An Irish-American View of St. Patrick's Day

[O'Rothlain]

An Irish-American View of St. Patrick&#39;s Day</span>
The debate is continualy roaring on that people like myself are not Irish. Okay, you&#39;ve got me on a technicality, I was not born in Ireland...my parents weren&#39;t born in Ireland...my grandparents weren&#39;t born in Ireland. So, I go back a few generations, on both sides of my family. What I do know, is that my family left a country they loved to try and make a better life for themselves, and ultimately, for me. In honour of them we hold true to traditions and always look back to the land of our origin.
I&#39;m not alone here. "The 2000 United State Census reports 30,528,492 persons claiming Irish ancestry, 10.8% of the total American population. This is over 7 times the population of Ireland itself, which was 4 million in the year 2003" (http://www.euroamericans.net/irish.htm). What happend with the great Irish immigration to the US is that we built America. We can&#39;t forget the signs of "Help Wanted, No Irish Need Apply." These obstacles shaped our view of America and the world and created an attitude that literally changed the face of America.
http://www.sorocabana.net/sparhawk/archives/noirish500_MG_7624.jpg
Where would the America or the World be without the likes of Henry Ford (founder of the Ford Motor Co., and the inventor of the assembly line), J.F.K., or John Wayne? Our history is full of persons like Davy Crockett, and Daniel Boone. Last but not least we have to even look at Eamon De Valera: without his American citizenship he would have been executed.
http://www.erinsweb.com/ire/images/hford01.gifhttp://www.erinsweb.com/ire/images/jfk01.gifhttp://www.erinsweb.com/ire/images/jwayne01.jpghttp://www.erinsweb.com/ire/images/eamondev01.jpg
This coming weekend, on Saturday 17 March 2007 we will celibrate St. Patrick&#39;s Day. A time where, in America, Green Beer, Shamrocks, Leprachauns, and Parades occur. "Green Beer isn&#39;t Irish!" Yes, we all know that...But, it&#39;s fun. Go ahead, take the piss on our Americanzation of this holy day. We&#39;re a bit cheasy, gimmacy, and easily succomed to commercialization. However, though, we&#39;re still proud. We still call ourselves Irish. We spend our money taking our vacations to Ireland to get in touch with our Irish Roots. So, we may be your cousins you&#39;d like to forget, but I encourage you to have a laugh at us, and then join in the celebration. We may mess it up a bit, but it&#39;s an honest attempt at honouring the past and having a good time.

<span style="color:#009900">Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!
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[Bullitt]

Really it should be called Guinness day.

[An Tarbh]

It was going so well until you got to the depressing fact about Dev and his american citizenship keeping him alive, but for that technicality our country would be in a far better state but unfortunately that bastard got his hands on it and kept us in the dark ages until his demise and for a considerable while after as well.

Anyway am getting sidetracked. I can appreciate where you&#39;re coming from, I&#39;ve got family in America and they&#39;re proud of their Irish roots, nothing wrong with that but always good to take the piss at the same time, we wouldn&#39;t be Irish if we didn&#39;t.

[RoyalBlueStuey]

Really it should be called Guinness day.
[/b]

I feel "St Plastic&#39;s Day" sums it up fairly well.

Saying that it&#39;s traditional for us to walk to the Vic for one of our Catholic clique nights. The irony is that two thirds of the proper irish folk in the gang were from Skerries, Ath Cliath, famous for stealing St Patrick&#39;s goat.

[O'Rothlain]

Really it should be called Guinness day.
[/b]
Seeing as Guinness Sales soar during the time, I bet they wouldn&#39;t mind.
Have you ever seen how many people do Irish Car Bombs? Geez. I don&#39;t know if that&#39;s as big of a trend out your way (s)? Table after Table full of Empty Guinness Pints with shot glasses in the middle.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/176/380677297_bc7326bca7.jpg
I&#39;m excited, though...I&#39;ll start off the morning watching Ireland beat Italy and hopefully clench the 6 Nations Championship. Then a bit of early drinking, because I have to put on my bouncer gear for the evenings feastivities...a bit disapointed to have to work, but at least I&#39;ll be in an actual Irish Pub, with live Irish Music and load of drunk "Irish" people.
I&#39;ll give you an Official TRF Plastic Paddy Report.

[redunderthebed]

:lol: Very good mr o&#39; roth.

I shall be getting drunk on Guinness on st pats (I like kilkenny better but there is nowhere here that has it on tap :cryy:).Hail Ireland if it wasn&#39;t for them we wouldn&#39;t have gambling and whatnot in Australia. :D


@an tarbh im intrigued i thought he would be seen as something of a national hero or is that a personal opinion PM me about it.

