Are some parts of Ireland just a bit odd?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Always thought Mayo to be a bit odd and almost Stepford-like. I lived there for a while and nearly every conversation I had with someone was like they were trying to work out what they were supposed to say rather than what they genuinely thought. If they were even able to think.

intellectual dosser

freshpopcorn wrote: »

From stuff I've heard in the news Donegal used say No a lot more in the past.
Donegal voted No in the abortion referendum.

The constituency of Donegal did, however the county of Donegal did not.

branie2

Kinvara reminds me of Summerisle from The Wicker Man

EmmetSpiceland

branie2 wrote: »

Late 60s early 70s vibe in Cork city.

Was there very recently and your spot on, bad fashion and moustaches.

topper75

branie2 wrote: »

Kinvara reminds me of Summerisle from The Wicker Man

That is just some temporary light crustification. They might ease back on their festivals a bit alright. Either Cuckoo or Cruinniú ought to go.

The part of the island that most gives me 'there's something going on and I'm not part of it' vibe is south Dublin. Eerie place at times, that dead look in their eyes walking past you as though you are not there at all.

Mad_maxx

Zorya wrote: »

Feck off, we'll do what we want :mad:

Recently I had a teeny bit of trouble parallel parking on the main street of a lovely town in Northern Ireland. After I was done I got out and in a friendly way waved at the exceedingly old lady in the car behind may, and made a self deprecating remark about my parking skills. With that she leapt from her car, all 4and a half skinny foot of her, and began viciously beating my car with her umbrella, screaming " Get out yiz Taigs, Get out, Yet not welcome here!!!"

No word of a lie. Haha

Had a taig hater ram me with her quad bike in new Zealand many years ago, she was Scottish so sort of the same thing

Mad_maxx

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Always thought Mayo to be a bit odd and almost Stepford-like. I lived there for a while and nearly every conversation I had with someone was like they were trying to work out what they were supposed to say rather than what they genuinely thought. If they were even able to think.

Always found mayo people great and the best of the connacht folk

Gazzmonkey

In other news, its raining today.

Itssoeasy

Neon_Lights wrote: »

Leitrim and Longford are full of weirdo's in my experience, followed closely by cavan people

Leitrim isn't full of anything.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Always found mayo people great and the best of the connacht folk

Oh, I'm not saying they weren't nice - very friendly on the most part - but it was just all a little bit samelike. Royston Vasey without the menace.

Ipso

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Was there very recently and your spot on, bad fashion and moustaches.

What about the men?

Muahahaha

Ubbquittious wrote: »

I wouldn't take much notice of that sort of thing really. I have been to places in other countries and Norn Iron where I have felt a sudden need to get the feck out of there. But in Ireland it is grand. Donegal and places have a bit of madness about them and I like it. Must mean I'm odd myself

I remember going into a chipper in Omagh on a Sunday night around 8pm and asking if they would take Irish pounds. Like yourself I definitely felt the need to get out of there quick.

I've never been to Monasterevin but does anyone remember that incident a few years back where a civil servant went down there to look at renting an apartment and he ended up getting roughed up by a mob and ran out of town because they thought (wrongly) that he was a convicted paedophile. I've always thought of Monasterevin as a bit mad since and recently a friend confirmed it for me, bunch of knuckle draggers was the phrase used.

Dial Hard

Healy-Rae country. There has to be something in the aquifers down there.

RollieFingers

Newtown Mount Kennedy is a strange oul spot, full of Ben's.

cgcsb

asteroids over berlin wrote: »

reminds me of a wining streak show - a Kerry guy (mid/late 40s) never outside Ireland, first time ever in Dublin, didn't travel much outside Kerry (apparently). Anyway up in the big smoke for winning streak, game kicks off, wins a holiday to Spain, his 2 youngish kids jump up in delight. Not a smile to be had on himself, probably the worst nightmare scenario:D

Think I seen that one, The studio was all too exotic for him, the prospect of Spain done nothing for him.

cgcsb

Muahahaha wrote: »

I remember going into a chipper in Omagh on a Sunday night around 8pm and asking if they would take Irish pounds. Like yourself I definitely felt the need to get out of there quick.

With 72% of Omagh's population being from a Catholic background, you stumbled across a hardcore loyalist chipper?

OldMrBrennan83

cgcsb wrote: »

With 72% of Omagh's population being from a Catholic background, you stumbled across a hardcore loyalist chipper?

Of course you would, do you think the other 28 don't have their own areas? Lurgan is close-ish to 50:50 and there might as well be a big line painted up the main Street with one side not using the other.

