Earlier in the month I posted about upcoming St. Patrick's day. Chicago already started celebrating this weekend since it falls on a Wednesday this year (just a minute I need to grab a beer - OK I'm back).
I don't remember when or why, but I signed up for a radio email newsletter (probably got a free song) and the other day it had news about upcoming St. Patrick's day. What caught my attention was the term "Chi-rish" (it included a hyphen) which apparently means Chicago Irish. Like Boston and many large cities, Chicago has a large Irish community. But I have never heard of Chi-rish. I'm sure it comes from a marketing meeting at a beverage company. If any true Chicagoans (especially southside Irish) know of this term, please leave a comment.
Chicago has a green river today.
I heard back from my Irish friend in Ennis. I asked him to look at that above mentioned post and provide feedback. He did and emailed me back (I don't think he cares to leave comments as many people don't).
Here's a few things he pointed out:
- Shannon river and airport are named after the Goddess of the river Sionna.
- The bodhran drum is unique in the way it is played. Like other drums it's animal skin stretched over a frame.
- Tosser is indeed another word for wanker, but not as strong. (many American don't know what a wanker is but if you look it up DON'T use an image search)
- They call their native language Irish, not Gaelic, and can always spot a foreigner when they call it Gaelic.
- Irish is taught in both grade school and high school.
----- Now two whatevers -----
As some followers might recall, I listen to "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" most every Saturday morning. I love humor and people who have it. I truly believe humor could solve some of society's problems and it's free. I learned of a lovely humorous woman on today's show.
I didn't know Barbarba Sue Manire but I wish I had because I know from the following picture she must have been fun to be around.
That parking meter on her tombstone reads EXPIRED. Her family honored her wish of having an expired parking meter on her grave. I do believe "her humor lives on". Here's a bit about her story (also a few more pics of it).
Second whatever
Unknown Mami (who I like to call umami - go ahead look that up) alerted me to a new blogger template editor and that doesn't require knowing HTML or CSS stuff. So I have been trying it out. I changed some of the other blogs I have and I will be changing the template of this one too. So if you come by here and don't recognize the place, you'll know it's been remodeled. Let me know if you are interested in learning more about it.
hmm that beer is empty I wonder if another one is in order? Cheers!
14 comments:
I like that you call me umami, especially since I am a super-taster.
Thanks for the picture of the gravestone, excellent. Our po-faced municipal cemeteries don't even allow teddy bears on children's graves.
The green river is really something else. When did Chicago start doing this to celebrate St. Patrick's?
Huh. I thought the river was always that color.
hey, sugar! came over from charlie's to see y'all's st.patrick's day post. i'm down here in savannah, ga, home of the 2nd largest st.patrick's day parade in the country and wanted to see what y'all had to say! enjoy y'all's ber and remember, it's always the cocktail hour somewhere! xox
that's good - maybe you could start going by that. It is a little easier to say than "unknown".
I searched around and found a good story about it on NPR. A Japanese chemist who was trying to figure out his tasty soup named this taste "umami," which means "delicious" or "yummy" in Japanese. So you are turning Japanese.
that is really sad.
As long as I can remember. In the paper today, it said it started 1961 when someone was inspired by a plumber's green dye. Also, the plumbers union is in charge of dying the river.
it actually has been cleaned up in recent years. Some think you might be able to fish in it someday again.
thanks you're too sweet. send some of those key lime cookies up here there are the best.
Well, I never heard of Chi-rish before. Interesting.
And even more interesting is the Manire desire....to have an expired parking meter at her site. Does she now have to pay a fine?
And now I'm curious about this new template.
I head that in Boston, they celebrate "Excavation Day" and schools are closed. Amazingly enough, it happens to fall on March 17th. What are the odds?
Oh that was interesting. Wein OZ use the expression wanker and tosser in the same way they do in the UK. And that green river, wow, looks kind of cool. I hope whatever they put in the water though it doesnt do any harm to the enviornment...
Thanks for the information on Chicago Irish. I (Irish woman that I am) have quite a few relatives on the east coast, but none in the Windy City. Nice facts about Ireland you have there. I love the sound of the bodhran. I heard a piece of Irish music featuring the bodhran coming through on satellite TV recently when I was cooking in the kitchen here in India recently - I'm tellin' ya, it moved me to tears.....
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