[O'Rothlain]

... i thought he would be seen as something of a national hero or is that a personal opinion PM me about it.
[/b]
I think that depends who you&#39;re talking to at the moment. He&#39;s an intersting study, at least.

[An Tarbh]

Certainly does, there&#39;s plenty who think he&#39;s a legend, I&#39;m just happen to think he&#39;s a traitor.

[O'Rothlain]

Certainly does, there&#39;s plenty who think he&#39;s a legend, I&#39;m just happen to think he&#39;s a traitor.
[/b]
So to you he&#39;s a bit Fidel Castro?

[An Tarbh]

God no, Castro&#39;s a legend.

[King_D'Arcy]

I love that family guy thing. It&#39;s hilarious. It&#39;s just every irish stereotype roled into 1. It&#39;s class.

I don&#39;t mind plastic paddys. Alot of them are a laugh. At least most of them know what they&#39;re talking about and are aware that Ireland isn&#39;t some 16th century country filled with little villages and 90% of the population is old men with goaty beards and stupid accents.

I just dont like that some dont have a cle about Ireland.
&#39;I&#39;m Iarish. I come from Iarland. Poge muh hone&#39;

[O'Rothlain]

&#39;I&#39;m Iarish. I come from Iarland. Poge muh hone&#39;
[/b]
Funny...You should then see the girls proceed to dance an "Irish Jig" after having 5 pints of Guinness.

[FrozenInferno]

I liked your article. I would quite like to take in the American St Paddy&#39;s experience some day. While sometimes Plastic Paddies can be annoying (a couple I&#39;ve encountered were enthusiastically pro-IRA without knowing a lot about the troubles or understanding that organisation), for the most part I think exploring and taking pride in your culture and heritage is a very positive thing so long as it doesn&#39;t get out of hand.

As a Catholic I&#39;m not crazy about a Saints Day getting turned into a binge-fest, but secularisation of religious holidays is nowadays inevitable and any occasion can mean something different to different people.

I can relate all too well to the pentultimate line of the song in the video, "And we don&#39;t tan well either". The cost of belonging to the chosen people is to experience horrible burning every time I go to continental Europe or anywhere hotter than Ireland really.

[O'Rothlain]

yeah...I freckle...not tan...but I still hit the tanning beds a couple times a week so I don&#39;t look sickly.

[FrozenInferno]

How does that work for you? I&#39;d been told it gives quite an unnatural colour to your skin.

[melon]

:lol: Very good mr o&#39; roth.

I shall be getting drunk on Guinness on st pats (I like kilkenny better but there is nowhere here that has it on tap :cryy: ).Hail Ireland if it wasn&#39;t for them we wouldn&#39;t have gambling and whatnot in Australia. :D


@an tarbh im intrigued i thought he would be seen as something of a national hero or is that a personal opinion PM me about it. [/b]



Kilkenny?! BAH! Beamish! :D

[O'Rothlain]

How does that work for you? I&#39;d been told it gives quite an unnatural colour to your skin.
[/b]
uhm...well, tanning, like anything, if overdone has odd results. A Bed with lamps is like being out in the sun.
There is a customer of mine that tans continuously for probably way to long, and looks like she&#39;s sunburnt all the time...ouch. Fake tan sprays do, however, give a bit of a glowy-fake look. Sunbeds, if done in moderation, look alright. Again...I don&#39;t aim to be dark...just not pale.

[RoyalBlueStuey]

<div class='quotemain'>
How does that work for you? I&#39;d been told it gives quite an unnatural colour to your skin.
[/b]
uhm...well, tanning, like anything, if overdone has odd results. A Bed with lamps is like being out in the sun.
There is a customer of mine that tans continuously for probably way to long, and looks like she&#39;s sunburnt all the time...ouch. Fake tan sprays do, however, give a bit of a glowy-fake look. Sunbeds, if done in moderation, look alright. Again...I don&#39;t aim to be dark...just not pale.
[/b][/quote]


You were serious about the sun-beds?!?!?!?!?!?!? Good Lord!

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[O'Rothlain]

Yeah...again...I don&#39;t over do it.
Regardless of what current ideas are, your body does need exposure to UV rays...not massive "I&#39;m going to be a Bronze God" amounts.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/44290/
Basically your body skin converts sunlight into vitamin D (or D3...something?!) which then helps protect your skin from celular damage. So, some exposure (again, some not loads) to UV is good for you. Plus, you look sexy!

[RoyalBlueStuey]

Yeah...again...I don&#39;t over do it.
Regardless of what current ideas are, your body does need exposure to UV rays...not massive "I&#39;m going to be a Bronze God" amounts.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/44290/
Basically your body skin converts sunlight into vitamin D (or D3...something?!) which then helps protect your skin from celular damage. So, some exposure (again, some not loads) to UV is good for you. Plus, you look sexy!
[/b]

Fie to all your scientific clap-trap. A bracing walk provides all the sun a chap needs, anything else is mere affectatious queggery.




