Day 77/365: The Friday Five on a Sunday: These are small, and those are far away.

[nanila]

1. Are you Irish?
   I find this question distressingly unspecific. If what is meant here is “Are you a citizen of the Republic of Ireland or a UK resident in Northern Ireland”, then the answer is no. If the intent of the question is “Do you have Irish or Northern Irish ancestry” then the answer is yes (at the grandparental level).
   
   
2. Do you like Guinness?
   Yes. I don’t drink it very often, though.
   
   
3. Do you know what the symbol of Ireland is?
   Yes. I suppose this is meant to trick people into answering “a shamrock”. Down with this sort of thing. It is not a shamrock. It’s a harp, innit.
   
   
4. Have you ever watched Father Ted?
   Yes. I do wish these questions could have been phrased to be a little more open-ended. (Careful now.)
   
   
5. Do you believe in leprechauns?
   No.

Well, that was probably about as edifying as a conversation with Bishop Brennan.

In other news, we’ve received a reminder that it is still winter and had several inches of snow dumped on us overnight. The Shaggy Ponies are as unfazed as ever.


Cousin It (the black shaggy pony) trudges through the snow in the early morning in search of better grazing, its muzzle coated with clumps and its back dusted from the clouds of the white stuff whirling around.

Comments

[cmcmck]

As I said elsewhere, my ancestry gives me something like seven patron saints so why would I want to steal St Patrick? It's the only Atlantic archipelago ancestry I DON'T have!

My favourite has to be Sara e Kali as she's so obscure (patron saint of the Roma people).

[nanila]

I hadn't heard of Sara e Kali before you posted about her. Thanks for broadening my knowledge of saints.

[gwendraith]

Are you Irish?

I have Irish 4th great grandparents and a son I gave birth to in Ireland, does that count? :)

[nanila]

I imagine so; I don't think ancestry has a back-date limit, does it?

[cosmolinguist]

I'm worried these questions were written by an American, it seems a very familiar and now distressingly inadequate idea of what Ireland is like.

[nanila]

I think maybe they were meant to be cute and fluffy questions. Unfortunately(?), some of us are prone to analysing everything.

[silveradept]

I was not very impressed with the questioning, so I let it be without really taking time to answer it.

I do like the contrast of Cousin It and the snow.

[nanila]

That was very diplomatic of you.

Cousin It stood out beautifully in the snow.

[silveradept]

I may or may not have remarked to persons with historical knowledge about how terrible (or confusing) and idea it might be to be in the States, wear a color other than green, and advocate for unionism to all of the revelers.

[marymac]

Harps on everything! There are currently twelve different harps in official use as the Government of Ireland's departments each have individual logos, and they want to unite us all under one "look and feel" and there is going to be A Fight.

[nanila]

Will you then get in trouble if your harp is not "on brand"? This is a sad thought indeed.

[marymac]

I'm pretty sure the department heads will all passive aggressively continue on their merry ways and the branding team will have a breakdown.

OPW's had theirs for almost a century longer than the current incarnation of the country. I would not have started that fight myself.

[hamsterwoman]

Cousin It looks very picturesque and also not a little creepy (Dementor-like, almost!) in the snow.

[nanila]

I was very impressed with Cousin It's unflappability in the face of some truly bitter weather.

[mysterysquid]

Question zero - are you cool with Irish cliches?

[nanila]

Quite.