Have you never been in NI? The % majority just doesn't own a particular town and have the minority running around like they're in 1970's South Africa.

cgcsb

I find parts of Roscomon and Longord quite scary. It's the way the locals look at you and the random weird statements they might make to you, even outward hostility seems common. Less extreme versions of this exist across the midlands, I guess areas where there isn't a continuous flow through of 'outsiders' the gene pool can get a bit stale. The west coast remains quite fresh thanks to tourism, It's the midlands, where people tend to see the sights from the window of an express train, that you get the oddness.

cgcsb

OldMrBrennan83 wrote: »

Of course you would, do you think the other 28 don't have their own areas? Lurgan is close-ish to 50:50 and there might as well be a big line painted up the main Street with one side not using the other.

Have you never been in NI? The % majority just doesn't own a particular town and have the minority running around like they're in 1970's South Africa.

The point being, with such a large Catholic majority, surely they couldn't afford to be outwardly hostile to the aul taigs. Except for Belfast, I've not seen much of NI to be honest. Been to Larne before, but refused to stop the car, not a good tooth to mouth ratio there.

Nikki Sixx

Rural Ireland is all about the rumour mill, gossip and G.A.A. If you don’t play G.A.A. in some parts of Ireland you might as well be a gay Jehovah’s Witness.

OldMrBrennan83

cgcsb wrote: »

The point being, with such a large Catholic majority, surely they couldn't afford to be outwardly hostile to the aul taigs. Except for Belfast, I've not seen much of NI to be honest. Been to Larne before, but refused to stop the car, not a good tooth to mouth ratio there.

Each town has their own pockets regardless of the majority and they'll be hostile to whoever they like. Take portadown for example, the vast majority is loyalist but take a jaunt up the g-road and you won't find anyone too worried about upsetting them.

EmmetSpiceland

Ipso wrote: »

What about the men?

Hahaha, very good.

But, in fairness to them, the women looked quite well. Skirts were very short though.

threeball

cgcsb wrote: »

I find parts of Roscomon and Longord quite scary. It's the way the locals look at you and the random weird statements they might make to you, even outward hostility seems common. Less extreme versions of this exist across the midlands, I guess areas where there isn't a continuous flow through of 'outsiders' the gene pool can get a bit stale. The west coast remains quite fresh thanks to tourism, It's the midlands, where people tend to see the sights from the window of an express train, that you get the oddness.

Majority of places and people in this country are friendly apart from the sh1thole that is our capital. People there can't stand any imposition on their life like someone saying hello, holding up their progress from a to b in their suv for anything in excess of 3 seconds or generally having any regard for anyone but themselves. On the rare occasion they venture outside the M50 and encounter real people and any of the situations above they feel intimidated by the "weirdos" who dare to be anything other that the self absorbed d1ckheads they're used to encountering.

Muahahaha

cgcsb wrote: »

With 72% of Omagh's population being from a Catholic background, you stumbled across a hardcore loyalist chipper?

Well they weren't taking my Irish pounds so can only presume so. Got dirty looks off a couple of the customers waiting there too when they heard my accent. I wasn't welcome there and that was made pretty clear to me.

Arghus

I've known a few people from Cong, Co. Mayo, and they are lovely people, but they've definitely got a streak of madness in them.

I was at a wedding once and I randomly overheard a snippet of someone's conversation that went "...they're mad Cnts in Cong."

At a later date I was talking to a friend of mine who, had grown up close to the area, about the place and is words of wisdom were "you know they're mad cnts in Cong."

EmmetSpiceland

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Very shallow gene pool out there

Could certainly use a bit of the auld “chlorine”, J.

mcmoustache

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Connies are ****ing weird. Big auld mountainy heads on them, and a deep love for two tone denim jackets. Very shallow gene pool out there, and dark rumours of families being a good bit closer than society would deem appropriate.

That's really only the case in places like Litir Mór, Tír an Fhia or out near Muiceannach and probably not as common these days. Even at that, most people check out each other's ancestry with a simple "cé leis thu?" which pretty much solves the problem. That and avoiding sleeping with anyone from the same parish.

It's definitely still an odd place though. People aren't so much known by surnames as they are by their ancestors' names. I remember this being a pain in the arse when a parent or grand parent would ask me if Séamus Mhicilín Pheaits Mór was in my class and I wouldn't know if they were referring to Séamus Ó Flatharta, Séamus Mac Donacha or Séamus Ó Dómhnaill. I don't know if this happens in the other gaeltachts.

mcmoustache

Dial Hard wrote: »

Healy-Rae country. There has to be something in the aquifers down there.

It's the roads. They fix the roads. I mean that. They literally fix the roads.

Franz Von Peppercorn II

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

How's life in Ballingarry anyway?

You know you live up the road from Ballingarry, right?

This my big village is less odd than the big village down the road is itself pretty odd.

