Ireland. You Couldn't Make This Place Up!

an capall

an capall

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The success of Irish Theatre this season has been 'I Keano' a satire on the events of the last World Cup when Roy Keane went ape. If you recall he was pissed off with the pay, facilities, management and organisation.

So the play has been breaking records. The satire is based on a Roman epic whence an army musters for a historical battle, led by the general McCarthycus...etc etc.

Anyway - they negotiated a second run but it has fallen through because 'The Cast' have fallen out with Production. They are pissed off with the pay, facilities, management and organisation.

Check it out...http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/funny_old_game/4149787.stm
 
very interesting piece in the Times today where the IRA and Mr Adams were directly involved in refusing Thatchers terms to end hunger strikes that were going on at the time.

Gerry Adams refused an offer that was thought very difficult to refuse at the time and another 5 continued to starve themselves to death before accepting a worse offer.
No surprise that it was politically motivated and eff all to do with the pawns.

Someone said how annoying it was to have the Independent delivered instead of the Times,,,I just read the online version which seems comprehensive enough.
 
"one big oxymoron"

Perhaps coming from an Irish representative no, but I feel if it had been delivered by certain other members, it would have been considered so, or manipulated to be such.
 
The word oxymoron means a figure of speech in which contradictory terms are used in conjunction to make a (usually epigrammatic) point. Some examples in everyday use are bitter-sweet, deafening silence, friendly fire and organised chaos.

The oxymoron is much used by poets: Tennyson's "Lancelot and Elaine" contains a famous oxymoron much loved by English test-paper setters:

His honour rooted in dishonour stood,
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

Then there are those items that humourists claim to be oxymorons, such as Military Intelligence!

So, for the life of me I cannot see how saying that a country is "one big oxymoron" can in any way be seen as derogatory? In fact, I would say that in the case of Ireland it is a compliment as the contradictions that co-exist in the country contribute very much to its charm.

Can it be that you misunderstood the meaning of the word?
 
"conjunction of apparent contradictions"

I wouldn't consider this to be exactly a complimentary description of the country and it's people.
 
Thank God, there's nothing 'exact' about the Irish! Wildly self-contained, licentious prudes that most of them are!
 
So what is unpleasant about the following, which contains ten oxymorons, and happens to be not far out, either:

Ireland is a place of doleful humour, of sunlit rain, of lovable rogues, of cautious optimism, of arrogant humility, of infinite time, where less is more and daily life is an open secret. That's why I often go there for a working holiday, which I find terribly good.

Mind you, it'd be hard to find any country that isn't full of contradictions - which adds to the joys of travel.
 
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