What do you love about Ireland ?

hada

Honestly, if you've ever spent *any* time abroad (which I reckon the vast majority/all of us boardsies have), you kind of start to miss that feeling that generally, people in Ireland are just one big close community - despite all the slagging between counties/towns etc.. I'm not sure that's the best way to describe it; maybe a better way to explain it is, the fact that unlike other places I've lived/visited, Ireland just seems like one big (albeit dysfunctional at times) family - happily trodding along.

Best example of the tight knit/family culture I think Ireland has, is the way whole communities/the whole country reacts jointly to events, recent example being G Ryan's death, or NAMA, or something.

You kind of miss the sense of belonging/importance you get from being part of that family when you move abroad, even though you invariably become more patriotic abroad than you would ever be at home!!

Dionysus

cypharius wrote: »

The irony is on you, seeing as bad spelling is not = low IQ or incompitance(Other then compitance to spell). If you haven't noticed, our leaders are all quite educated.

I - N - C - O - M - P - E - T - E - N - C - E


Jesus, isn't there a spellchecker in every one of these posts? See the red underlining your spelling while you're writing? Not to integrate this knowledge is more than an inability to spell correctly.

cypharius

Dionysus wrote: »

Jesus, isn't there a spellchecker in every one of these posts? See the red underlining your spelling while you're writing? Not to integrate this knowledge is more than an inability to spell correctly.

Not on Firefox. And to be fair, I mispelled a word; I didn't eat a child like you're treating it.

owenc

nothing, i can't wait to move to england!

Ali Babba

I love our incompetent, over payed, under worked, corrupt, government and political parties who have the nerve to blame everyone else for their mistakes and leave us to pay for the mess that was very badly handled by them, other than that nothing really, I hate the climate too and getting ready to leave this god forsaken place.

Dionysus

cypharius wrote: »

Not on Firefox.

I just moved from Chrome into Firefox and Firefox also has this spellchecker putting a red underline under incorrectly spelt words.

rossie1977

lets see

the irish pub, a tradition they have tried to copy around the world, people travel from all over to the world to experience what we consider day to day

the gaa, its unique, its ours, nothing like a province final or an all-ireland semi or final, opposition fans as one :eek:, soccer could learn alot from the gaa, no colours indeed :mad:

galway, wonderful town. shop street is buzzing night and day, best pubs in ireland by a mile, the festivals in summer, salthill in summer, now if they could fix the traffic and public transport there

lazing by loch arrow, ree or key on a sunny summer evening

the river shannon, a very under-rated waterway

our history, look around, we have buildings OLDER than the freaking pyramids in this country. we have castles, forts, ancient burial sites, monasteries all over the country

scenery on the west coast, others have mentioned it but places like achill island, connemara, benbulben, counties clare, kerry and donegal have amazing natural beauty.

irish music, we have produced so many different artists and styles

HalloweenJack

rossie1977 wrote: »

soccer could learn alot from the gaa, no colours indeed :mad:

What does that bit mean?

Cheap Thrills!

There's some nice scenery here and there.

Other than that is an unmitigated pile of sh!te.

rossie1977

HalloweenJack wrote: »

What does that bit mean?

means i have been stopped (and saw loads of others stopped) going into bars in various cities in england after a match because i was wearing a soccer jersey, "no colours mate"

HalloweenJack

rossie1977 wrote: »

means i have been stopped (and saw loads of others stopped) going into bars in various cities in england after a match because i was wearing a soccer jersey, "no colours mate"

In England, fair enough, but has that happened to you in Ireland?

rossie1977

HalloweenJack wrote: »

In England, fair enough, but has that happened to you in Ireland?

not in ireland no

wonton

I moan alot about stuff like scumbags, the weather and skangers, but im definitely am proud to be irish.

love loads of things about ireland, the drinking culture, our great literary tradition, the way our tradional music is so popular and respected,the fact that our own sport GAA is the most popular( prob the only country in europe apart from england).our influence on the world for such a small country( i mainly mean our diaspora) ......oh and chicken and stuffing sandwhichs.

Diabhal Beag

The people. Especially in rural places like Connemara. Fascinating how they used to live their lives and they are the last generation before technology really kicked in.

Dublinstiofán

Galway

Mountainsandh

Amazing scenery, trad music, milk, butter, the Irish breakfast, Irish dinners, spuds.... hmmm (and that's coming from a French woman).

Cheesecake, rhubarb pie, brown bread... (ok ok not all food)

The sea and the tides. The green fresh air in the summer, and the light that makes everything interesting on certain days.

