A very happy St. Patrick's Day

[thatcrazycajun]

Toeing the line, the Cajun raised a frothy God's Blessing on high and intoned, "To my favorite Irish person in all the world, singing_phoenix, who cannot be with us this day of her ancestral nation's proudest heritage. And to my second favorite, the founder of this institution, Michael Sean Callahan, who likewise is detained elsewhere and -when. May they and all with Irish blood live long and prosper...even though the blood isn't actually green."

*CRASH*

What are you doing (or what have you done) to celebrate the patron saint of Eire's feast day? Allow me to offer you a hearty "Erin go braless!" >:-)

"To the Welsh, who pray in church on Sunday...and prey on their neighbors every other day of the week;
To the Scots, who keep the Sabbath...and every other bloody thing they can get their hands on;
To the Irish, who aren't sure what they stand for, but will damned well fight to the death for it;
And to the English, who claim to be a self-made people...thereby absolving the Almighty of a grave responsibility!"
—bedlamhouse, "The Toast of the Four Peoples"

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

**CRASH**

[wolfette]

"British" refers to the Welsh, English, Scots and Irish (northern Irish) - the four peoples of the British Isles.

The word you wanted in that last line is "English". The two are not interchangeable. You just insulted every Scot, Cornishman, Yorkshireman, Cyrman, etc who consider themselves "British" but are most definitely NOT "English". I am British - but call me English and I will hit you

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Typical Yank mistake. I sit corrected. Mea maxima culpa.

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute! Aren't you originally from Louisiana? And doesn't that mean that you're not actually a "Yank"? Or is my geography all fouled up again? ;-)

[wolfette]

well, a "Yankee" means from the northern states - I know that. "Yank", OTOH, I've been informed means nothing (according to my cousins in Oklahoma) - but it makes a good insult to any USAian who has insulted you. ;-)

On my first visit to the US I met an Immigration officer at Boston airport who had the same misconceptions about "British" - that the word applied only to the English. She was most insulting. Either I was "English", because my passport said "British" (it does, as Scotland doesn't issue its own passports) or I was "Irish". She seemed to have no conception that the countries of Scotland and Wales actually existed.

I do tend to fill in "Scottish" on anything that asks for Nationality - but most webforms, for example, don't accept that as a valid nationality, so "British" is what I remain.

(but I'd never call Matt a "Yank")

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

I am indeed from Louisiana and live in Georgia. However, from Jette's point of view (and that of many in the UK) I am a "Yank." It's a term used there to refer to us from the US at least since World War II (during which it was frequently used for our soldiers, along with comments that they were "overpaid, oversexed and over here"). I always did wonder if I was a Yankee baby swapped in on my late mom, because I never did get most of the things Southerners are supposed to be about (NASCAR, hunting and football, ferrinstance).

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, you see, the point I was trying to make is that, from my own (perhaps provincial) American point of view, it makes about as much sense for a Scottish or Irish person to be offended when an American refers to them as "English" meaning "British," and not meaning to insult, as it does for an American Southerner to get offended when a citizen of the UK refers to them as being a "damn Yankee" (and quite possibly does mean to offend -- though not in the way it'll come off to the Southerner).

Perhaps I'm more sensitive about this because at one WorldCon (if I remember correctly) I actually called somebody with an accent "British" and that person corrected me and said they were "English" (which is the opposite of what you would expect) so I suppose I've been weird about it ever since.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I've worn purple and blue, because I'm feeling nice.

I do have something orange...

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[wolfette]

I'd be more impressed if Patrick had driven out the Leprechauns ;-)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Finally after many years of deninal, I embraced my Irish Great Greandfather, and wore green.

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

I wore green and played some Irish music on the unciauncia system here; also downloaded some more Celtic music to fill my iPod. Oh, and listened to Giota Beag.