I'm still not sure how it all worksA good friend of mine married into a very large family from Derry, and at one of their barbeques her brother-in-law was drunkenly asking another of our mates (because her surname begins with O'Something) 'Are ye a Mick, den? D'ye have any Mick in ye?' and so on.
Intrigued, I enquired how one defined a 'Mick', and if it was quantatively different from, say, a 'Paddy'. He was not amused to say the least and went on a spittle-flecked rant about the 'Spike Lee rule' and how 'Youse can't say it but wese can!'
Which amused me no end because although surnames have changed due to marriage (we used to be called Foley), my family's only 3 generations out of Cork, while my friend's family have been in England longer than that, despite her Irish-sounding surname.
(Intrigued, I enquired how one defined a 'Mick', and if it was quantatively different from, say, a 'Paddy'. He was not amused to say the least and went on a spittle-flecked rant about the 'Spike Lee rule' and how 'Youse can't say it but wese can!'
Which amused me no end because although surnames have changed due to marriage (we used to be called Foley), my family's only 3 generations out of Cork, while my friend's family have been in England longer than that, despite her Irish-sounding surname.
emvee cruor deo cruoris,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:17,
archived)
So you didn't establish how much Mick is needed before you can say Mick then?
Wasp Box like a nervous random stranger at a glory hole,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:22,
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Well I guess it makes me a "quarter" Irish?Assuming Irishness isn't limited to passing through the male chromosome or anything like that...
( emvee cruor deo cruoris,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:34,
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i'm going to assume that having an irish accent would be sufficient
real i'm not happy 'til you're not happy,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:40,
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I could do a vaguely passable oneI fear that may have worsened the situation though
( emvee cruor deo cruoris,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:44,
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all i can say in an irish accent is"i'd like a litre of petrol" (in a northern ireland accent)
which given that half of my family is in dublin, it's pretty shameful
(which given that half of my family is in dublin, it's pretty shameful
real i'm not happy 'til you're not happy,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:49,
archived)
Any excuse for a fight for some ignorant twats?I'm from Tyrone myself, married an wonderful English lady and 12 years ago, I came to live in her beautiful country (which I almost love as much as Ireland now). My 6 year old son will be shouting for England against Ireland tomorrow, when I watch the rugby and I'm a happy Paddy/Mick, whatever and proud.
(
Q4nobody,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:28,
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which bit of this country is beautiful?...if you don't mind me asking?
( real i'm not happy 'til you're not happy,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:41,
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the bit that has my wife and 3 kids on it!:) (Somewhere in Sunny Surrey)
( Q4nobody,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:43,
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ok. i've not spent much time in surreyi'm going to have assume it's beautiful as i've lived in many areas of england and beautiful is not a word that would spring to mind if i had to describe it ;)
( real i'm not happy 'til you're not happy,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:53,
archived)
Well yeah, I really wasn't looking for trouble, it was a genuine questionand considering I'm usually one of the first to take the piss out of the English, it did seem a bit of an overreaction. On a side note, my missus has greeny-blue eyes, ginger hair and a lilting (but definitely Canadian) accent and she gets mistaken for Irish by almost everyone she meets for the first time.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:43,
archived)
I used to get mistaken for Roy KeaneWhich didn't go down too well, by some, when I lived in Manchester!
( Q4nobody,
Fri 16 Mar 2012, 11:52,
archived)