Ross O'Carroll Kelly vs the Northside

Lothaar

This thread is a real eye-opener for me. I assumed everybody saw the books/columns for what they were – satire. I had no idea that some people are offended by them, or that some people look up to RO’CK (who is clearly portrayed as a pathetic individual at heart).
The fact is, if you’re offended by them you’re probably damn close to the stereotype he paints. And if you look up to the guy you’re an imbecile and deserve to be ridiculed, which is exactly what Paul Howard is doing with this character.
I’m from the Northside, and I find his Northsiders as hilarious as his Southsiders.

BTW – slightly off-topic, but I recently read American Psycho and I noticed quite a lot of similarities between the characters (excepting the homicidal tendencies) and the writing style between that and the RO’CK books. Did anyone else every spot that?

leprehaungirl

i think anyone can relate to this book . ie if you come from anywhere around d4 you will love it becuase you act/dress/talk like the characters whereas if your from any other area of dublin (nortside,southwest side) you just laugh reading it and afterwards you can just laugh about it and think to yourself how glad your not from there!(well thats what i did lol !) the point of the book or any book is to enjoy it and wheather you want to take it seriously is your own descion. but really think about it for a second what divides the ns and the ss the smelly liffey ! of all things that could divide something it makes me laugh !!

SouthsideNorth

Ross is satire. These books are laugh out loud funny. I think people would take them for what they're worth.

I guess I have a different perspective consider I may well have grown up to become a total "orsehole," had my parents not moved away from Monkstown.

I guess there was a chance I may have gone to Scoil Lorcain. Then I probably would have been writing this post from the Kesh. Or I might have gone to the Rock or CBC Monkstown. Then I would have been writing this post from Australia, not really making much of living and leaching off the family. Or maybe I would have been absolutely hammered every day at Ocean City Beach, New Jersey or on the Cape.

And maybe if my grandmother had a pair of bollocks she'd be my grandfather.

Paul Howard is making fun of the whole Northside/Southside dynamic. If he's commenting on anything, it's how money is affecting Irish culture. I'm an outsider, with an insider perspective. I moved when I was 5, but came to visit almost every year. I can tell you in the 1990s, from my point of view, the pace of change in Ireland was absolutely amazing. I wish I could have been the guy smart enough to buy all the cranes and lease them out to Dublin construction firms. I'd be richer than the General.

So in this mode, I'll tell a joke that I once heard told to a woman from Stepaside, while dining on the fine rubber chicken and honey meade at Bunratty Castle.

"What's the difference between Northside woman and Southside woman?"

"The Northsiders wear fake jewelry, but have real orgasms."




Cool+ Significant Others

Jellybean0577

Lothaar wrote:

This thread is a real eye-opener for me. I assumed everybody saw the books/columns for what they were – satire. I had no idea that some people are offended by them, or that some people look up to RO’CK (who is clearly portrayed as a pathetic individual at heart).
The fact is, if you’re offended by them you’re probably damn close to the stereotype he paints. And if you look up to the guy you’re an imbecile and deserve to be ridiculed, which is exactly what Paul Howard is doing with this character.
I’m from the Northside, and I find his Northsiders as hilarious as his Southsiders.

Thank you for being the only person in here to make a valid point. I'm a Northsider and I find the books funny. I don't care really where in the country or what country a person comes from as long as I get on with them. Also, D42DCore, you should be totally ashamed of yourself. Both your grammar and spelling are absolutely atrocious. It just goes to show that being from D4 is irrelevant and that going to a "posh" school just won't benefit some people. Your (not you're) parent(s)/guardian(s) wasted their money.

~flammable~

Whats this about lucan being moved to offaly??

r3nu4l

Jellybean0577 wrote:

Thank you for being the only person in here to make a valid point. I'm a Northsider and I find the books funny. I don't care really where in the country or what country a person comes from as long as I get on with them. Also, D42DCore, you should be totally ashamed of yourself. Both your grammar and spelling are absolutely atrocious. It just goes to show that being from D4 is irrelevant and that going to a "posh" school just won't benefit some people. Your (not you're) parent(s)/guardian(s) wasted their money.

Well I'm from Lucan originally but know plenty of N'siders and D4-types and wannabes and I recently read the latest one (Curious incident of the dog...) and it was hilarious. I laughed so loudly on the bus one morning and got very strange looks . They rip the piss out of and exaggerate many of the Dublin stereotypes while staying close to an undercurrent of truth. Brilliant.

Rb

Did this really need to be bumped?I don't think so...

r3nu4l

rb_ie wrote:

Did this really need to be bumped?I don't think so...

So you don't think that users who only recently joined the site have a right to express an opinon on older threads?

OK, if jellybean doesn't continue to post then fair enough but I don't see why any user can't have an opinion on this thread just because it was started a few months ago. Benefit of the doubt for now.

Juza1973

The books are funny, I love them. I'm living in Dublin since two years and I like when the books describes the places where I spend my free time. This is satyre anyway!

constitutionus

****e to be honest. just what passes for humour in a particular strata of our society i.e media types, which explains why journalists are **** themselves silly over it and all our best comedians have to emigrate to get anywhere

honestly if you like this stuff you probably thought that "upwardly mobile" was fine comedic art and the cancellation of "extra extra read all about it" was a crying shame

Stirling

I suppose I'm in a weird position because I'm from Kerry, first went to college in UCC and I'm now in UCD and living in D4.

As far as the books go I used to think that the books were just brillaint satire and since I've been living here I now realise just how good they are. The people portrayed in the books do exist but just as has been said there are snobby northsiders just as much as they there are dodgy southsiders. What worries me is the value that people attach to what they wear, live and went to school for the most superficial of reasons.

