Reuters: An American tells us 17 things they don't know about Ireland

darkman2

1. The national symbol of Ireland isn’t the shamrock. It’s the Celtic harp. That makes Ireland only country in the world with a musical instrument for a national symbol.

2. The Irish flag was designed to reflect the country’s political situation. Created in 1848, the orange stripe represents Irish Protestants, green is for Irish Catholics and white is for the hope that peace might eventually be reached between them. Also, the Irish flag is nearly identical to Côte d’Ivoire’s flag. The only differences are the flags’ length (Ireland’s flag is slightly longer) and the location of the green and orange stripes are reversed.

3. Ireland has created some of the most recognizable objects we know. The RMS Titanic was built in Belfast. The White House was designed by Irish architect James Hoban after he won a competition sponsored by President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson in 1792. And the Oscar statuette handed out at the Academy Awards was designed by Cedric Gibbons, who was born in Dublin in 1893. For the record, Gibbons won 11 Oscars himself after moving to Hollywood and becoming an art director and set designer for MGM.

None of Ireland's contributions ended well

4. Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair are headquartered in Ireland. The national flag-carrier, Aer Lingus, is a phonetic rendering of the Irish phrase Aer-Loingeas, which means “air fleet.” As far as I know, Ryanair doesn’t officially stand for anything, but the name has basically become synonymous with “crap.”

5. Shannon became the world’s first duty-free airport in 1947. And we’ve been buying tax-free liquor and perfume ever since.

6. The longest one-word name in Ireland is Sruffaunoughterluggatoora, which is a stream in Galway County. The longest one-word town name is Newtownmountkennedy, which is a village in Wicklow County.

7. There are no postal or ZIP codes in Ireland outside of Dublin. If you wanted to write a letter to someone in Ireland, you’d only need to know their city, street and the county their town is in.

8. Guinness beer is NOT vegetarian. Everyone knows the home of Guinness beer is in Dublin. Less people know that the brewery has a 9,000-year lease at a perpetual rate of 45 Irish pounds per year. But practically nobody knows that Guinness beer is arguably NOT vegetarian. It’s because the production process involves the use of isinglass made from fish as a method of settling out suspended matter in each batch. The isinglass stays on the floor of the vat but it’s possible that tiny amounts might seep into the beer.

9. The “Guinness Book of World Records” was created by Guinness brewery employees. The book was a result of an argument over the identity of the fastest game bird in Europe.

10. The color that was originally associated with Saint Patrick wasn’t green, it was blue. Also, it’s not customary in Ireland to wear green clothes on St. Patrick’s Day. Just a sprig of shamrock on your clothing is sufficient. St. Patrick is said to have used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

11. The shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, Cork. The parade route is between the village’s two pub, and lasts about 100 yards.

12. St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in exactly three places in the world: Ireland, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

13. Girl Power. You thought England and the Spice Girls were responsible for the feminist girl power movement of the 1990s, but it was actually Ireland. You see, the current president of Ireland is Mary McAleese, who’s serving her second term after having succeeded President Mary Robinson in 1997. And that was the first time EVER, in the history of the world, that a woman followed another woman as an elected head of state.
Ginger Spice and Mary McAleese: Leading the way for women everywhere since 1995

14. There is no death penalty in Ireland. The last execution took place in 1954 and the Irish Constitution says that the penalty can’t be reintroduced even in war or a state of emergency.

15. Ireland is a neutral state and is not a member of N.A.T.O.

16. The Irish Police force, Gardai, don’t carry firearms. In recent years they have been outfitted with batons and pepper spray. Which makes the Irish police force just slightly more effective than your average single woman in New York City.

17. An Irish birthday tradition is to hold the birthday child upside down and bump the head slightly on the floor. The bumps represent the age of the child and are supposed to bring them good luck.

...yeah I remember getting my head bumped off the ground whilst being held upside down as a child on my birthday...they were the days

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/14/idUS231843966320110314

Overheal

11. The shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, Cork. The parade route is between the village’s two pub, and lasts about 100 yards.

lies. it's 3 yards from my barstool to the toilet

Kimono-Girl

9. The “Guinness Book of World Records” was created by Guinness brewery employees. The book was a result of an argument over the identity of the fastest game bird in Europe.

i don't believe it! :eek:

*runs and checks record book*

Zebra3

The color that was originally associated with Saint Patrick wasn’t green, it was blue.

I don't think many Irish people know that.

