Don’t know what made this spring to mind, but it seems like a good day for it.
#5: Attitude – I suppose we must think of this in the past tense, since Ireland is wimping out in the face of jihadist aggression as quickly as the rest of western Europe. However, there was a time when the stereotypical Irish combination of wit, charm, pugnacity and home-spun wisdom set the gold standard for a national identity. If you subtract the IRA and “the troubles” (OK, and a long list of other atrocities on both sides) the genteel parts of the eternal feud between the Irish and the English is marvelously entertaining and there’s no doubt that the Irish get the best of it. Few things please an Irishman more than yanking the tail of the stuffy English lion and they do it so damned well.
And let us not forget the women. Can you beat Irish-women? (Actually, sometimes it’s necessary, and I know this because my blushing bride has Irish blood in her). With apologies to you Nordic types, southern belles and all the rest of the charming ladies who visit these pages, the fiery, red-haired Irish lass, in my book anyway, trumps all.
#4: The Quiet Man – Still the definitive Hollywood classic on Ireland. One of John Wayne’s best performances and Maureen O’Hara is marvelous as always, but Barry Fitzgerald steals the show. The Quiet Man is one of those movies I could watch every week and it would never get old.
#3: Beer – Guinness for me, thank you very much.
#2: Legends – I’m not talking about the rainbows, pots of gold and Lucky Charms here.  Rather, I’m referring to the rich mythological lore that weaves through Irish folk history. Whether it’s tales of kings like Conchobar mac Nessa, or simply the local story about the banshee who foresaw the tragic death of poor Daniel Fitzpatrick who used to live down the road, few peoples can spin a yarn like the Irish.
#1: Maureen O’Hara – Because she’s hot. Because she’s smart. Because she’s got the kind of temper that makes one certain she’s a firecracker in the sack. Because she could charm the mustache off of Rufus’ face. You all may argue with the rest, but as far as the top spot goes: there is no argument.
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As for Irish women, why do you think the Vikings settled the place?
Mrs. Firefly is a redhead, and, although she’s 100% German, everyone mistakes her for Irish based on her appearance. Apparently some Vikings took a few of the gals home with them…
I agree with all you wrote, Rich. If you’ve never had a Guiness in Ireland you’ve missed a real treat.
(I assume if this would have been a top six Lucky Charms would have made the list? They are magically delicious.)
1.
“The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I’m black and I’m proud.”
“Soul is the music people understand. Sure it’s basic and it’s simple. But it’s something else ’cause, ’cause, ’cause it’s honest, that’s it. Its honest. There’s no fuckin’ bullshit. It sticks its neck out and says it straight from the heart. Sure there’s a lot of different music you can get off on but soul is more than that. It takes you somewhere else. It grabs you by the balls and lifts you above the shite.”
2. Jim Sheridan. Plus, after “The Wanderer,” the best quasi-U2 song since Achtung Baby.
3. The best non-Fugitive scene Harrison Ford’s had in the last 20 years.
1. Jameson’s whiskey. Jameson didn’t invent it. God did, so that the Irish couldn’t rule the world.
2. The people- nicest in the world. I’ve been to Ireland three times, and the people there have been frendlier, more gracious and more helpful to a befuddled tourist than I could ever have imagined. (I’ve heard Australians might give them a run for their money in the nice department, but I don’t know because I’ve never been there).
3. Dublin. Because I’ve never seen so many beautiful women walking around in one place before. They must put something in the water there (or should I say, they must put something in the Guinness, since I’ve never actually seen proof that Irishmen drink water).
4. The Cranberries. Not only were they an amazing rock band with a smoking hot lead singer, but they actually had the cajones to make an anti-terrorist rock song while the Troubles were still going on in their own country. If only today’s rock bands had that kind of gumption.
5. The fact that they haven’t gone to war with Hollywood for butchering their accent in every movie possible.
They put the water in the Smithwicks, I think.
4. Shane MacGowan & Co.
Not much one can add to this save for a gratitude to the Irish for confession. Those of us who are Catholic and make a regular practice of going to confession should be mindful that confession was once a public thing. Thanks to the Irish clergy we can confess in private!
I will also add another Irish Catholic thing: The comedy series “Father Ted”. Produced for BBC Channel 4 by an all Irish crew, cast and writers it gave me a new appreciation of Irish humor. It also gave me a new appreciation for authentic Irish dialects.
Waking Ned Devine – one of my favorite movies set in Ireland
Amen that! Note to self: do not loan this movie to anyone. They will steal it.
Great film!
