Around this time each year, whilst I prepare my St. Patty's day menu, listening to my sweet Irish mix CD and watch countless documentaries on the History Channel regarding the plight of the early Irish immigrants, I am struck by two nagging questions . . .
1. Was that a run-on sentence? and
2. How Irish am I?
With a name like ****** you would have to figure "not much," but au contraire mon frere, which I believe is French for "You may or may not be full of shite O'mally, let's have all our facts first!"
My "Ma" was the daughter of A***** (where I got my middle name) Kenney (now deceased) who hailed from A*****e Ireland, so no questions there. Her Ma, however, one A*******es (also deceased) of Newfoundland used to claim Ireland as her ancestral home due mostly to the fact that she was born on St. Pat's Day and enjoyed the occasional bowl of Lucky Charms. This desire, no matter how genuine, seemed about as wonky as a protestant's claim to eternal salvation. As we Irish are wont to say "Yer either in or yer out!" The question here remains, "What percentage of ME is wont to say the aforementioned?" I'm getting to it! "The devil is in the details" is another thing we like to say....it's not really applicable here, but we still like to say it.
At a recent family get-together my Ma informed me that she had been in touch with a cousin of hers from California (not deceased). He had been studying the ***es family tree and discovered that the very first ***es in Newfoundland was "banished" from IRELAND for ... get this . . . . KILLING an English Lord. My heart leapt for joy as I exclaimed "Calhoo Calhay!" for we that are of the Irish decent are all aware that the only thing we prefer to the "Guinness and Whiskey" coursin' through are veins is the pure Irish blood.
So the answer dear readers . . . a little more than I was.
Happy St. Pat's Sufferin' Bastards!
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3 comments:
I’m not sure I understand. You leapt for joy when you heard about the English Lords demise? How odd…….
From what I’ve always been told it was the English who taught the Irish how to drink. The English didn’t setout to teach them to drink of course, it was just one of the side benefits from having the English help the poor lads manage their affairs and keep the country in order.
I don't know Daddy....with a name like ******** one might assume me to be "Quite Irish". But thanks to my very wise "Italian" grandmother, it was explained to me that we were 100% Italian but God thought we were sooooooooo special he threw in an extra 25% Irish (Just to explain the last name!.
Happy St. Patrick's Day my Irish friend!
Hugs 'n' Kisses.....2-D
Killed an English Lord!? EXCELLENT! Why my good man, that's even more important than what percentage Irish you are. You're in!
Kind of like being a red sox fan: it's not so important that the sox win, it's that theyankees LOSE. Us Irish are weird like that.
Big F'in Chester
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