Irish Demographic Maps

[Oakvale]

Fascinating, and I normally find this kind of thing very dull. I live in 'Dublin Central' and don't recall ever seeing any farms around but some people have gardens and perhaps some of them grow broccoli or something.

[Oakvale]

Fascinating, and I normally find this kind of thing very dull. I live in 'Dublin Central' and don't recall ever seeing any farms around but some people have gardens and perhaps some of them grow broccoli or something.

Whereabouts, if I may be so imprudent to ask?

Cabra, one of Bertie's many old stomping grounds. I once came home to find the man himself in my kitchen, let in by my brother to the horror of my parents.

[Oakvale]

Fascinating, and I normally find this kind of thing very dull. I live in 'Dublin Central' and don't recall ever seeing any farms around but some people have gardens and perhaps some of them grow broccoli or something.

Whereabouts, if I may be so imprudent to ask?

Cabra, one of Bertie's many old stomping grounds. I once came home to find the man himself in my kitchen, let in by my brother to the horror of my parents.

What.

That's the appropriate reaction, yes.

Bertie Ahern used to knock on doors canvassing as part of his "man of the people" schtick. Sometimes he would be invited inside briefly to talk about how he represented the plain people of Ireland or whatever. Anyway, my parents would never have let him in but my fourteen-year-old brother knew no better so that... happened.

I've never been the same since.

Fascinating, and I normally find this kind of thing very dull. I live in 'Dublin Central' and don't recall ever seeing any farms around but some people have gardens and perhaps some of them grow broccoli or something.

Whereabouts, if I may be so imprudent to ask?

Cabra, one of Bertie's many old stomping grounds. I once came home to find the man himself in my kitchen, let in by my brother to the horror of my parents.

What.

Bertie Ahern was renowned for his continual doorstep canvassing at all weekends (and sometimes evenings) during the year, in between elections as well as during them.

Oakvale, for some reason I thought you came from Monaghan.

Ah, you're confusing me with my fellow I-IE, Jas.

[Oakvale]

Fascinating, and I normally find this kind of thing very dull. I live in 'Dublin Central' and don't recall ever seeing any farms around but some people have gardens and perhaps some of them grow broccoli or something.

Whereabouts, if I may be so imprudent to ask?

Cabra, one of Bertie's many old stomping grounds. I once came home to find the man himself in my kitchen, let in by my brother to the horror of my parents.

What.

That's the appropriate reaction, yes.

Bertie Ahern used to knock on doors canvassing as part of his "man of the people" schtick. Sometimes he would be invited inside briefly to talk about how he represented the plain people of Ireland or whatever. Anyway, my parents would never have let him in but my fourteen-year-old brother knew no better so that... happened.

I've never been the same since.

That's, uh, special. You have my condolences.

Could have been worse, he could have been in one of the presses.

[Oakvale]

I like how most of the articles I can find seem to think "suicide" is such a dirty word that the fact cannot be put to paper. Pretty crass, though, and they seem to be at a bit of a loss as to why.

The cause of death wasn't specified for the first couple of days - "sudden death" was used as a euphemism, although it was vague enough that when I first heard the news I assumed it was a heart attack - but the media were more forthcoming once the funeral had taken place. I think the general idea in these cases would be to not put more pressure on the immediate family.

There tend to be a lot of euphemisms used for death here in any case - "peacefully" or "after a long illness" for cancer, for example - so it's wider than some notion of suicide being a sin. It's part of a more general tendency for indirect or non-confrontational speech in this country.

The most annoying recent euphemism, and one borrowed from the US, is the term "passed" and "passing" for "died" or "death".

Update:General discussion of Irish media's attitude towards suicide in one of today's papers.

This reminds me of the weird RTE-ism "the death has taken place of..." I can only assume it's some kind of common Hiberno-English turn of phrase that I've never heard anyone use in person.

[Oakvale]

Just to keep the thread alive somewhat...

I remember a while back on this forum we had a discussion on which regions here would vote for which UK parties in the magical event (yes, Niall Ferguson, a unicorn is more likely to fly by your house while copulating with Shergar than this has of ever, ever happening) of Ireland being part of the UK and having the same parties (ha!). Obviously political cultures, etc are different (to say the least) but anyone willing to speculate... I would say the same for the US except that would be too obvious...

Er... everywhere but bits of South Dublin voting "not Tory"?

Interesting to know that the more I find out about Niall Ferguson the more of a bizzaro alternate-universe BRTD he becomes. Did you know he's married to Ayaan Hirsi Ali? There are no words.