105877329942247708
I am really grooving on Dervala’s blog these days. And it is getting cooler by the day as she pokes around central Canada, bringing her sharp eye and lucid prose to our forested heartlands.
Her notes on Canadian culture have been great, and they were topped recently by this brilliant take on the “I Am Canadian” rant, featuring a distinctly Irish theme:
Howya.
I’m not a potato farmer
or a hod carrier
and I don’t live in a thatched cottage,
or drink whiskey, or own a horse and cart
I probably do know Jimmy, Mary or Sin�ad from Ireland
and I’m sure they’re really, really good crack.
I have a Taoiseach
not a Prime Minister
I speak English and Irish
not Received Pronunciation
and I never say ‘Top o’ the mornin’ to ye’
I’m too cool to sew a shamrock on my backpack
but I believe in peace keeping, NOT policing.
SPONTANEITY, not respectability
AND THAT MICHAEL FLATLEY’S HAIR IS A TRULY PROUD AND NOBLE ANIMAL.
‘FECK’ IS BETTER THAN ‘CRIKEY’
TACKIES ARE TRAINERS
A PRESS IS A CUPBOARD
AND THE PLURAL IS PRONOUNCED ‘YE’ NOT ‘YOU’. ‘YE!’
IRELAND IS THE LARGEST CONSUMER OF TEA IN THE WORLD (per head)
THE FIRST NATION IN RIVERDANCING
AND IT IS THE MAINLAND
MY NAME IS DERVALA
AND I AM A PADDY
Cool, eh?
