History Forum / General / General Topics / July 2004

vell, here's candidly how i often try to understand & stereotype &
pigeon-hole these phenomena in my half-assed, pidgin, semi-lectual
perceptions of realities,

and without looking at specific, refreshing articles about the origins
of gaelic culture as such:

there have got to be both (or probably are) distinctive (and
indistinctive) elements from the various invasions, including both
genetic and cultural elements

if the "black irish" are (perhaps) related to the spanish (and/or
other) invasions from the south, then the red irish are from the
vikings of the north

as for common myths, folkways, mores, customs, traditions,
taboos....hmmmmm...please forgive these fantasies and speculative,
absurd outrageousnessses, because this is the unedited internet, and
thus hereby a fool needs his friday night frights

10. potato latkes: the irish, unlike the jews, don't grind-out these
syrupy gut bombers, and i doubt if the vikings do, except for perhaps
kirk douglas at hanukah (also known as "chanukkah" in a previous
century)

9. tavern and bar culture: do scandanavians tend to imbibe in private,
because it's more tabooish up there to make a drunken a.s out of
oneself in public?

8. irish sweepstakes: a traditional win-lose method for sorta
ripping-off the people, while the scandanavians seem to me to be more
rationally collectivistic governmentally in their highly reputed
social welfare states (personally, i endorse a lottery-bond, which by
the way, the danes have utilized)

7. movies: james cagney versus ingrid bergman: i think jimmy could
out-box her in a typical ingemar bergmann non-understandable film

6. guiness world records: i would think that norway has the record on
quislings while erie was also not counted amongst the allies when you
look at an old map like i used to do while thinking about politics
making axis bedfellows as israel ha\d with south africa etal

5. the ulster situation: the british and the irish had their awful
dust-ups, while the laplanders and the swedes probably did too but
such hasn't been publicized in the united states--i last studied about
the laps in 1956 in 6th grade social studies and have wondered about
'em all these years

4. leif erricson got to canada, while broderick crawford played
governor/kingfish of louisiana--the french & the creoles are amused

3. oil versus potatoes: would you rather have a gallon of mcdonald
french fry grease or of pure norwegian crude?

2. jewish mayor robert briscoe of dublin: i met him in 1956 while
studying about lapland

1. james joyce: if anybody reading this nonsense actually understands
james joyce, then
you would be amused that i have borrowed an audio version of PORTRAIT
OF A YOUNG NOVELIST (or whatever the title of the 1917 Joyce watermark
work is), but am more than a little intimidated to start it, so i
listened to another elmore leonard story today and thus fell blandly
asleep rather than being perplexly bothered