Irish mammies (although they drive me mad too sometimes ) and their fussing over everything and everyone.

Tongue in cheek farmers who'd get out of their way to help you if your car broke down in the middle of nowhere.

Brilliant sense of community in the countryside, and even in some areas in town.

How Irish people can repeatedly surprise you when you expect it least. Hard to define. When you think you've someone sussed out, they'll come up with something totally unexpected. It happens again and again and again. Maybe I notice it cos' I'm French.


Hundreds of other things.

Like others, fairly p****d off at Ireland too right now for a number of reasons, wouldn't like to live anywhere else though.

Fighting Irish

Love the fact that when the majority of irish people are poor they begrudge people who have money, and when the majority are rich(or think they're rich) they make stupid decisions

Jordan Berbatov

nicegirl wrote: »

So should you

What does that even mean?

brummytom

* Community - it doesn't just exist in Ireland; within Irish groups around the world there's a strong sense of community, everyone knows everyone else, it's brilliant

* Sense of humour - Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan (early stuff), Dara O'Briain, Black Books, Father Ted, IT Crowd vs Lee Evans, Peter Kay, My Family. You've got a brilliant, and quite unique sense of humour; AH at times is testament to this

* Good-looking Women - I'm being serious. You might not notice it because you're too busy looking at fat knackers who seem to be all over the place - it's the same everywhere. But some Irish women are stunning - particularly the black hair, blue eyed ones. The best looking girls I know are all from Irish stock

* Music - Love it, it's easily the best traditional music in the world, and still going strong.

For example, I (try to) play trad. music. I joined a local youth ensemble where I live, yeah it was alright, but the music was very English, as were the people. And I mean English. Posh, protestant twáts. Didn't talk to any of them for the first few weeks because they were all so cold.

Then more recently I got involved with the Birmingham Comhaltas Branch. Last week I was asked to join in their grupa cheol. Went and sat with a load of kids I'd never spoke to before, we all had a great laugh, turns out we all know the same people, all know each others cousins, and the music was great. Brilliant looking girls too.... it might be Irish culture, but it's not just for the Irish :pac:

I know I'm a foreigner, but maybe that means I can look at it more impartially? I don't have any rose-tinted view of Ireland though, believe me. But a lot of you don't half put your country down

cypharius

Dionysus wrote: »

I just moved from Chrome into Firefox and Firefox also has this spellchecker putting a red underline under incorrectly spelt words.

Then not on my Firefox, will you please just leave me alone now? I misspelled a word... Do you care THAT much?

Orange69

cypharius wrote: »

Then not on my Firefox, will you please just leave me alone now? I misspelled a word... Do you care THAT much?

You also misspelled alcoholics and separation along with incompetent.

cypharius

Orange69 wrote: »

You also misspelled alcoholics and separation along with incompetent.

Oh noez!

gonnaplayrugby

LEINSTER RUGBY

Southside Dublin

some_dose

MUNSTER RUGBY

Northside Dublin

Useful.Idiot

as far as I'm concerned if Ireland had really warm, sunny weather most of the time it'd possibly be the best country in the world.

Oh yeah and nothing beats Irish milk, feckin lovely!

gonnaplayrugby

ok thats like saying if africa wasnt poor it be the best continent in the world.

Herb Powell

Cheap college

MickShamrock

Hate it.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Executive Steve wrote: »

Patriotism - especially the Irish variety - really turns me right off.

One thing I will say about Ireland though, is that it's the only country I've ever had the fortune to live in where it's a common occurence for a complete stranger to try and make you laugh on the street.

It's great isn't it. You never experience this anywhere else.. well not as often.

The-Rigger wrote: »

Really? How so?

Reaching the quarter finals of the world cup in 1990?

:rolleyes: Try think for a moment about that... Soccer is not the only sport in the world, in fact it's one sport that we do pretty poorly in as a team.

Rugby, gofl, swimming, boxing, horse racing/show jumping, snooker. Just some examples of sports we excel in.


Things I hate:

The begrudgery of some assholes.
The government - their lack of care for the people, they are more interested in staying in power.
Church influences.
How lobiests get the government to act "ugrently" on small matters and how serious matters (Cervical cancer vaccine, job crisis) take years and years to even look at.
Service industry is a joke.
Lack of open minds in power.


Things I love:

Our history and the story to this little island.
The beauty of our country, Kerry, West Cork, Wicklow, Donegal, Clare etc etc.
Our humour, it's great.
Fleagh Ceol.
The Harp, an amazing instrument.

Barna77

Rugby, the people, the weather, the craic