Though I did.

geetar

darkman2 wrote: »

...yeah I remember getting my head bumped off the ground whilst being held upside down as a child on my birthday...they were the days

aside from the headbump thing; which is just bizarre ( although i do punch my friends for the amount of years they are old on their birthdays... or at least i used to), its a surprisingly accurate piece of american writing about ireland

deathrider

Rabble! Rabble! Rabble! Rab... Oh, are we not rabbling? I'll get my coat so...

fontanalis

Or an article based on a copy and paste job from an email.

Senna

It's just taken from a blog and printed by Reuters.

TobyZiegler

Well we used to do the birthday bumps as kids but is it not that you are held by your feet and shoulders and just thrown up and down.. didnt know it originated with hitting kids heads of the ground - could that be right?!

Redlion

16. The Irish Police force, Gardai, don’t carry firearms. In recent years they have been outfitted with batons and pepper spray

I don't know if I'm alone on this one, but I'm pretty proud that Ireland is one of only a handful of countries to have a mostly unarmed police force.

InTheTrees

Here in Seattle we had the st.patricks day parade last saturday.

On the 12th for f's sake???

fontanalis

InTheTrees wrote: »

Here in Seattle we had the st.patricks day parade last saturday.

On the 12th for f's sake???

A lot of places in america and australia have it the weekend before or after. There's probably not enough irish to warrant creating a massive disturbance on a work day.

cruhoortwunk

16. The Irish Police force, Gardai, don’t carry firearms. In recent years they have been outfitted with batons and pepper spray. Which makes the Irish police force just slightly more effective than your average single woman in New York City.

Good old American logic there-you can't be effective without a gun

whoopdedoo

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

16. The Irish Police force, Gardai, don’t carry firearms. In recent years they have been outfitted with batons and pepper spray. Which makes the Irish police force just slightly more effective than your average single woman in New York City.

Good old American logic there-you can't be effective without a gun

he has a point, all the pepper spray in the world won't stop a bullet!

Krieg

17. An Irish birthday tradition is to hold the birthday child upside down and bump the head slightly on the floor. The bumps represent the age of the child and are supposed to bring them good luck.

Ah the ole 'Birthday Baitin'

RichieC

WTF is the bumping ****e?

Manic Moran

Don't bring pepper spray to a gunfight...

Ireland is a neutral state and is not a member of N.A.T.O.

Irish people can't get this right, it's no wonder the American got it wrong.

NTM

CrazyRabbit

RichieC wrote: »

WTF is the bumping ****e?

It's when you reply to a thread that's no longer on the front page and add the word 'Bump', just to get it to the top of the forum.

Oh, and ...bump.

Seriously though...I remember the bumps also. Though it wasn't bashing the head on the ground...more like hitting your backside a few times and then being dropped.

tricky D

Montserrat had an attempted rebellion on March 17 ages ago. The slaves reckoned the mainly Irish slave drivers would be too drunk. Quite a few Irish placenames there too.

Dunjohn

tricky D wrote: »

Montserrat had an attempted rebellion on March 17 ages ago. The slaves reckoned the mainly Irish slave drivers would be too drunk. Quite a few Irish placenames there too.

Cool!

We had slaves!

Mike 1972

The Irish flag was designed to reflect the country’s political situation. Created in 1848, the orange stripe represents Irish Protestants, green is for Irish Catholics and white is for the hope that peace might eventually be reached between them.

Thats all good and well but what about everyone else ?

strokemyclover

18. Every Irish midget named Conelly (American pron. for Connolly) are known to keep large pots of gold and are legally allowed to be hunted and slaughtered for their gold during the 24 hour period of St. Patricks Day. One of the most famous Conelly midgets escaped to America during the Great Potato Famine to set up a food company which produces our most beloved Lucky Charms breakfast cereal.

Dont be at yourself

Ireland is one of the biggest banana exporters in the world.

sdanseo

See if we lived in America, all 4.2 million of us would probably file a class action against Reuters for defamation or some such.

Becuase we're Irish, we laugh and get on with things. C'est la vie.

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Ireland is one of the biggest banana exporters in the world.

It's true. We're an even bigger importer though :P

grrrrrrrrrr

How did he tell us this if he didnt know these 17 things

the keen edge

sdonn wrote: »

See if we were Jewish lived in America, all 4.2 million of us would probably file a class action against Reuters for defamation or some such.

Becuase we're Irish, we laugh and get on with things. C'est la vie.

FYP.

Rubik.

TobyZiegler wrote: »

Well we used to do the birthday bumps as kids but is it not that you are held by your feet and shoulders and just thrown up and down.. didnt know it originated with hitting kids heads of the ground - could that be right?!

We did it a bit differently. One or two people caught hold of of each arm and leg, how many times you were lifted up and down depended on which birthday it was, ie. one bump for each year. As we got older a few kicks were thrown in for good measure.

