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Irish Thread
- Thread starter Valhelm
- Start date
Sephiroth503
Member
Is this IrishGAF OT now?
Gaff for Irish GAF.
Gaff for Irish GAF.
Nerdkiller
Membeur
Well, any excuse to stop posting in the BritGAF thread...seriously, that's all we got.
Nerdkiller
Membeur
It was vanquished hours ago after a good fry, subsequently washed down with a mighty strong cup of tea. Great stuff.
That said, I might just go for the cure anyway, sure why not.
Blasphemy!
I kid. I took it handy enough too, only 2 pints of Guinness and some Bushmills and feeling good in work today.
Would love to hear whether people are having traditional Irish hangover cures today. Such as a full fry...god I want a full fry
my man!
There's really nothing better after a good session the night before, I always make sure to brew a good strong pot of tea, and I don't touch it until after I'm done with the fry.. it's heavenly.
CharminUltra
Member
Why are James Joyce books so gud. Please explain.
Yea can we make this the official Irish GAF OT
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
We do need our own OT. Irish Gaf meet up?
farmerboy
Member
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.
pauljeremiah
Gold Member
Yeah I was thinking some time in June, maybe the bank holiday weekend?
Any tips for an accessible intro to Joyce? I hear that Ulysses is not the best place to start. How about Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Irish GAF sounds fun. Hopefully those of us who abandoned the country for opportunities abroad are welcome. Will try to keep the bragging to a minimum.
CharminUltra
Member
I started with Dubliners. It's definitely not easy reading by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought it was easily the finest short story collection I have ever read (before that it was Nine Stories by Salinger.)
Very few short stories have affected me the way The Dead did.
Nerdkiller
Membeur
Good enough for me. Where abouts?
Dubliners sounds interesting. I admit I haven't read a lot of short story collections. Are the stories intertwined in an interesting way? I'm assuming there's a great deal of thematic overlap between the stories?
On the topic of books, for the year that's in it, I recently read Neil Hegarty's Story of Ireland, I believe there was a documentary series of the same name a while back. I thought it was a decent overview of Irish history. Most of it will be familiar to anyone who went through the Irish school system, but it provides a lot more context regarding the 'why' behind certain events. I enjoyed it quite a bit, very easy to get into. My one complaint is that it felt a little light on post 1900 events, though to be fair it spends as much time in that period as any other, it's just mostly focused on events in the North which is fair enough.
Any other Irish history books people would recommend?
pauljeremiah
Gold Member
I suppose Dublin would be the best place.
An old joke is that the Irish had such disdain for the English that they had no allegiance to the rules and conventions of the English language
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
The Dubliners is great. Otherwise.... what time periods you interested in?
And yes Dublin meet up.
I'm interested in ancient Ireland, pre-Tudor Ireland, the Parnell Era and modern Irish history. Story of Ireland covers modern Irish history but mostly focuses on relations in the North. While I'm interested in that aspect, I'm also curious about domestic issues and the early years of the Republic.
JustAnotherOtaku
Member
Northern Irish or bust.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
Do you have a D4 accent?
Hey I don't drink either!
Also I second (or third) the Dubliners suggestion, it's fairly easy reading compared to Ulysses IMO and I loved it. I loved Ulysses too mind you. Portrait is a little too heavy for a start I'd say, maybe move onto it after that though.
Another Irish non-drinker here. Foreigners are always so disappointed. The least representative Irishman you could possibly meet.
Thanks for the book tips lads. Much appreciated. Will try to get stuck in to Dubliners at some point in the near future. Was hoping to re-read Angela's Ashes sometime soon as it's been years since I read it. Doesn't seem like Limerick has changed much in the 70 or so years since the events of the book.
Kanhir
Member
Did you get your Orts degree in UCD and go on to further study?
Same here. I have one relative who, like clockwork, offers me a drink every Christmas, only to be told that I still don't drink.
"What, not even alco-pops?" #irishfamily
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
They've re-released the wind that shakes the barely in cinemas this week, might finally give it a go.
I also don't drink!
I also don't drink!
Irish GAF OT - Dry Shites Unite
My GF doesn't drink either but she's almost embarrassed by it, I remember a few years back when she never ever told a bunch of people from her class who always took her to a bar that she didn't drink because she thought they'd think she was a weirdo. I mean she is and so am I but that isn't the reason why.
