So my great grandfather was a member of the Irish mafia back in the 1930s.

[Drunken Irishman]

I never met him, as he was forced to go back to Ireland long before I was born. But from what I hear he was a good man. I guess as good as one can be with ties to organized crime. Oh well, I thought it was cool that he had ties to that, not that I condone the mafia or anything...

[SteppingRazor]

1. I'm distantly related to IRA founder Michael Collins.

So, hey, here's to Irish ancestors that blow shit up :toast:

[Drunken Irishman]

2. We rock!

I know I have a few family members that were original members of the IRA. Plus my middle name was chosen because of Michael Collins. heh

[LostinVA]

17. Haruka is oddly jealous of you

:toast:

[SteppingRazor]

28. Ha! Tell her to seethe in it!

:evilgrin:

Don't get too jealous though. He's like a 2nd cousin of my great grandmother or some shit. Nothing too impressive.

[redqueen]

3. The Irish accent is the sexiest accent there is.

FACT.

[Drunken Irishman]

4. Wish I had it.

Maybe it'd be easier getting women.

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. That it is....

Of course, Irish accents vary by region. I personally would not want a Cork accent.

Many years ago, I got on a bus in Cork City and asked the driver the fare to Kinsale. He said farty-seven pence. I damn near burst into laughter.

[redqueen]

6. Yeah... I hear they're quite different

I'd like to find out for myself! :7

[greatauntoftriplets]

15. I hope that you get the opportunity.

When I win the Lotto (ha!), I am headed to Mayo.

[redqueen]

21. And when I do (ha HA!), I am headed to Louth.

:hi:

[greatauntoftriplets]

23. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we both got our wish????

I buy two quick picks every Saturday.

:hi:

[redqueen]

24. GOD yes!

:bounce:

I only get them when the mood strikes me... which isn't so often. It's nice to dream once in a while though. :)

:hi:

[KatyMan]

31. Louth?

Curious choice...we used to live in Slane, about 9 miles from Drogheda, drove through Louth a lot to go shopping in Newry (across the border in NI).
Personally, Mrs KM and I would move to Galway in a heartbeat.

[redqueen]

34. Well, I'd love to live anywhere in the Republic...

but Louth would be my first choice cause of a person who lives near there. :)

[KatyMan]

35. Ah...

Louth is nice, but as you said anywhere in the Republic would be great (well, maybe not Offaly or Laois, they're pretty flat and bleak as I recall).

[pink-o]

25. Yeah, but you didn't mention that Kinsale and Cork City are

freakin GORGEOUS!!! I was ther with my friend who was looking up her grandfather in order to get Irish citizenship--and her last name happened to be Collins, so I made sure everyone there knew I was with her (Very few Irishmen have last names of my persuasion--except maybe for Bob Geldof :beer: )

Anyway, I also remember the men were gorgeous as well, while the women were plain and nothing to write home about. My kind of country!

Another interesting factoid: My aunt, raised Orthodox Jewish, married a New York City 2nd generation Irishman. His sister's husband owned PJ Clarke's bar in NYC, a total hotbed of O'Mafia activity. They took up monthly collections for the IRA, while also supporting Joe McCarthy in the Senate...??? Go figure. Obviously, a few years ago, but definitely strange bedfellows!

The Irish tend to live on the edge of creative/crazy anyway, with quite a few of them going over. Luckily, my aunt and uncle never had kids, what with Irish lunacy and Jewish navel-gazing neurosis, my poor hypothetical cousins woulda stood no chance!

[greatauntoftriplets]

26. Oh, that they are!!!

I was in Kinsale over a bank holiday that coincided with our Memorial Day. Lots of yachties were visiting the town. Gorgeous men with gorgeous boats.

My family is from Mayo. I arrived in the county town of Castlebar and asked two gorgeous men outside the train station (who looked amazingly like my brother-in-law's brother) for directions to the bed and breakfast where I planned to stay. They ended up driving me there.

Great times. I love Ireland.

[ceile]

40. Totally agree!

Spent a few days in both places and was blown away. We were at Charles Fort when a mast ship came into the harbor in Kinsale. We had just learned on the tour that the Spanish had been back in the 1600s(?) and then here comes this ship! Crazy.

[sg_]

27. Vary more than region, by town!

Each town normally has their own sort of sound or words they use more often than the next, hard for people who arent from here to catch on that they are different accents in the same region/area but there are differences between towns/villages, like in words used and way some words are said/pronounced.

The 2 villages nearest me, they each have their own sound and usually their way of pronouncing words, one is alot softer than the other for the most part even though they are barely 4 miles apart.

Countless accents really here :)


"Torrty tree ana turd" (Thirty three and a third) would be a stereotypical Irish accent I guess ;-)

"Furti free ana furd" - is the sort of way my accent is, hard to write it down as it sounds since I dont have a microphone to record it

[redqueen]

36. That's exactly what I've been told... it sounds absolutely charming!

:)

[Redstone]

7. My grandfather was an Irish Boston cop who drank himself to death. Can you have more of

a stereotype than that?

But he was.

Redstone

[greatauntoftriplets]

14. Ha!!! You want stereotypes???

My Irish grandfather was an undertaker in a small town just outside of Chicago who drank himself out of his own business. He died from pneumonia and the Spanish flu in 1918 after time spent enbalming soldiers dead from the flu at Camp Grant in northwest Illinois.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. The Cassidy grave stone in our family is a typical Irish stereotype.

Oddly enough, I found a photo of the grave online. Weird.



Delia and John were my great, great grandparents. The rest were their kids. A few also died in Ireland. They had something like 10 kids.

[Breeze54]

20. My grandfather was also a Boston Irish cop!

I'll bet your grandfather knew my grandfather. ;)

"It's a small, small world!" ;)

[lost-in-nj]

8. I'm part Irish

probably my pinkie finger

but I have heard from my Dad who was an electrician
in NJ (cough mob cough) that the Irish mafia
is worse then the Italian mafia
but the russian mafia is the one you REALLY want to stay away from

I have no dark horses in my family :-(

BTW
Welcome to DU

:hi:


lost

[two gun sid]

9. To be an electrician in the Philadelphia Shipyard...

you had to be Irish. Guy named Doyle was the BA when I was there in the '80's.

Of course, I have no idea if it was connected to any organization other than The Ancient Order Of Hibernians.

[Inchworm]

10. My Irish Grandfather

Died in prison because he got caught!

Now thats ancestry!

:toast:

[lost-in-nj]

11. Caught at what??

:shrug: :shrug:

:hi: :hi:

lost

[evlbstrd]

12. Did you know

The Irish invented organized crime in this country. Read "Paddywhacked".

[Missy Vixen]

13. DrunkenIrishman, I found out shortly before my mother died

that my Irish maternal grandfather was living under an assumed name.

Here's to colorful grandparents! :toast:

Julie

[Vidar]

16. My great uncle was a small time bootlegger, & I did know him:

a failed con man 'till the day he died.

[Breeze54]

19. Whose Irish grandfather wasn't?

:shrug:

:rofl:

[Drunken Irishman]

22. True. ;)

[LostinVA]

29. I have members of the REAL Mafia in my family

[Drunken Irishman]

30. The gay mafia?

:D

[LostinVA]

37. hehehehehehhehe

The Sicilian Mafia.

I'm both!

[sakabatou]

32. I think one of my distat relatives

was in the Jewish Mafia

[Taverner]

33. I see no difference between mafia and a Fortune 500 company

[Drunken Irishman]

38. The mafia has stronger morals.

And actually kinda supports labor...kinda. :D

[Taverner]

39. It's all just 'bidness'

:)