I’d estimate that 70% of my print, radio, and television entertainment comes from the UK, and I think it’s rare for something to go over my head (at least in the pure sense of vocabulary-related things,) but I admit that talk of “bangers,” in connection with anoraks and windowpanes, would make me think only of grease stains, if the context weren’t so specific.
I resent this thread.
All we need here is for idiots to get the idea that fireworks are to be set off for weeks surrounding Halloween. As it is, they’re going off for pretty much all of June (in honor(?) of the approaching 4th of July, plus some places it’s an honored tradition to bring in the New Year with all available ordnance, including firing your gun in the air (under the presumption that none of the bullets will ever come down).
Are things blown up in Ireland in honor of Guy Fawkes (or maybe John Wilkes, I forget who’s who), or is that just an English tradition?
And aren’t bangers served with toad-in-the-hole?
Christ! They tried to burn down your house, and then they killed the neighbor’s dog!??! Sounds like they need several years behind bars. But then, I’m not real forgiving of stuff like this.
Ireland doesn’t celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (5 November), which makes sense given that it’s an event that celebrates the foiling of an attempt by catholic conspirators to blow up the westminster parliament. So it’s not in honour of Guy Fawkes - the clearest clue is that he’s burnt in effigy on top of bonfires.
Of course, it’s just a bit of fun nowadays which has lost all connection with the original event (it’s often just called Bonfire Night) but it explains why it never took root in catholic Ireland. I think it is celebrated by northern protestants though (maybe with a bit more resonance than in Britain)
“Bangers” is slang for sausages in Britain but not in Ireland. On both islands, it also refers to what I think are called “firecrackers” in America.
I hear your pain jjimm. The kids in our neighbourhood aren’t too bad but some of them have huge bangers that go off with a big flash the likes of which I never saw as a kid.
Mind you I was a real wuss as a kid when it came to bangers. I was afraid of them partly because I loved music and wanted to be a musician and was paranoid about damaging my ears, but mostly because I was just a wuss. The older I get the more I hate them too, and I feel sorry for all the dogs in the area who are terrified.
As an aside though, there are a LOT of kids in our neighbourhood so we will probably get loads calling to the door on Halloween and I’ve been wondering should I give in and just get crisps and chocolate bars or should I stick to my guns and give them the traditional apples and nuts we used to get? (I was a bit of a freak as a kid and actually loved the nuts - I still gorge myself on them every halloween). I don’t know - my conscience says nuts but I don’t want to be the ‘scabby nut lady’ either. Maybe I should go with a combination… 
BTW ** curlychick ** that was terrible what happened to you and your neighbour. I’m amazed the police didn’t take it more seriously.
The fireworks in Britain are in honour of the execution of Guy Fawkes, and are accompanied by his effigy being burned on a bonfire. There are only a few Irish people who’d enjoy burning the effigy of a Catholic, and very few of them live in the Republic…
BTW didn’t John Wilkes Booth shoot Abe Lincoln?
Am I being whooshed here?
Anyway, on my way home from work yesterday, in the same place I met the little girls with the fireworks, I came upon two little boys with a firecracker. The sixe-year-old one lit it with his cigarette and threw it at me. Luckily it was a dud and only fizzed. But I ran like a chicken.
John Wilkes Booth and John Wilkes are two different blokes…
From Encarta… couldn’t be arsed to do a web search.
Pierre72 1. Ignorance 0
Or summat.
Oh. And about the fireworks. Crikey.
Oh bollocks. Consider my ignorance fought.
I was working in the Guinness Theatre the week before last and all that could be heard during the first act was bangers and fireworks. Not a bad thing considering the quality of some of the singing.
Just before the interval I popped out for a smoke. Apperently the little fuckers in the flats opposite James’ Gate were throwing bangers at cars so the police helicopter was sent in, for all the good it would do. All around the helicopter was a firework display worthy of Disney, as the local tried to bring it down.
I think the term ‘Legend In His Own Lifetime’ would apply to whoever was sucessful in bringing it down. If they survived the wreckage, new stun guns and/or CS gas, they could walk into any pub in the Thomas Street area and never have to put thier hands in thier pockets for the rest of thier lives.
Classy stuff.
We named half a not-very-attractive city in Pennsylvania after Wilkes (Wilkes-Barre, PA).
Barre got the better of the deal, since I think they also named a town in Vermont after him.
Oh well, if you want to argue that getting burnt in effigy is a bad thing…
Bloody hell, Larry, that’d be - um - interesting if they brought the (one and only?) Dublin chopper down!
BTW, here’s the glossary I promised. (I consider myself bilingual in Irish and British slang):
Dalkey - posh area of south Dublin
anorak - style of coat worn by '70s schoolkids or modern saddos who live with their mum
gurriers - badly behaved children
banger - firecracker (or sausage if you insist, though this is a secondary meaning)
calorgas - Calor makes propane and butane gas cannisters for camping stoves, etc.
petrol - gasoline
innit - isn’t it (can also be a meaningless phrase with which to end a sentence)
Corpo - Dublin City Council (formerly Dublin Corporation)
Gardai - plural of Garda
git - unpleasant person
gaff - place of residence
mighty - great
craic - enjoyment (pronounced “crack”)
Mary Harney - ugly right-wing Irish government minister
council estates - “projects”, government housing
the Smoke - nickname for London
The whole of Crusoe’s post - shameless namedropping of various C-list celebrities
arse end of… - the wrong side of…
Woo! Shameless namedropping!
Yeah, hurrah: now you live in a fortress. :rolleyes: (to the state of things, not you.)