Ireland Cultural Tips
Tips on the Irish lifestyle, speech and culture.
Irish Road Bowling
For most people, the idea of bowling as a spectator sport probably isn’t terribly exciting. Hanging out with friends of an evening at the bowling alley is one thing, but would you expect bowling to attract raucous crowds of thousands? No, you probably wouldn’t. But when you’re talking about Irish Road Bowling, that’s another matter entirely.
The sport of road bowling is most popular in County Armagh and County Cork in Ireland, although it was once also quite popular in Scotland and England. It has a long history, dating back to the 17th century according to some, so while it may look like semi-organized chaos it’s a popular sport in Ireland. The principle of the sport is similar to golf, in that a ball must be pushed along a course in the shortest number of moves, but the similarity ends there.
Date: December 26th, 2007 |
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10 "useful" phrases in Irish (as gaeilge)
You probably know I’ve been running posts on Irish slang. You may remember back in May I published a substantial post about the use of the Irish language in modern Ireland. Heck, I even auditioned for the Irish Sesame Street as gaeilge, but I’ve actually made very little mention of the Irish language itself on this blog.
The truth is, you won’t NEED any Irish language during your visit to Ireland. But, it’s a cool thing to know a bit of Irish, so here’s my challenge for you, o visitor to the emerald isle: attempt to use all 10 of the little bits of Irish listed below in a single day.
Date: September 18th, 2007 |
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It's still called a "pint"
In a move that will prevent a lot of tongue-tied stuttering at Irish pubs around the country, the European Commission decided on September 11 to allow traders in Ireland and the UK to continue using pint measures for milk, draught beer and cider as well as miles on road signs.
For those who are scratching their heads over this you should know that there is a UK movement called the “metric martys” who steadfastly refused to use the metric system in their business dealings.
Date: September 15th, 2007 |
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Sex in Ireland - Part 2
This is the second in a two-part article on sex in Ireland. Read the first Sex in Ireland article here.
Let’s get right down to it.
*insert 70’s wah-wah guitar sound here*
Last fall the Irish government published the Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships. It basically indicated that Ireland is undergoing a sexual revolution. Sure, there may not be flowers in their hair, but just 6 percent of today’s Irish population feel that pre-marital sex is wrong.
If that doesn’t sound so odd to you, consider that when the same question was asked of Irish people in 1973, 71 percent said it was wrong.
Yeah, I gotcher generation gap right here, chachi.
And, just like the San Franciscan hippies in 1960s, there has been a flourishing variety of sexually transmitted infections. How much? Well, between 1998 and 2003 the incidence of STIs in Ireland increased by 243 percent.
Holy crap.
Date: August 26th, 2007 |
5 comments
On being Irish
I was reading a newspaper article in the Westmeath Independent the other week that stated, “More than one in seven of Athlone population is now non-Irish.”
In the article it delineated the major groups of foreign nationals and stated that there were 91 “Americans” (although I’m sure the paper meant “United States citizens” and didn’t mean to include people from Canada, Mexico and all the countries of South America) and I realised that wifey and I wouldn’t be counted among them as, although we are indubitably from the states, we are registered Irish citizens.
What would have been more interesting, I think, would be to have reported on Athlonians’ places of birth. I know of a German Athlonian, for example, who was born in Saudi Arabia.
This got me to thinking about “Irishness” and being Irish.
Date: July 30th, 2007 |
2 comments
Irish Session rules
Since the first day I started Irelandlogue I have been blogging about Irish music sessions.
At least twice a week I attend a live Irish music session and post an mp3 and photo from the session. Regular readers of Irelandlogue.com will be familiar with The Shack, Sean’s Sunday session, Brideswell, Flannery’s, Shine’s, The Green Olive, The Bounty and even Bar Metro.
If you’re visiting the Irish midlands you should definitely stop in to The Brideswell Session for trad on a Thursday and stick the head into Flannery’s to hear some songs on a Friday. Between those, you should get a picture of what a real Irish session is like.
Most of the sessions I attend are traditional Irish music sessions, although most will allow bluegrass and popular music for the occasional song. The Shack is the exception, being an almost entirely modern music session.
For the unindoctrinated, here are some basic rules for attending an Irish music session:
Date: September 20th, 2007 |
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The Bebo and her band
Yes, that’s what it’s called here: “The Bebo”. It may be only the third most popular social networking site with just 1.18% share of the market, but it’s by far the most popular social networking site in Ireland. Yes, for some reason Ireland just loves the Bebo. Radio programs, DJs - all of these have Bebo profiles, because they know that’s how to reach the Irish market.
Planning a trip to Ireland? It might not be a bad idea to get on “the Bebo” and make some friends.
To this end, wifey and I decided to create a Bebo band profile for Kerbside using the “Bebo bands” function of the site. Our Bebo band profile is at kerbside.bebo.com.
Date: September 16th, 2007 |
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The Irish National Tayto
Everyone knows that Ireland is famous for her potatoes. What you may not know is the reverence in which Irish people hold their potato crisps.
Specifically, their Tayto crisps.
So ingrained into Irish culture is the Tayto brand potato crisp that Irish people often refer to all potato crisps, be they Doritos or Pringles, as “Taytos.” There is a good reason.
When wifey and I first moved to Ireland we met some friends in a pub and when they found that we hadn’t tried their “Irish potato crisps” they immediately went to the bar and returned with two foil bags, placed them proudly on the table and waited for us to sample and react.
Date: September 8th, 2007 |
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Sex in Ireland - Part 1
Things sure have changed in the aul emerald isle since the celtic tiger came along. The chaste masses of churchgoing Irish are now having unprotected sex out of wedlock at a rate that could give a migraine to a Thai health official.* Let’s step back in time - there once was a time in this fair country (most of the past century, actually) when there was no such thing as separation of church and state.
I’ll give our US readers a second to catch their breath there.
No, but seriously, when Ireland gained its independence they turned to the people who had stood by them as they were killed for using their language and religion: the Catholic church. When the people who dictate your morality also make your laws it really stifles any ribald behavior.
For example, here in Ireland - and not so long ago - you couldn’t even purchase a condom. Families were big, marriages were made young and, let’s face it, Irish weather has never encouraged miniskirts or midriff-baring tops. But despite the priests in political power, rampant morality and layers of clothing, any visitor to Ireland in the past century could tell you that flirting has always been the national past time.
Date: August 23rd, 2007 |
3 comments
Tipping in Irish pubs
During my brief visit to the bay area a few weeks ago I did somehow find the opportunity to have a couple of beers at a bar and it all came back to me.
Allow me to provide some context: like most socially-minded young men I spent a number of months tending bar around the time I was in school, so I’ve experienced the perspective from both sides of the counter. I can assure you that in the United States of America the customers who leave healthy tips not only receive a bartender’s gratitude but it pretty much guarantees prompt service and the occasional generous pour. Those customers that do not tip . . . wellll, let’s just say they might be waiting around a while for their drink. Yes, the USA is a capitalist nation; God bless America.
So the thing is, after several years in Ireland you forget that things are different elsewhere.
Date: June 28th, 2007 |
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