Started by #202451 at 17,Mar,16 01:46
 | Please elucidate: with regard to subject matter in the Title
above. My Irish Grandfather abandoned his family. Is that the stuff of Good or Bad "Irish" Luck????? |
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Not sure where to start with this, but that was a comedy skit on Saturday Night Live by John Belushi from the 1970s that I was quoting. Being as you're Irish I can forgive you for never having seen it, but I did quite explicitly state that I was quoting it.
And I was quoting it because it was at least tangentially related to the question of whether 'the luck of the Irish' -- which is certainly an expression in use stateside, if not in Ireland -- was a reference to GOOD or BAD luck. Belushi used the potato blight and the (very active at the time) IRA bombings to dispel the notion that the Irish are uniquely blessed with good fortune.
(And since you haven't seen the sketch, his delivery and long, rambling tangent at the end caused the 'hosts' to abruptly yank him -- which was part of the act -- and implied that his words didn't carry much weight, for whatever it's worth.)
Now then, it's true I've never been to the Emerald Isle so I don't know Irish hospitality first-hand, but I am now, through your post, at least somewhat versed in their reading comprehension and sense of humor -- which is to say, not great.
PS. My grandmother was Irish.
~Cheers
for instance, when someone wishes you "Luck of the Irish" how is one supposed to take it ... as a compliment, or a curse?
"Thank you, thank you very much. Well it's come that time again, St. Patrick's Day has come and gone and well the sons of Ireland are basking in the glow. When I think of Ireland I think a lot of colorful Irish expressions like, "Top of the morning to ya," "Kiss the barney stone," "May the road rise to meet ya," "May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead," "I'd like to smash you in the face with my shalalee," "Danny-boy," "Bhagora," "Wail of the banshee," and "Whiskey for the leprechauns, whisky for the leprechauns." But the expression I think most people identify with the Irish, is, of course, the luck of the Irish.
The luck of the Irish. Sure. Let's say you're in a pub somewhere in Ireland, oh, anywhere in Ireland, some guy comes up to you and says, "Hey is that a bomb on you I hear ticking?" And then BAM!!! Your small intestines are on the ceiling and your brains are on your car across the street. That's the luck of the Irish for ya, who's kidding who, okay?
Let's talk about the bad luck of the Irish, all right? How about this, POTATO FAMINE!! How about that? It scares them, doesn't it? Well it should. That's why they came here in the first place. So they wouldn't have to work in the potato fields. That's why they became politicians, priests, and cops. Luck? Gimme a break.
I got a friend, his name is Dan Sullivan, he's Irish as they come. We used to drink together a lot. After two drinks, he would look like an Irish pirate. You know? You think he had luck? In one day he got his car stolen, and the stupid, he had no insurance, and no license, and he gets locked up for being drunk. And after that, he takes off for someplace like India or Nepal, or someplace like that. And his mother dies, ya know, so they wire him to tell him to come to the funeral. It's his mother's funeral, that's all. And he's in India or Nepal, sitting squat-legged listening to some sacred cow. So he comes back and he gets stopped at U.S. Customs for trafficking **** drugs, not holding, he's trafficking. I mean, here's this guy Sullivan, his old lady kicks off, he gets popped at the border and he's sitting on fifty pounds of black Tibetan finger hash and two keys of slam. Now that's not bad luck, that's DUMB luck. I don't think luck has anything to do with it, I don't think he has any brains at all. First of all, he's drunk, then he's a junkie. I don't know what's worse. Don't ask me, ask Sullivan. And what happens? He calls me up and says, "Hey man, I got busted at the border. I need five grand bail." I said, I said, "Five grand man!? Hey man, I've never even seen five thousand dollars in my life, so don't ask me for it, man, why don't you ask your mother!!" Which was a dumb thing for me to say because his mother just died. Right now, I got this drunken Irish junkie who wants to kill me because of what I said about his mother being in terminal dreamland. Oh pal. One thing! One thing!!! They love their mothers, boy, oh they love their mothers. It's momma this, momma that. Oh my Irish mother! Ireland must be heaven, because my mother.. aauugghhh! Aaauugghhh!!!"