At least in the great "Culchie vs The Dubs" debate there are some things that one can point to that are reasons to be proud such as history and sporting achievements but what side of a river you're born/live/grow up in is a pathetic thing to be proud of.

I went to a non fee paying school and live in the country when I'm not having a few pints of Ken in Kielys or doing the weekly shop in Donnybrook Fair! I'm proud of being from Kerry in so far as sporting prowess goes and whats more I think that being from the country has given me some insight into how much bulllsh*t the whole Northside/Southside debate really is but apart from feeling at home in Flannerys/Coppers being from Kerry doesn't define me and all I can say is that I feel sorry for the people who think that the whole D4 or not D4 thing does!

tolosenc

I think that "D4-heads" are just incredibly ignorant. I live in a fairly wealthy area on the Northside, but go to a public school at the end of a council estate, so I don't socialise with the big gang of D4-head gobsh*tes that hang around my area. But they are well known for throwing gaff parties when their parents are away and leaving major work (seriously, €000s worth of damage) to be done. This is not known to happen with the "scumbags", possibly because they realise that everything has to be payed for, and daddy won't just get another case and everything wil be alright.

I am in no doubt that the books are completely satirical, but the number of D4 heads who take it seriously is quite shocking. In the general D4 area there does be a genuine sense of fear and loathing when it comes to the northside.

melekalikimaka

obl wrote:

I think that "D4-heads" are just incredibly ignorant. I live in a fairly wealthy area on the Northside, but go to a public school at the end of a council estate, so I don't socialise with the big gang of D4-head gobsh*tes that hang around my area. But they are well known for throwing gaff parties when their parents are away and leaving major work (seriously, €000s worth of damage) to be done. This is not known to happen with the "scumbags", possibly because they realise that everything has to be payed for, and daddy won't just get another case and everything wil be alright.

I am in no doubt that the books are completely satirical, but the number of D4 heads who take it seriously is quite shocking. In the general D4 area there does be a genuine sense of fear and loathing when it comes to the northside.

indeed there is quite the loathing, northside d4 heads...the only thing worse than northsiders to them

The Supergirl!

ok! first off.......TAKE THE JOKE PEOPLE!!!! These books are the work of genius!!! they're ripping the piss out of EVERYONE!!!

they caricaturise every aspect of social standings! the affluent are made look like total knobs who dont give a flyin f**** about anything other then if they're gna score tonight.

while well the less affluent are portrayed as less sophistacted with less moral standing then the rest!!! WHICH WE ALL (or should all) KNOW IS NOT TRUE!!!

SO WILL PEOPLE STOP BEING SO SENSITIVE!!!!

I live in Killiney and to be honest i live like some of those in the book.....i wear dubes, have a new car, and have nice expensive clothes! BUT i do NOT wear fake tan, i do NOT go to a Private school and i do NOT believe that i am any better then anybody else!

these books are ripping the piss out of me aswell as anyone else classifying me as a your 'Steriotypical Southsider!'. we all know that not all Northsiders are druggys or knaks and we all know that all southsiders arent stuck up their own ass!!!!

GET OVER YOURSELVES RO'CK IS NOT SINGLING ANYONE OR SIDE OUT HES JUST POKING FUN AT EVERYONE!!!! GAWD!!!!

InFront

Yeah, I've no doubt the author is just laughing, I'm just not sure many people are laughing with him. The books are pathetic, it got even worse when they started letting the author interrupt rugby coverage on TV.

r3nu4l

This thread was bumped in October by a 1-poster Jellybean and bumped again yesterday by another 1-poster, The Supergirl!

I wonder what the IP addresses of these two posters is? Same organisation? Shilling? I could of course be very wrong

On-topic, I do like the books but I do think that having RO'CK as a rugby correspondant is a bit much It blurs the realms of fiction and reality a bit too much for me

Rb

r3nu4l wrote:

So you don't think that users who only recently joined the site have a right to express an opinon on older threads?

OK, if jellybean doesn't continue to post then fair enough but I don't see why any user can't have an opinion on this thread just because it was started a few months ago. Benefit of the doubt for now.

r3nu4l wrote:

This thread was bumped in October by a 1-poster Jellybean and bumped again yesterday by another 1-poster, The Supergirl!

I wonder what the IP addresses of these two posters is? Same organisation? Shilling? I could of course be very wrong

On-topic, I do like the books but I do think that having RO'CK as a rugby correspondant is a bit much It blurs the realms of fiction and reality a bit too much for me

Give out to me will ya!?

Its not shilling, its blow-ins from Google searches. They find a topic through it, post once (usually bumping an old thread in the process), don't bother coming back. Happens loads.

Also, f*ck Paul Howard, put him back in the writers chair and keep him off the tv.

r3nu4l

rb_ie wrote:

Give out to me will ya!?

I take it all back, can you forgive me?

Maybe I'm too lazy but to go to the trouble of registering an account just to post once on one thread in the whole of boards.ie seems like a huge amount of effort for very little. I just wouldn't bother

Psychobiker

Forgive me for re-bumping this thread.

This is actually roife in like, Gorlway, roysh.
Taylor's Hill, Salthill, Barna, Oranmore etc, have all seemingly adopted this bizarre way of speaking and carrying themselves. I lived in Oranmore for a year, and the local garage was full of 911s, AM DB7s, Range Rovers and the odd Hummer. WTF! (there was a Brabus K8 too, but I'll exempt that as the chappie who owns it is dead on)

It spreads to Loughrea as well, bizarrely. I think it was (as a previous poster put it) the fault of the 15 y/o girls, like, that totally focking oidolize Ross and the loifestoile, roysh.

L

orestes

Psychobiker wrote: »

Forgive me for re-bumping this thread.

No

Collie D

orestes wrote: »

No

Agreed