Yes and yes. Not even joking. Not a massive accent but definitely a soft one.
Did a BA and then on to do law.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
I'm sure there's many a waterford whispers news articles written about you.
Lol Nate
pauljeremiah
Gold Member
Welcome to the club
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
Why is Dublin bus so terrible? Seriously, why? I've been living in Ireland for 7 years thereabouts now, and the fare has gone up, but the service just gets worse. I was on the 15 from clarehall to town today, whole bunch of junkies and that crowd on the top deck as well, they were drinking, throwing cans, smoking, it was gross. This happens all the time, and the driver doesn't want the trouble of telling them to knock it off. Fucking dublin bus.
The One Who Knocks
Member
Maybe I've just been lucky with it, and coming from outside Dublin without exposure to many other public transport systems has coloured my view of it, but it really hasn't been that bad to in my experience with it. The WiFi can be pretty iffy, and there can be bad experiences with other passengers, but overall the coverage of the service isn't too bad, they're usually pretty accurate in the timetabling (there can be exceptions where buses just seem to disappear of course), and routes can be alright in getting you into the main areas in the city. The fare can be a little ridiculous though, I do agree, if you don't use a leap card of some kind.
I'm lucky because I have 2 services near me but when I worked in Tallaght I had to get the 27 all the time (and deal with Tallaght). Then again even going to the city centre is the same, worst time I had it was when a guy up as far as the seat in front of the top of the stairs was smoking. Bad enough at the back but FFS. Also the time my GF and I went into the city centre on it and literally the whole bus upstairs (including at the very front) looked like fog almost from all the weed, we felt so damn sick that day it was ridiculous. But there's never anyone there to check tickets, there's never security, nothing. I do feel sorry for the bus drivers having the responsibility of dealing with it (even though they never do) but why should everyone else have to put up with it? I don't get why when that happens they can't call in the guards and say something like "I'll be in this spot in 10 minutes" so they can get there on time. I mean if it's illegal to smoke on the bus and you can be fined and jailed for it then why is that an issue? The service is dire and the fares are dreadful. I've even seen lately that apart from the cap on the card students don't save money on fares with a student leap card, wtf is that?
The Dublin Coach is dreadful too, I haven't had to deal with as much scum on that that regularly but I'm not on it that much. The heating is always on full blast including in the summer and the air vents don't work so you're just being melted for half of the year, I swear it amazes me that people don't collapse from the heat on it regularly.
Also I was in the Tesco in Clarehall once, my god the size of it is unreal.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
Christ, feels like they're going a bit overboard with this 1916 stuff. its just everywhere, all the time. In the cinemas, on the tv, on the internet, in the street, etc. I get what a huge landmark event in Irish history it was but still.
I'm heading in for the minute's silence at least just to pay my respects on Sunday. The rest brings in tourism money (some of the tour buses are running as late as July and maybe even later than that).
So was just another normal day in Tallaght today:
Nerdkiller
Membeur
There were quite a few copies of Michael Collins when I went to the IFI store, last week. Yeah, I agree.
Yeah, I'm pretty sick of it. I feel like with all this over saturation, the actual details of the event are becoming less and less important and it's more about it being a symbol for Ireland or whatever. Which is fine I guess, it just feels like people romanticise it an awful lot.
It makes sense people put such stock in it, It was a huge event, but it more importantly was the biggest event that people can latch onto in getting Ireland its independence and putting us where we are now, and every country needs that landmark in history they use to celebrate where they are now, like for the U.S it's independence day. It's even sort of like how the North has The Apprentice Boys of Derry to celebrate a fairly random historical event, it's more just to celebrate the fact that we have a history and heritage then it is to actually celebrate the history itself. And this bothers me a little bit with 1916, probably because I study history and I'm sick of hearing people talk about it like it's only a Liam Neeson film.
Sorry for going on a tangent, there's nothing worse the that lad that won't stop going on about old Irish cultural shite. I mean this 1916 stuff is also just something the tourism board can milk for everything they've got.
On another note, it's great to have a proper Irishgaf thread. I thought it was crazy gaf didn't have one before! We're no longer confined to Britgaf now!
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
Aye yous are right enough, just a mild gripe. Irish gaf life!