Beasty

I always thought that bit in the north quite odd. What's it called again??

Oh yes, Northern Ireland

Viscount Aggro

Mountmellick, Laois.
That is one odd place.
The dampness, smell of turf smoke, alcoholics in the pubs from 10am.
Celtic tiger did not stop in this town.
There was a raid on the Shaws store - the raiders cleaned the shop out, and shat into the till drawer.
Its a depressing kip.

Ipso

Beasty wrote: »

I always thought that bit in the north quite odd. What's it called again??

Oh yes, Northern Ireland

The North rememberers, and remembers.

TheDiceMan2020

Parts of Clare are like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Like they have been exposed to radiation for years.

Mutants.

Woke Hogan

I find Dublin to be a very strange place. It’s the kind of place where people crowd around the television gawping at X Factor while stuffing their faces with “chipper” food, grease dripping down their Man Utd jerseys, crying at the “veddy sad” human interest stories.

“Proud to be Irish” but overwhelmingly British culturally. I prefer the modest country man over the “Jackeen.”

Red Lightning

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote:

Exhibit A: Donegal. The county that brought us Peter Casey, Mickey Joe Harte, and loves to say No in referendums. The Trolling County.

I don't know why a Tipperary man is worrying about Donegal. This coming from the county that had two car registrations.

JupiterKid

Some parts of County Wicklow are very weird and inward looking.

North Wicklow is very close to Dublin and is pretty wealthy and monied - big houses and pretty villages like Enniskerry and Ashford. Then you have South Wicklow which is a complete world away...small places like Shillelagh and Tinahely which would be like a Valley of the Squinting Windows and pubs where the music would stop and the regulars would stare you down when you stepped in the door.

I also think parts of East Galway and East Clare are strange. East Clare is where the artist Imelda Riney, her young son and a local priest were murdered back in 1994.

Donegal is more very conservative than odd.

OldMrBrennan83

Red Lightning wrote: »

I don't know why a Tipperary man is worrying about Donegal. This coming from the county that had two car registrations.

In fairness it's better than one that doesn't believe in any of the paperwork at all.

Franz Von Peppercorn II

Woke Hogan wrote: »

I find Dublin to be a very strange place. It’s the kind of place where people crowd around the television gawping at X Factor while stuffing their faces with “chipper” food, grease dripping down their Man Utd jerseys, crying at the “veddy sad” human interest stories.

“Proud to be Irish” but overwhelmingly British culturally. I prefer the modest country man over the “Jackeen.”

Your habit of going around to people’s houses and staring in the window as they watch television will get you in trouble, sooner or later.

Red Lightning

OldMrBrennan83 wrote:

In fairness it's better than one that doesn't believe in any of the paperwork at all.

Factually incorrect

gozunda

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Always thought Mayo to be a bit odd and almost Stepford-like. I lived there for a while and nearly every conversation I had with someone was like they were trying to work out what they were supposed to say rather than what they genuinely thought. If they were even able to think.

"Mayo God help us"

http://www.mayogodhelpus.com/mayogodhelpus.html

It is said that emigration was a good thing. Too much consanguinity and all that...

whisky_galore

Bailiborough, Co. Cavan.

Stayed there one night. First time in a long long time I had a hotel room key that was actually a key and not a card. The hotel itself, the decor and even the background music was like it was frozen in time since the early 1990s. Live music offered at the weekends was the inevitable country 'n' Irish. All the hotel staff appeared to be Irish.

Elsewhere, many signs of businesses and shops that had fallen by the wayside.

Depressing.

Noveight

Naas.

Just a large gathering of people who work in and around Dublin.

Harry Palmr

Stay away from Laois. I tend to think that the Provos were kept there as a warning in itself.

EmmetSpiceland

Red Lightning wrote: »

I don't know why a Tipperary man is worrying about Donegal. This coming from the county that had two car registrations.

Didn’t they get rid of that a couple of years ago? Think it’s just “T” now.

Red Lightning

EmmetSpiceland wrote:

Didn’t they get rid of that a couple of years ago? Think it’s just “T†now.

I think that is the case which is why I said 'had'.

EmmetSpiceland

Red Lightning wrote: »

I think that is the case which is why I said 'had'.

Ah, my apologies.

But, aside from having two registrations for years, that lot also continually vote in the likes of Michael Lowry and Mattie McGrath.

fryup

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Stay away from Laois. I tend to think that the Provos were kept there as a warning in itself.

don't you mean Louth?

Harry Palmr

fryup wrote: »

don't you mean Louth?

Portlaois was where the top security jail was located.

branie2

Not odd, but I always think Shannon has a holy feel to it, mainly because the airport is a destination for Lourdes

WesternZulu

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Leitrim isn't full of anything.

Trees!