# I turned on avatars today.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-turned-on-avatars-today/819255>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [August 8, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-turned-on-avatars-today/819255 "2018-08-08T00:29:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 23

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**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:** [September 1, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-turned-on-avatars-today/819255/441 "2019-09-01T18:45:07Z")

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**Slow Moving Vehicle** , the official symbol of Ireland is the harp, not the shamrock. The shamrock is associated with St. Patrick specifically, because he used it as an analogy for explaining the Trinity. Shamrocks do grow all over the place in Ireland, but then, _everything_ grows all over the place in Ireland. Turns out lots of plants like a consistently warm-but-not-hot climate with lots of rain. Who knew?

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-turned-on-avatars-today/819255/442 "2019-09-02T01:39:01Z")

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> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#):
>
> Hmm, wonder what you could use. If only there was some sort of, say, plant, that symbolized Ireland and the Irish… 😛

Hops?

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-turned-on-avatars-today/819255/443 "2019-09-02T02:20:06Z")

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> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I have never been able to understand the logic that forcing the board to be drab black-and-white text-only somehow makes it more refined or sophisticated.

Perhaps that’s because you’re mistaken about the logic. The logic did not involve “refined” or “sophisticated”. It was because here the ideal is that the arguments/comments themselves are what’s important, and anything cosmetic is unneeded and just distracting.

For the record, I was strongly against avatars for the reasons I state, but I’m okay with them now.

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**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-turned-on-avatars-today/819255/444 "2019-09-02T12:43:56Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> **Slow Moving Vehicle** , the official symbol of Ireland is the harp, not the shamrock. The shamrock is associated with St. Patrick specifically, because he used it as an analogy for explaining the Trinity. Shamrocks do grow all over the place in Ireland, but then, _everything_ grows all over the place in Ireland. Turns out lots of plants like a consistently warm-but-not-hot climate with lots of rain. Who knew?

Umm, thanks? I knew the harp is Ireland’s official symbol, yes – it’s on the national coat of arms. Nevertheless, the symbol most commonly used for the country is the _seamróg_ or shamrock. Which is what I was ironically trying to suggest as an appropriate avatar for the poster with the username **Irishman**.

> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> Hops?

Applause!

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