Hazys

tricky D wrote: »

Montserrat had an attempted rebellion on March 17 ages ago. The slaves reckoned the mainly Irish slave drivers would be too drunk. Quite a few Irish placenames there too.

Its actually the opposite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_diaspora#Caribbean

At one point, 75% of the Montserrat population was Irish slaves.

dolphin city

ahh the bumps. I had forgotten about them. YOu would be chased in the playground by about 15 people and thrown up in the air depending on what age you were and yes, always a few kicks thrown in for good measure - then just left on the ground gasping for air afterward - highight of the birthdays.

I suppose if you did it now you would be up in court for health, safety, assault, racism, inequality, etc.

whoopdedoo

whoopdedoo wrote: »

he has a point, all the pepper spray in the world won't stop a bullet!

And having a gun would..... repel it...??

Luxie

Krieg wrote: »

Ah the ole 'Birthday Baitin'

I had no idea that was a uniquely Irish thing, mind you stands to reason I suppose.

Chaotic_Forces

Some of this is true?!

southsiderosie

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

16. The Irish Police force, Gardai, don’t carry firearms. In recent years they have been outfitted with batons and pepper spray. Which makes the Irish police force just slightly more effective than your average single woman in New York City.

Good old American logic there-you can't be effective without a gun

You can't if you live in a country where any reasonably sane half-wit has access to military-grade weaponry. The police are often underarmed, compared to who they are dealing with.

LittleBook

I remember when Reuters was the most respected news agency in the world.

Now they're (re) publishing badly written and scarcely researched blogs by amateur travel writers.

Dravokivich

LittleBook wrote: »

I remember when Reuters was the most respected news agency in the world.

Now they're (re) publishing badly written and scarcely researched blogs by amateur travel writers.

I don't think it's just Reuters... journalism has become a lot more flash in the pan over the last while overall...

chicken fingers

Many of those "facts" are untrue.

klose

Stall on, Guinness isn't a beer? It's a stout. Or am I mixing things up?

conorhal

In before the whinging athiests stamp their feet and demand that the green and orange are removed from the Irish flag.... ah bollix

Mike 1972 wrote: »

"the orange stripe represents Irish Protestants, green is for Irish Catholics"

Thats all good and well but what about everyone else ?

Still, I suppose that the irish state represented by white flag would be an appropriate metaphor the the state of the country...

Dont be at yourself

whippedcream wrote: »

Stall on, Guinness isn't a beer? It's a stout. Or am I mixing things up?

A stout is a beer. (as is lager, ale, pilsner &c...)

faceman

Reuters wrote:

6. The longest one-word town name is Newtownmountkennedy, which is a village in Wicklow County.

No its not. Longest town name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia and its in Galway.

flyton5

The Ryanair one is a bit bizarre. Isn't it named after Tony Ryan? Wouldn't take that much research to figure it out. Oh wait, were they trying to be humourous. :rolleyes:

Korvanica

whoopdedoo wrote: »

he has a point, all the pepper spray in the world won't stop a bullet!

Neither would having a gun....

Fratton Fred

Hazys wrote: »

Its actually the opposite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_diaspora#Caribbean

At one point, 75% of the Montserrat population was Irish slaves.

No, the reason why Montserrat celebrates St Patrick's day is to mainly remember the failed slave revolt. The majority if slave owners on the island were Irish.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/montserrat.htm

Overheal

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

16. The Irish Police force, Gardai, don’t carry firearms. In recent years they have been outfitted with batons and pepper spray. Which makes the Irish police force just slightly more effective than your average single woman in New York City.

Good old American logic there-you can't be effective without a gun

Rather I think you don't understand how effective a single new york woman is!

sensibleken

Fratton Fred wrote: »

No, the reason why Montserrat celebrates St Patrick's day is to mainly remember the failed slave revolt. The majority if slave owners on the island were Irish.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/montserrat.htm

Youre both right. Originally the majority were indentured labour and slaves from Ireland but by the mid 1700s the Irish had taken over the role of slave owners

28064212

faceman wrote: »

No its not. Longest town name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia and its in Galway.

That's a townland (which is an area of land), not a town: List of longest place names in Ireland. Newtownmountkennedy is the longest town name in Ireland

jackiebaron

tricky D wrote: »

Montserrat had an attempted rebellion on March 17 ages ago. The slaves reckoned the mainly Irish slave drivers would be too drunk. Quite a few Irish placenames there too.

I believe that there are lots of people with Irish lastnames too and Montserrat is called the Second Emerald Isle.