As a Catholic I&#39;m not crazy about a Saints Day getting turned into a binge-fest, but secularisation of religious holidays is nowadays inevitable and any occasion can mean something different to different people.

[/b]

Does that include these guys :

Oh when the Saints (http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/pst00086.htm)

[O'Rothlain]

Hmmm...which Stewie was just talking?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c4/Stewiefamilyguy.gif/200px-Stewiefamilyguy.gif

[RoyalBlueStuey]

Hmmm...which Stewie was just talking?
[/b]

lol I take that as a badge of honour!

I&#39;m right though Mr Sunbed Queen

http://www.clean-pipes.com/images/oncam/magda.jpg

[shtove]

I was raised in Galway, but not born in Ireland - tell me I&#39;m English and I&#39;ll pretend to laugh as I fetch my pistol ... well, that&#39;s a bit Hollywood, but place of birth is a convenience compared to the ties of family and community.

I&#39;ve met many Americans in Ireland, and the gas thing is that you can place their ancestors in specific parts of the country just by asking for surnames - Farrells in Leitrim, O&#39;Briens in Clare etc. These are people coming from Boston, Seattle and Houston and so on, and they&#39;re always emotional when they find their genes funnelled into a few square miles of sod.

The accent matters a lot, and east coast America has more in common with Ulster and the West Country than the Home Counties. Canadians get pissed off when you ask if they&#39;re American - No, actually! And their accent tells if you listen carefully - more Ulster-Scots (code in Ireland for British). f*** &#39;em - they don&#39;t spend much anyway.

Dev was a hero, and a cunning bastard. Which great leader isn&#39;t? And I know Castro, and Dev was no Castro.

I tan like a Spaniard (Black Irish), but sometimes a bracing walk in England&#39;s milky sunshine is all you need.

And here&#39;s to Ireland&#39;s greatest hero - Patrick.

[O'Rothlain]

There is a reverse side to this as well...
My Father-in-law (from Belfast) gets treated like he&#39;s flippin&#39; royalty when he&#39;s in the states. "Oh, say that again!" "I&#39;m Irish Too!" "Oh, I just love your accent...it&#39;s like my great-grandfathers" "I&#39;m going to Ireland next summer, any advice?"
My God, people line up to talk to the man...granted he&#39;s funny, and a good storyteller. He works the Irish mojo when he&#39;s in America.
There are so many of we Irish-Americans in the US dying to reconnect. If I were in Ireland, I&#39;d try to find a way to exploit that a bit.

[RoyalBlueStuey]

There are so many of we Irish-Americans in the US dying to reconnect. If I were in Ireland, I&#39;d try to find a way to exploit that a bit.
[/b]

Like those clever people at NORAID did? ;)

(no offense intended. Maireann croi eadrom i bhfad)

SB

[O'Rothlain]

Yeah, but I was speaking more of tourism, not terrorism...but whatever floats your boat, right?

[RoyalBlueStuey]

Yeah, but I was speaking more of tourism, not terrorism...but whatever floats your boat, right?
[/b]

Sorry, I was just being facetious. Just ignore me.

Incidentally if you go into the tourist office in Belfast the first thing they tell you to do is troop out west to see the murals on the Falls and Shankill Roads. Surely something a bit nicer than that should be top of the list. It seemed to be that or an exhibition about The Titanic.....jolly stuff!

[shtove]

When I said Americans get emotional, I wasn&#39;t having a pop. It&#39;s touching. There&#39;s a story by Frank O&#39;Connor - forget the title - set in the 1950s, about a well-to-do American bringing his family to the Oul Sod to let them see where they came from. The local gentleman plays host, being on the same social level, and gets on well with the American. He even lends his car to the family for a tour around the hovels and shebeens that their ancestors emigrated from, where they meet the spirited, barefoot locals. In the end, the American realises the ancestors of the gentleman were the ones who drove his family out - and in that moment, his soul is trapped. That&#39;s not doing it justice, but it&#39;s a great story. You hear the phrase Plastic Paddy, but Irish America has something true about it and shouldn&#39;t fall into that soul trap. Stop me before I go too far ... :cryy:

Oh, BTW - the tourism angle has been covered for 50 years. Try the Arann Islands for American accents.

[O'Rothlain]

Pulled at the ole heart strings, you did. What about American Accents and the Aaron islands?

[DC]

i think they aaron islands and the isle of man have a dialect and accent that sounds very similar to ours which is very odd and intriguing..