Now there’s something you don’t hear every day! Thanks!!!
5. My 100% Irish boy AJ Laird & his merry band of drunkards The Sandcarvers…
+JMJ+
From G.K. Chesterton’s Ballad of the White Horse:
For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.
That is awesome.
Oh, and my great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Walter Carruth, who has the good sense to leave Antrim County, Ireland in 1729 and come to America!
The worst Irish accents in movie history:
http://www.screenrush.co.uk/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=18450058.html
That article is just scratching the surface, Blackhawk. Richard Gere in The Jackal, anyone?
BTW, I was glad to see another Threedonian joining in the “Green Zone” debate over at Kyle Smith’s website yesterday. My personal highlight had to be when “Sol” told me that I had “the brain of a chimp”. I might need to borrow Mighty Skip’s gravatar now.
Yeah, Sol has become my favorite blog person to abuse. Have you seen the latest post from Kyle about him being Dr. Evil. I almost lost it when I read that. If you haven’t, go read one of his last comments on the “Green Zone Legitimately Great” thread and then read Kyle’s post. It is comic gold.
Kyle was on “Red Eye” Monday night, discussing “Green Zone.”
I love the Irish! The time we spent in Dingel, and in Waterford and then up to Dublin was the time of my life. We had sooo much fun. And seeing a publican pull a Guiness and add the Shamrock to the head is cheer worthy. We cheered everytime!
5: Guiness: Who else but the Irish could creat something so amazing that one craves it. I do not drink beer but when I see a Guiness I start feeling like an addict and I haven’t had one in years. God I love the stuff.
4: William Butler Yeats. My favorite poet. He wrote the most amazing tribute to the flyers of WWI. An Irish Airman Forsees His Death.
I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above,
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love
My country is Kiltartens Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartens Poor,
no likely end could bring them loss
or leave them happier than before,
no law nor duty bade me fight
nor public men
or cheering crowds,
just this lonely impulse of delight
drove me to this tumult with in the clouds,
I balanced all brought all to mind,
the years to come seem waste of breath
a waste of breath the years behind,
in balance with this life, this death.
3: Barry Fitzgerald, I can’t explain it. To me he is my dad in law, and every irish cabbie I met in Dublin.
2: Vince Flynn…uh huh..the Irish can tell some awesome storys and he is one of them…also a bite of a HOTTIE.
1: Irish Americans….yep. Where would we be without our Irish?
>>Irish Americans….yep. Where would we be without our Irish?>>
Let’s drink the salt of the earth!!!
(Nice slip of lip with “bite” of a hottie, too, Steph.)
Yeats is my favorite poet too, Steph. “Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams.”
“The king is but a fool,
he wastes his lifes blood
to be another’s dream.”
Fergus & The Druid
Yeats is brilliant!
I can’t help the typo there EP my dog was sticking his nose on my hand because he thinks he should also be one of the chosen few to eat Corned Beef. I think not. He isn’t Irish he is a Scot. We have to keep decorum.
Typo, shmypo. Your Flynn love is to be expected.
Ask my dog he was here. He doesn’t lie. He can’t. He wears teh collar of truth.
L'Homme Tranquille
Uploaded by Fredogino. – See more comedy videos.
Nothing like “The Quiet Man” in the original French.
Ignoring all that has already been mentioned, and in agreement with it all!
#1 Leo Burdock’s Fish and Chips, http://wcities.com/dublin/restaurants/poi-leo-burdock-fish-and-chips-17525.html (If you go to the link you’ll see that someone is having a little joke with the photo. This is definitely not Leo Burdock’s. Leo Burdocks is the size of a small closet, with employees covered in grease about 3″ away from a continual line of take out customers.)
#2. The Gravity Bar atop the Guinness brewery. Do not miss it. Go about two or three hours before sunset and stay.
#3. Wool. Buy your wife a sweater when you’re there. You won’t be sorry.
#4. Green. In Summer the landscape is the greenest green your eyes ever have seen.
#5. The pubs! Half of ‘em are so old you can’t even stand up straight in ‘em. Folks were a lot shorter in the 1300′s. And after you’re in one for an hour you certainly won’t be able to stand up straight. The minute the locals learn you’re from America you’ll have 4 rounds bought for you. And they’ll all want to know if you know their friend, Patty, or Mike, who moved to Boston or Chicago, or Philly. Pretend you do. It’ll make their day.
The green. When I was seven or eight, I visited my grandparents in Scotland and we took the ferry over to Ireland. I’ll never forget my first glimpse of Ireland appearing out of the mist. It was like I’d never seen green before. It seemed impossible.
