(no subject)

[stakebait]

Happy belated 100th Bloomsday! Have some lemon soap.

Did anyone watch the premiere of Method and Red last night? Was it any good?

Comments

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, almost all the Americans I've talked to here hate Bush, and often are quite willing to criticise their country, but still, we go too far and they feel beleaguered and I think, sometimes, they realise a sort of new patriotism in reaction to our condescension.

Quite a few Americans come here to do one-year MAs or something of the kind, but you want your protagonist to be more rootless than that, do you?

Well, he could find temporary work here easily enough. 50% of bar staff are a mixed bag of foreigners, and 99% of newsagent staff are Chinese. (Seriously. And ten years ago, I'd probably never seen an Asian in the flesh. God, but this place has changed.)

Words - oh, everything. Bill instead of note. Check instead of bill. School instead of university. Jello instead of jelly, jelly instead of jam. Fries instead of chips and chips instead of crisps. And that's just the tip of the iceberg of Americanisms that send us into fits of laughter.

You see, we who use British English are religiously convinced that American English is an inferior dialect which should be trained out of the unfortunate Americans at the earliest opportunity.

And we yell at them for mixing us up with the Northern Irish or with the Brits and yet we still persist in calling every US citizen a Yankee, even when we've been repeatedly informed that that's very, very incorrect.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Huh. I can't say it would bother me on a visit, since at least I'm *in* your country, so you wanting me to do it your way would make some sense. I was much more annoyed by the American girl who came to visit us while we were in Ireland, and then spent all her time telling us how everything different about Ireland was "wrong", from bacon to money. Dude, if you didn't want to see anything unAmerican, why did you pay good money to leave America?

Definitely more rootless than an MA. He's burnt out and doesn't want to owe anybody anything or vice versa, which will make his sudden acquisition of an unbreakable bond that much more annoying. Bar staff would work nicely.

He's also got to be something of an artist (to attract the leahan sidhe in the first place) but unambitious with it (to refuse her offer). I'm thinking musician, the kind that's content to busk and play in pick-up groups and doesn't dream of a recording contract, but I'm not wedded to it.

Maybe it's just because I read so much British and Irish fiction, but I use bill/note, check/bill, school/university, and jelly/jam almost interchangeably. Not the others, though. Fries are fries forever and ever amen. :)

It's merely amusingly inaccurate to call me a Yankee. I don't mind. It's only when you say it to a Southerner that those are fighting words.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

spent all her time telling us how everything different about Ireland was "wrong", from bacon to money.

Haha, yes, I remember an American exclaiming in annoyance once, "How can any sensible money system not have quarters?" I responded "How can any sensible money system not have 20p/20c coins?" She looked confused.

The Irish do, however, say exactly the same things to Americans in their own country as they do when the Americans are here, so we don't really have any excuse.

He could busk on Grafton Street! Whee!

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

*grin* Yes, but here we can do it back, and have you outnumbered. Or more likely, coo over your accent and completely ignore the content, or consider it like a quaint period piece. We have our condescending people too.

Where's Grafton Street? The place I remember buskers was, um, a plaza near a wacky hat shop near Temple Bar? Is this a real place, or did I make it up or dream it?

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

You've definitely walked down Grafton Street. It's pedestrianised, very busy, and has Stephen's Green at one end and Trinity at the other. Filled with buskers.

Temple Bar Square! God, that's a funny place. Yep, it has the buskers too. As well as the mad lefty ranters whom the bored teenage metalheads listen to while wondering when their drug dealer's gonna call.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Ah, that explains it. I fell in love with the Trinity library with a deep and painful love, and barely had enough attention left to see the Book of Kells, let alone mere streets. I'm glad I remembered the square right. And mad lefty ranters are the much-prized local color. Ahem, colour. :)

Mer

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

The library? How come you were allowed in? They're pretty good with security...

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

*does some internet research* I guess it was the Old Library? Anyway, I took a tour. It wasn't sneaky.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Wait, do you mean the Long Room? Part of the Book of Kells tour, and way better than the Book itself?

(if so, I can bring you in free again)

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

*does more Internet research with pictures* Yes, yes I do. And thank you tons, that would be wonderful! Of course, you want to be careful about letting me into that room. You might never get me out of it. I never really *got* why anyone would want to be buried in the floor of a cathedral before, but I did there.