with people who, in that really high-pitched nasal whine, keep asking...

"Have you got are tri-color (yes you can hear the american spelling in hte way they talk) fabrics?"

And resisting the temptation to answer "no, madam, this is a tasteful fabric shop"

But there was no tourist season last year in Hickeys! Woohoo!

[loupblanc.livejournal.com]

It's snowing over the Lothians too :p~~

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I LOVE both the anecdotes. :D

The first one reminds me of a funny folksong, sung and written by an Irish singer who was trying to gig in the US. The chorus: "you're not Irish, you can't be Irish, you don't know 'Danny Boy,' or 'Tura Lura Lura,' or..."

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

I really... REALLY would like to haar that song some time. *grins* I don't suppose he was a busker, was he? Anywhere in the Boston area?

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I know he's gigged in the Boston area; he did an interview on WERS (88.9) which was when I first heard the song, as well as how he was inspired to write it. Unfortunately, I'm totally blanking on his name right now.

I've heard the song on WERS's Coffeehouse show, though; you might try emailing them at coffeehouse@wers.org . They're usually pretty good at locating songs from vague descriptions and a few lines, though I mostly bug them by phone. :)

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

Yeah- I usually listen to the coffeehouse in the morning. Discovered them recently and decided to support them, too. They didn't know a couple of folk artists I like, though, which is sad.

Hmm. I will have to make that call some time. Thanks!

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

I would also like to apologize on behalf of all stupid Americans. I discovered only a couple of years ago that cabbage and corned beef only came into fashion with the Irish when they were over here and they had little else to cook.

It's stuff like this that makes it more convenient for me to travel around the world and say I'm Canadian. Le sigh.

Oh. And not to rub it in. But. SNOW! *dances* Though it stopped snowing about half an hour ago.

[silme.livejournal.com]

It snowed off and on all day down here in southern England. My students went mad for it; we all had a difficult time maintaing their attention. For some, it was the first time they'd seen snow. For others, it was the first time in a while. And for me, who spent 21 years in Colorado prior to moving here, I asked, "What snow?" :) They were little, tiny flurries -- barely a dusting... But it was a big deal here. *sigh* ;)

But as an American who is a permanent resident in another country, I sympathise about the tourists. ;)

[elorie.livejournal.com]

Y'know, that can go both ways...Europeans, in my experience, seem to think that:

Americans all just got off the boat from somewhere
If you're Native or part Native, you should be wearing feathers
What they see on TV accurately portrays America and Americans
And, of course, the prime annoyance for some of us, that "Yank" is a synonym for "American"

I had someone, coincidentally from Ireland, ask me where my parents were from. I blinked and said, "ummm. Coweta County."

"No, everyone's from somewhere, where were your grandparents from? Before that?"

"Er. South Carolina. On my mother's side."

**getting impatient" "But where did your family come from before that? Originally?"

Me: "Oh. Virginia."

Then there's the habit European writers have of coming over here and trying to Explain America....it started with de Tocqueville, and shows no signs of letting up. It's true that it scores far lower on the annoyance scale than asking for immigrant food in Ireland (or wherever) fifty times in a day, but I think it makes up for it with sheer pretentiousness....

[phantom_wolfboy]

Dear Sir:

I believe your snow has been accidentally mis-shipped to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Please come and collect it, as the Post Office is refusing to ship it back without proper postage and I do not have sufficient stamps to move an entire weather system.

Yours Sincerely,

P. Wolfboy