BS: What have the Irish ever done for us

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: bazza
Date: 21 Nov 02 - 04:42 PM

Lots of people including me ,apparently 60%of the English have irish blood in them .The british colonized the world Paddy populated it

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,Barney McCool
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 05:26 AM

Belfast applying for, THE CITY OF CULTURE,well we all need a wee giggle now and then.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,Mad Ma
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 05:47 AM

Barney,

Seeing as yopu brought it up, don't forget

Cork - European City of Culture in 2005

MadMa

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: IanN
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 05:58 AM

Credit for "inventing" Guinness. No credit at all for then turning it into the insipid, pastuerised, over chilled rubbish that now passes for what was once a great beverage (apart from bottled Guinness Extra which still resembles something with taste). And another thing, there's absoloutely no need for the two-stage pour - it's a marketing gimmick.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Declan
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 06:08 AM

Ian N,

I agree with you about the chilling, but round about here Guinness isn't Pasteurised and is all the better for it.

And the two stage pour is absolutely essential to get a decent pint of it. If you slopped up Guinness in one go in this country the way I've seen it done in some pubs in England, you'd probably get a punch in the nose. And you'd deserve it.

I'm currently suffering from the effects of far too much of the stuff last night. The things we do to ourselves in the name of enjoyment!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Mr Happy
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 06:17 AM

o'cano- a construction set closely modelled on the scootish McCano.

the irish c

Mick Donalds

o'neills tune book

pat o'cake,pat o'cake, bakers man

irish whine- notably jimmy's son's & butch mills

bing crosby songs

a language that the strangers do not konw

sharon shannon

percy french

john mccormick

to be or not to be sure!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 07:20 AM

Let's not forget the Rose of Tralee Festival, an oogler's paradise.

Or Kerrygold lorries, which, by blazing down the middle of the road from Inch Strand to Dingle, have caused innumberable people to repent.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Ireland
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 07:36 AM

Know what you mean,nearly fertilized a few fields myself while there 2 years ago.

Big aggy down the road
Mucker
what about ye
As fast as two men and a little boy
all kinds of sayings,wee lad.

Year 2525 is that the right title? yer man from Bally castle 'o' wrote it.

The Irish sea

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: IanN
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 07:38 AM

Ahh Declan

Until about 2-4 years ago Guinness in Ireland was brewed as a "real" ale & was cask-conditioned & dispensed via the gravity method (rather than the trad. English handpump). Irish Guinness is now brewed as a keg beer and kep under a blanket of nitrogen to keep it "fresh" & is pasteurised to kill any "live" products left following the brewing process. The only difference between Irish Guinness & the Guinness brewed in London & Warrington is the water used.

When Guinness was real the two, or even three, stage pouring process helped settle the beer (it's never been strictly necessary but with gravity dispense it is harder to control the flow that with a hand-pump). Now it is dispensed via Nitrokeg there is nothing to settle. By dispensing into the side of a glass the build up of froth is minimised & there is no need for a two-stage pouring process (a head still develops as a consequnce of the nitrogen). I had an argument with a seasoned Guiness drinker over this so I poured one pint "traditionally" & one in one go & he couldn't tell the difference.

I used to drink a lot of Guinness but I decided to limit myself to 3 meals a day!

Incidently, the best pint of Guinness I ever had was in Paris!! I wasn't fortunate enough to visit Ireland when they still brewed it "real".

Slainte!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 07:54 AM

Maureen O'Sullivan's 'Welsh' accent in How green Was My Valley.

BJ

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Declan
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 08:00 AM

I'll take your word for it on the brewing process Ian, I am no expert on the process, alhough I am very familiar with the end product.

I remember going to England for the first time in the early 80s and discovering how different (and horrible to my taste) the Guinness was there compared to Dublin (and the locals assured me this was a comparitively good pint). I was informed that the difference was that Dublin Porter was brewed with Liffey Water, which led me to think that these people must never have seen (or smelled) the Liffey !
As a total aside I overheard someone saying on a bus the other day that they had met some US tourists in Dublin for Paddy's day who were very impressed that the river had been died Green for the Festival. (It hadn't!)

Whatever changes they have made to the process seems to have standardised the quality of pints a lot more. Its harder to get an exceptionally nice pint, but the bad ones (and they can be really disgusting) are much fewer now as well.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: HuwG
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 09:01 AM

Reading histories of Britain's relations with Ireland, I hope that the Irish have given us a conscience when it comes to history. I don't think there is a nation on Earth than can claim never to have committed crimes against humanity, but (contrary to Hegel) I think it possible to learn from the victims, rather than accept the glib statement that history is written by the victors.

Phew ! Got that off my chest ..


I do enjoy Guinness, in moderation (after about five or six pints, it tends rather to act as mental ballast);

I also enjoy much Irish music (instrumental and sung). However, there are a number of songs, from both sides of the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland which I would not sing, and which, for their expressed sentiments and provocative use, I would put in the same class as the "Horst Wessel Lied" [that said, the most offensive thing I ever sung was The Ould Orange Flute, which has the virtue of offending both sides equally.

