St Patrick's Day

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
A few years ago people barely took any notice of St Guinness Day, now it's huge, I think that this is the only special day that has risen from nothing to such prominence in my life-time, I reckon that makes it the scientology of "holy" days. I'm sure the same occured with Valentine's Day and loads of other things but it's more annoying than that because St Patrick's Day seems to basically be run for the benefit of one company. I notice that the google logo has been coloured green with some shamrocks today in celebration (check it, I'm not even joking) - even though Guinness decided to move the day's celebrations back due to the unfortunate problem of it falling during Lent - the time when most of its target drinkers are theoretically supposed to be fasting.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I was considering starting a thread about this a few minutes ago, when I saw some prat wearing a big foam Guinness/shamrock 'hat'. What a bunch of arse.
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
Didn't the Pope move it cos you can't have a Saint's day in the week before Easter?

My sister is an absolute repeat offender when it comes to claiming Irish ancestry and wearing one of those stupid hats, the silly prannock.
 
M

martin

----
IdleRich said:
I notice that the google logo has been coloured green with some shamrocks today in celebration (check it, I'm not even joking) -
Click to expand...

Fucking hell. Shamrocks on St Patrick's Day. Conspiracy abounds.

I'm getting rat arsed in exactly 10 minutes' time cos I'm proud my daddy and mammy weren't a couple of English poofs, and no gawk in a top hat's gonna shake me (I'm drinking Tribune, if anyone cares).
 
M

martin

----
Not starting Rich, but why are you so irritated? It's not like this is new, going back to the early 90s when you had the Guinness ad with the prat prancing around to some rotten old jazz track - that was the period you had the whole Irish=Trendy bollocks. It's not like anyone needs an excuse to get pissed (ie-NYE), but most Irish people'll be avoiding the Archway Tavern anyway, who wants to drink a pint of Guinness that's been left on the bar for 10 minutes, along with 20 other pints, just to meet demand? And the idea that all Irish 'Catholics' celebrate* Lent is pretty dogmatic.

* by celebrate I mean 'take any notice of'
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Not starting Rich, but why are you so irritated?"
Click to expand...
Well on any irritated scale you could draw I'm at the lower end so I think I'll be able to sleep ok tonight and everything, I mean I never even noticed it until I saw those fantastic green hats on my way to work (and then google). But, to answer your question, the thing that annoys me is definitely going back to the Irish trendy thing you are on about and the way that the day was basically created around that time as a major event by Guinness and everyone happily went along with it. For some reason I feel that some meaningless commercial bollocks (eg Valentines Day) has more worth if I wasn't around when it rose to prominence, that's why I can never understand Scientology vs Islam (say), they may have both been completely made up by some guy but when the guy is sitting over there going "yeah, I did it for a bet" it's a little harder to believe.

"And the idea that all Irish 'Catholics' celebrate* Lent is pretty dogmatic"
Click to expand...
Indeed but it made me smile the way that Guinness had to sort of grudgingly pretend that everyone does because it's part of the same myth of Oirishness that they are using to sell their drinks in the first place.
 
M

Melmoth

Bruxist
Saying that St. Patrick's Day was invented by Guinness is like saying Carnival was invented by Red Stripe. Or to put it another way, to equate it soley with spanners in foam hats is to think that Carnival =trustafarians blowing whistles. There's a lot more going on, its always been big in London, was just hidden away in the areas with big Irish migrant populations. The peace process in the North meant it could become more visible in London without getting stamped on by the police. It was invented by migrants in New York in the 1800s, was always much bigger outside Ireland than in it.




http://melmothkitsune.blogspot.com/
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
I think it's a combination of 'peace' in NI and an American import. Plastic Paddydom is huge over there (nation of immigrants and that) and St Patrick's is obv. the focus. I was in chicago for it in the early 90s and they dyed the river green.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
the funniest thing about st. patrick's day in nyc are all the chubby hispanic kids wearing green today who are already visibly drunk
 
I

Immryr

Well-known member
theyre both pretty bad!

if there was a day where you were forced to drink samuel smiths imperial stout, or something, i might get a bit more excited!
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Heh, now you're talking! I find Guinness dependable though hardly exciting - as you point out, there are much better dark beers out there. Fuller's London Porter for one, easily the brewery's best beer IMO.
 
Amplesamples

Amplesamples

Well-known member
I completely empathise with Rich. I still can't quite understand why people get so excited about this total bollocks.

What is so great about pretending to be Irish for one day a year? If I was Irish I'd be quite offended by the complete nonsense that goes on inside o'neills, scruffy murphys et al. Lots of idiots (my friends included) wearing those annoying hats and going on about how the "Guiness tastes different in Ireland, it's more creamy". Gah! Shut up!

I studiously avoid going to the pub for St Patricks Day as the whole day is a total sham for most people (unless you really are Irish of course). People can do what they like, but I hate St Patricks Day - if I want a drink, I won't wait for a contrived celebration of something I know nothing about before I consider having a pint.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
St Paddy's has always been a big deal in Liverpool and my mum's side of the family (scouse-irish) celebrate it every year. Just got back from spoonies, where I'd drank three pints of Guinness so that my gf's mate could get a free hat, but it is one of my regular tipples anyway. I don't mind the commercialism so much, what are we supposed to do, all go to mass or something?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top