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Begorrah my arse — 17 Comments

  1. “in fact the predominant colour of my garb is blue.  I’m not sure what that says about me?”

    Smurf ?

    • I could live with that.

      Blue jeans, blue runners and blue shirt.  Black socks.  Do they count?

  2. As one mongrel to another; my Irish great granny went from Mayo to Wales and my father was from Yorkshire, I shall shortly be drinking green beer in Miami and belting out The Wild Raparee on the karaoke. You only live once.

  3. Historically the Irish colour was blue, the green association is fairly recent change.

  4. Royal Tara blue. Blue jokes and Blue Stocking 18th century high society. Corny jokes and cultural discussions can make one blue in the face. St. Patrick’s Day focuses some minds on the Irish Empire. The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall in Beijing are lit green. Denn heute gehört uns Italien und China und morgen die ganze Welt. It’s great to have an imaginary empire. Plus: all these ‘Irish pubs’ in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney, some of which are British-owned actually, are part of the Great Global Pub Crawl in which weary Irish backpackers can bask in imperial glory. St. Patrick is an incidental reference point to validate all this. à votre santé, as I quaff another glass of vino bianco.

    • I can say with all honesty that I have never been in an Irish Pub.  I been in countless pubs in Ireland but by all accounts they’re different.

      I sincerely hope you are indeed imbibing vino bianco and not some concoction sullied by green [or blue] dye?  [Blue Nun doesn’t count – gnat’s piss]

      • Blue Nun is called Liebfraumilch i.e. ‘milk of sweet virgin’. My parents let me drink it when I was 12, but I graduated towards Mateus Rosé and fancied the bulb-shaped empty bottles as candle holders. O’Malleys’Irish pub’ in the former French concession of Shanghai sells draught Guinness flown in weekly from Dublin, and there is a nice airy courtyard to sit out in when sunny weather allows – but it’s not really Irish. One good thing is that expats get to meet Chinese friends there. In Hong Kong’s Cameron Road area is an Aussie pub called Ned Kellys where you can buy pints of Guinness for about twice the Ballydehob/Arklow price, in local currency. You can order draught Fosters too. Most of the customers at 6 pm are Chinese stockbrokers. Definitely not part of the Irish Empire. 

        • ‘milk of sweet virgin’.

          Not quite. It’s original name, supposedly, was ‘The milk of the Beloved Lady of Worms’ (ie of ‘the Church in Worms’, just to clarify).

  5. How about, “Faith and begorrah”? I’m sure I heard that one in an old movie somewhere. Or, “Faith now, isn’t she a pretty little colleen”? I’m almost sure I heard that in a movie as well. Are you saying the Irish really don’t speak like that? I’m astounded. 😉

    For myself, I’m a mix of English, German/Jewish with a sprinkling of French just to confuse things and give me an ability to tan really well. I look something like an old (rather skinny) English graveyard digger or possibly an olde style English undertaker (with top hat). None of the above makes me Irish though.

    And I never ever wear green.

    • All those expressions [especially those beginning with “faith”] are the pure invention of Hollywood.  Cringeworthy in the extreme!

      You’d probably find with a bit of research that we’re probably related somehow, through French or German/Austrian links.  I bet you’re more Irish than O’Bama anyway….

  6. All four of my Grand Parents were either Irish or of Irish ansestry.  Fitzgerald, Henry, Flannagan and Mathews.  Me personally I’m American.

  7. 1/8th  Irish (Carroll), and 1/8th Swedish (Svensonn) by that reckoning I should be necking watered-down Guiness and making a U-rated porno, as I’m born and raised in Scotland, I’m just boringly at home drinking McEwan’s Export (as usual).

    Besides – the two times I’ve been to Dublin and spent the whole weekend drinking the local brew I was shitting tar for days after…

  8. Apparently my 4bears came from Portsmouth on my father’s side. So I’m part Jewish, Irish, Afrikaans,German (only the four most belligerent, stubborn nationalities on the planet)….or something like that. Oh those foreign sea men and semen. Oy weh scheisse begorrah  and bloody Meerkats already!

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