# Favorite Irish-themed Stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751 "2010-03-17T13:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/21 "2010-03-17T22:44:30Z")
One thing once associated in the American public mind with the Irish, but not much heard of nowadays, is the “Irishism” – the Irish, supposedly, are given to innocently oxymoronic statements, like, “Sure, 'tis a fine thing to be alone, especially when your sweetheart is with ye!” Whether that’s just a comical-stage-Irish-nonsense thing or has any basis in fact, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/22 "2010-03-17T23:45:35Z")
Van Morrison The Pogues ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/23 "2010-03-17T23:56:01Z")
Van Morrison & The Chieftains Bushmill’s. Also: “I’m black & I’m proud!” ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/24 "2010-03-18T00:48:47Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Redheads +1 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/25 "2010-03-18T00:55:17Z")
And, of course, the Luck of the Irish! 🙂 Colonization, poverty, alcoholism, civil strife, religious strife, potato famine . . . ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/26 "2010-03-18T01:27:04Z")
Baileys ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/27 "2010-03-18T01:35:22Z")
Loreena McKennitt (okay, she’s only Irish-Canadian, but her music is often Irish) Sinead O’Connor (talented in spite of her obnoxiousness) Fiona from _Burn Notice_ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/28 "2010-03-18T01:37:40Z")
My [blackthorn walking stick](http://www.irishwalkingsticks.com/assets/images/Irish%20Walking%20Stick.jpg) Oscar Wilde (whose [statue on a rock in Merrion Square, Dublin](http://whatdoiknow.typepad.com/photos/dublin/oscar.jpg)is known to locals as either “the Quare\* in the Square” or “The Fag on the Crag”) Brendan Behan- a proud Irish nationalist who gave my favorite quote about the Irish that I’ve adapted for my fellow southerners: “If it were raining soup they’d be running out with forks”. Peter O’Toole and his ex-wife Sian Phillips Flogging Molly _Quare= pronunciation of queer_ \*\*Another favorite Behan story was when he was asked in a religiously mixed audience at a lecture “Are you a Protestant or a Catholic?” He responded “Neither actually, I am an atheist. I do not believe in God.” After a silence one person asked “So the God you don’t believe in, is He the god of the Protestants or the Catholics?” ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/29 "2010-03-18T02:11:16Z")
My Kiss Me I’m Irish mug. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/30 "2010-03-18T03:15:02Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > i like getting today off work :d qft! :d ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/31 "2010-03-18T03:24:32Z")
The Secret of Roan Inish is my all-time favorite movie. In fact I’m going to go watch more of it now. Also watching my daughter and her Irish dance school-mates dance. The older girls look like they’re flying, I swear. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/32 "2010-03-18T03:32:28Z")
Irish breakfast tea And for that matter, the full Irish breakfast to go with it Irish wool sweaters Tin whistles, fiddles, and bodhrans Irish accents (I could just about marry a woman just for an Irish brogue) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/33 "2010-03-18T03:38:21Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Oscar Wilde (whose [statue on a rock in Merrion Square, Dublin](http://whatdoiknow.typepad.com/photos/dublin/oscar.jpg)is known to locals as either “the Quare\* in the Square” or “The Fag on the Crag”) I might have to consult with ruadh or yojimbo on this one but I have never heard either of those terms for that statue. The tart with the cart (Molly Malone), the prick with the stick (J. Joyce) but never either of those. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/34 "2010-03-18T04:50:52Z")
Was there ever actually a real Molly Malone, or is it just a tribute to the song? ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/35 "2010-03-18T06:30:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Redheads 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/36 "2010-03-18T07:30:10Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I might have to consult with ruadh or yojimbo on this one but I have never heard either of those terms for that statue. The tart with the cart (Molly Malone), the prick with the stick (J. Joyce) but never either of those. There’s lots of Internet cites, but I heard it on a documentary in an interview with Wilde’s grandson Merlin Holland (who thought his grandpa would have been amused by it). ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/37 "2010-03-18T08:54:03Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I might have to consult with ruadh or yojimbo on this one but I have never heard either of those terms for that statue. Nope, I never heard it either. And I work locally (although admittedly not _with_ many locals 😉 ) Not actually that many redheads here BTW. The real classic Irish look is dark brown hair with blue eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/38 "2010-03-18T10:50:14Z")
I never heard of the Wilde thing either. Behold, the greatest thing about Ireland: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAsUfWvIiXY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAsUfWvIiXY) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/39 "2010-03-18T11:03:07Z")
[Undoubtedly the finest rendition of “Danny Boy” in history](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU). ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751/40 "2010-03-18T11:16:49Z")
FWIW I’ve heard both of the sayings “the Quare in the Square” and "The Fag on the Crag. There’s also [The hags with the bags](http://www.reedconsulting.com/ctdc/200011ie/large/hags-bags.jpg), [The floozy in the jacuzzi](http://yinyangbob.com/Photos/Ireland98/dublin-floozy.jpg), [The tart with the cart](https://www.msu.edu/~solomonc/Dublin10.jpg), [The prick with the stick](http://ibanda.blogs.com/panchromatica/images/prick_with_the_stick500.jpg) and [The ace with the bass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Philip_Lynott_Dublin_Statue.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-irish-themed-stuff/532751.md?page=3)