(Other than undergoing Northern Ireland training, while in the forces briefly, the "Troubles" have affected me indirectly; a good friend had to leave Northern Ireland, after she replied to a question from Gerry Adams as he was touring an art gallery, and received several bullets in the post.)

------

Note that whatever the Irish have given us, it should be remembered that they took St. Patrick from Wales in the first place.

------

My favourite screen dialogue, from Blazing Saddles

Howard Johnson : Who are all these people anyway ?
Bart (Sherriff of Rock Ridge) : They're just ordinary poor people; Negroes, Chinese, Irish. All they want is to settle down, make a home for themselves, earn a decent living. What would it cost you to let them stay ?
Howard Johnson : OK, OK, we'll let the negroes and the Chinamen stay ... but we won't have the Irishmen !

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: IanN
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 09:05 AM

I was in Dublin a couple of weekends ago for a wedding & had been looking forward to trying some decent Guinness (you're right that bad pints are very frequent over here & I tend not to drink Guinness anymore). The wedding was in a hotel (the Four Seasons, Ballsbridge) so I wasn't entirely suprised that the ale wasn't up to much. I then thought I'd better try a pint somewhere else (purely for reasons of research you understand) so I went to O'Donaghues (I was told that was where ther Dubliner's drank so I figured it should be a decent pint) but to be honest I couldn't tell the difference.

I think I'll stick to real stouts & porters from now on - there are many good ones available over here if you know where to go.

Overall though Dublin was great - the people were nearly as friendly as in my favourite city, Glasgow!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Mr Happy
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 09:15 AM

my grandaddy who sailed over with horses from castleblaney, co. monaghan to liverpool, met grandma & the rest is history!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Allan Dennehy
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 11:05 AM

My sympathies with those people who, like myself, have to drink Guinness in foreign parts. Its never quite the match of an Irish pint. By the way when I say Irish, I mean one poured anywhere outside Dublin.

Slainte

Allan

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: IanN
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 11:13 AM

Allan see my above message - it's no different in Ireland!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,The O'Meara
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 02:00 PM

1. Maureen O'Hara

2. Went to Ireland in '85. Guiness was a whole new category of drinking substance, there was nothing else near it. The locals said "Guiness doesn't cross water." They were right. Sorry to hear it's taken the same uniformly neutral path as McDonalds hambugers. I'd rather take my chances on an occasional bad pint.

3. What the Irish and the Scots have done best over the years is to leave Ireland and Scotland. They are really good at it.

O'Meara

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,The Burren Ranger
Date: 23 Nov 02 - 08:38 AM

have I missed the following in the above lists ?
U2...Van The Man...Enya...Solas...Richard Harris...Jameson Whiskey....Billy The Kid...Jessie James....John Philip Holland (inventor of the Submarine)...Mohamed Ali (his Grandfather was a John O'Grady from Ennis in Co. Clare)...
more anon...
TBR

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,Barney McCool
Date: 23 Nov 02 - 03:44 PM

Burke and Hare, aghhhhhh

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,The Burren Ranger
Date: 23 Nov 02 - 04:45 PM

..and how could we forget Bram Stoker (who gave us Dracula)...Shakleton (The Sth Pole Explorer)....Samuel Beckett...
more anon..

TRB...
PS: Burke & Hare??...Scots, surely.....

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Allan Dennehy
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 12:01 AM

John Spillane from Cork, one of the very best of the newer batch of singers. I'm off to see him playing in Copenhagen tomorrow. Yippeee!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Miken
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 12:47 AM

Frank O'Conner, Edna O'Brien, Sean O'Faolain. J.M.Synge

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,The Burren Ranger
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 05:48 AM

Allan,
Yeeeess!   John Spillane!!...his album ' Wells of the World' is one of the best Irish albums of the 90's. I agree...he's A STAR in the making...
TBR

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: belfast
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 08:54 AM

Brian O'Nolan, Flann O'Brien, Myles na gCopaleen. To name but one.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Marc
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 09:17 AM

WHISKEY!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,Gerard Farrelly Dublin
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 09:40 AM

This Tiny Little Island hasn't given much to the world apart from - saints, scholars, writers, actors, artists, musicians, labour and a sence of how to enjoy life when one has had very little for such a long time. All this, out of the many years of oppression through to the present day. Yes we are a 'fighting people' in a host of many ways.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,Barney McCool
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 02:59 PM

Sorry Burren Ranger, but the two body-snatchers were Irish, Burke and Hare,no doubt.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,Barney McCool
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 03:02 PM

Not forgetting big Aggie Dunwoody up our street the best coort from Delilah.

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: Teribus
Date: 26 Nov 02 - 07:13 AM

Hi Ireland,

I think Wellington put his "Irishness" a bit further than the back burner if his quotation on the subject is anything to go by:

Someone once in passing referred to the Duke of Wellington as being Irish. His reply was, "Just because a man is born in a stable does not necessarily make him a horse."

Subject: RE: BS: What have the Irish ever done for us
From: GUEST,Philip II
Date: 26 Nov 02 - 08:15 AM

Many of them took pity of my ill-fated Spanish sailors on the Western shores. God bless the Irish for that.
By the way, Captain Cuellar mentioned the Irish girls were beautiful...(oh, I'll have to hear mass again today, a priest, a priest!)