A VIKING’S 5 FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT IRELAND:
1. As stated above, the women. Spirited, pretty, and easy to carry off when they’ve had a few.
2. Monasteries. Full of treasure, and unprotected.
3. Tribes. Always at war, making it easy to divide and conquer.
4. Hyperbole. The Irish always overstate their enemy’s strength, sapping their will to resist.
5. The weather. Makes even Norway seem nice.
Celtic Woman, Oh America……
Enjoy…listen to the words!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEpX2BcB9As
For the record, I am Trzupr’s blushing bride. Any Irish woman knows that she is the one in charge of the home. The husbands are silly to pretend otherwise.
Hello, Mrs. Trzupr!
Hi there. I love your photo!
Let Rich have the garage and a small corner, in the basement. It’ll help his ego.
As long as there’s beer in the fridge and meat on the table, most men don’t care who’s in charge.
Hi Mrs. T! I made Corned Beef and Cabbage and got some great Soda Bread..you all bring the Jamesons and the Guiness!
We would love to be there! Who doesn’t like corned beef & cabbage with Jamesons.
Right on!
We may be silly to pretend otherwise, Mrs. Trzupr, but that’s never stopped us before.
My 5 favorite things about Ireland:
1.) My great grandfather Okeefe was “moved” to Australia from Cork at the King’s expense. I thus have the blessing of Irish & Australian blood, mingled with my father’s German (much diluted). That explains why I like to drink and wear uniforms.
2.) Paddy Irish Whiskey. hell, ANY Irish whiskey. It is 2nd only to Bourbon. But I digress.
3.) The Wild Geese, whose exploits have, for centuries, been the stuff that young boy’s dreams are made of.
4.) Guinness.
5.) Peter Tait of Limmerick. His uniforms clothed my Great Grandfather and his brothers after Fredericksburg in 1862.
5. I second TCW on Father Ted. Hilarious show. “Feck! Arse! Drink!”
4. Walking amongst the ruins of castles and monasteries like St. Kevin’s Kitchen, in the fine mist of Irish rain.
3. The food – Shepherd’s Pie, soda bread, Irish bacon, black and white pudding, fish and chips (the chippers are all over), Irish Stew, Colcannon, etc. (no one eats corned beef on St. Paddy’s Day there). I love Bewley’s Oriental Cafe in Dublin. You can buy some fruit in the outdoor markets on Moore St. and take it over to Bewley’s where you can wash it down with a pot of coffee and read for hours in there, while waiting for the rain to stop.
2. Guinness! It’s sad how most American bartenders don’t know how to pour this stuff.
1. The Irish women – I’ve always had good luck with them. They love the American accent.
Corned Beef is an Irish American thing because when the Irish came here they had no way of getting I think pigs knuckles or whatever they normally would have but because they had a lot of Jewish neighbors they adopted corned beef…I learned that a couple opf days ago.
Yeah, corned beef is an Irish-American thing. Over there, they don’t have a national, traditional dinner for the day. My friend from there says they eat what they want that day. The Irish are funny folk …. they’re really friendly when you approach them, but they can just say F**k all to whatever they don’t agree with. The Irish lads that I know that are living in MA are conservatives.
Second best Longshanks quote about the Irish: “Arrows cost money. Use up the Irish. Their dead cost nothing”
Best Longshanks quote about the Irish (in a low murmur, tinged with disgust, as the Gaels happily greet their Scottish cousins on the field at Falkirik): “Irish”.
I love the Irish! They make we Germans look like tea-totalers, which is really a stretch.
When playing darts for money or rounds, find a guy—any guy—with an Irish accent. You won’t regret it.
Cork… Limerick…
Those Irish have a county for everything!
OK, forgive this German/Dutch descendant for his stupidity in regards to the Irish … but aren’t bagpipes a Scottish thing? I swear I can’t figure out why every St. Patrick’s Day parade is stuffed full of bagpipers ….
When Irish get drunk enough — they can’t tell the difference between Scottish and Irish — like the rest of us.
Bugs the heck out of me too, 67Cougar. Especially because I loathe the bagpipes. Satan’s kazoo.
Whereas I love bagpipes. The Irish variety, though, which are more lyrical, as opposed to the Scottish, which can begin to take on the sound of animals being slaughtered, when you listen to it long enough.
The bagpipes aren’t meant to be enjoyed, Rufus. They’re meant to be endured. Scotsmen have no patience for wusses.
@blackhawk & jimmy c:
Nice to see fellow Sol abusers here. I’m among friends!