Health n Safety
Not one of my Grandparents but I shall interpret this QOTW as: old people being racist in a colourfully charming way.

I'm reminded of an occasion when I was teaching a dubious Business Studies Course at a local Further Education College. Stuck for a lesson idea, it was suggested by a colleague of mine, that I invite Trev, the Health and Safety Officer to act as guest speaker for my lesson. Excellent, I think, that's the first 45 minutes sorted. I can with my feet up whilst he does all the work.

Trev was himself a retired lecturer, and let's just say he was of the 'old school' - before the days of Equality and Diversity training and Political Correctness.

Trev begins the lecture well enough. Health and Safety Regulation. Check. Fire Evacuation. Check. Risk Assessment. Check. Then he points at one of my students and says:

"Are you Irish? You're not Irish are you?"

He's from Croatia.

"Ah, good, I thought for a minute there you might Irish. Okay, I'll carry on then..."

Then follows Trev's 'anecdote' involving Paddy and Mick the two Irish Laborers. According to Trev, Paddy and Mick, the two Irish Laborers, are working on a building site and go down the pub at lunch time, get pissed on 6 pints of Guinness, return to work and then have an accident.

I can't actually remember what the moral was, but I was struck by the sheer number of stereotypes about the Irish in this delightful tale.

1. All Irish people are called either Paddy or Mick
2. Because they are Irish they are probably navvies who work on building sites
3. They are alcoholics who drink Guinness
4. They are stupid alcoholics who drink Guinness
5. They are stupid alcoholics who drink Guinness and have accidents
6. It's okay to make jokes about them as long as they are not listening.

Fortunately, Most of the students were from Somalia or Eastern Europe so most of it went over their heads. I had a good old chuckle tho.
(Nitrous Nitrous, Fri 28 Oct 2011, 0:27, Reply)