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Why is the elephant the symbol of the GOP? In large part, we can thank cartoonist Thomas Nast, who, on November 7 of 1874, published this cartoon, showing Republicans as a rampaging elephant tearing up the flimsy planks of the Democratic Party. He wasn't just a man who made elephants though; considered to be the father of political cartooning, Nast's illustrations helped bring down Boss Tweed, argued for the abolition of slavery, and hated the Irish.
posted by Astro Zombie on Oct 8, 2006 - 20 comments

Medieval Irish warlord boasts three million descendants.
posted by semmi on Jan 19, 2006 - 28 comments

During the middle of the 19th Century, a series of factors combined to create a new Irish patriotic movement. This organization was a revolutionary group dedicated to the overthrow of British rule in Ireland. It had its roots in both the United States and Ireland and was popularly known as The Fenian Movement, in honour of the Fianna, the ancient Irish warriors.
posted by Shanachie on Nov 19, 2005 - 8 comments

The Irish Republican Army ceases, for all means and purposes, to be an army. And Ian Paisley, predictably, is unhappy about that.
posted by runningdogofcapitalism on Sep 27, 2005 - 25 comments

Top 10 What Have the Brits Ever Done For Us? - An Irish view. Featuring at #2: the potato famine - apparently much worse than the lesser known 1783 garlic cheese & chips famine, some people resorted to eating each other - starting with the fat sister in the house - "there'd be plenty of eating in her, y'know..."Streaming Flash, Sense of humour required
posted by dash_slot- on Aug 25, 2005 - 27 comments

The Streets of Laredo: The Cowboy's Lament was originally written as the Irish drover balled Bard of Armaugh (or Armagh), which later mutated into A Handful of Laurel, about a young man dying of syphilis in a London hospital, musing back on his days in the alehouses and whorehouses. Immigrants settling in the Appalachians brought their own version, The Unfortunate Rake, sung as early as 1790, about a young soldier dying of mercury poisoning, a result of treatment for venereal disease, who requests a military funeral - a slight but important evolution from the previous version. The current lyrics are most popularly attributed to cowboy Frances Henry "Frank" Maynard, who copyrighted them in 1879. While various versions of the song were popular in the US before Maynard took pen to paper and needle to wax cylinder (under such titles as Locke Hospital, St. James Infirmary Blues, Tom Sherman's Bar and Way Down in Lodorra), his version is the one with which we are most familiar today.

beat the drum slowly, play the fife lowly / sound the death march as you carry me along / cover my body in sweet-smelling posies / for I'm the young (rake, soldier, man, girl, lass, etc) cut down in (his/her) prime (or and I know I've done wrong)

The song has been recorded by pretty much every country, western and folk-identified musical artist since recording music became practical, although the most popular versions must be those by Arlo Guthrie (who once said it was "the saddest song I know," and who sings it on his album Son of the Wind) and Johnny Cash (who added a few verses to his 1965 version, improving the song a bit and making it more emotionally complex). Roger McGuinn's creative commons-licensed version is one of my personal favorites, as is Bobby Sutliff's version.
posted by luriete on Aug 3, 2005 - 26 comments

Missing Friends - Information Wanted - a Database of Advertisements For Irish Immigrants Published in the Boston Pilot.
Boston College has posted more than 31,000 historical entries of Irish Immigrants who were looking to reunite with family and friends between 1831 to 1921 in a searchable database. The ads were published originally in the Boston Pilot.
posted by tpl1212 on Mar 17, 2005 - 7 comments

The Mystery of Danny Boy - Most everyone has heard the song "Danny Boy", and while the lyrics have a traceable history, where did the tune originate? It is known as "Londonderry Air" in some folks circles, and a lovely band arrangement was done with the title "Irish Tune from County Derry". Regardless of the facts, it is still a poignant tune covered by many.
posted by frecklefaerie on Mar 17, 2005 - 18 comments

Poguetry: "The Parting Glass: An Annotated Pogues Lyrics Page".
posted by mwhybark on Mar 17, 2005 - 16 comments

CELT, the Corpus of Electronic Texts, "brings the wealth of Irish literary and historical culture to the Internet, for the use and benefit of everyone worldwide. It has a searchable online database consisting of contemporary and historical texts from many areas, including literature and the other arts." It has texts in Irish, Latin, Anglo-Norman French, and English, ranging from the annals of the fifth century to the Agreement reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations in Northern Ireland of 1998. "Great my glory/ I that bore Cuchulainn the valiant..."
posted by languagehat on Apr 11, 2004 - 5 comments

Irish Marshall Arts. Will we see a new wave of films with high-flying Gaelic masters of fighting?
posted by Dukebloo on Jul 10, 2003 - 13 comments

10 disgusting things traditional Irish flute players do - along with a guide to the Irish flute, a few flute clips and a bleedin' deadly guide to Irish slang.
posted by madamjujujive on Mar 17, 2003 - 4 comments

How Do You Say ASSALAMU ALAIKUM in Gaelic? Plans have been announced in the Irish Republic to translate the Koran, Islam's most sacred text, into Irish. The ambitious project aims to bring Ireland's Gaelic-speakers and Muslim communities closer together, Leslie Carter of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin said.
posted by turbanhead on Mar 11, 2003 - 14 comments

"I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home."
A few of Seamus Heaney's poems.
posted by hama7 on Nov 7, 2002 - 19 comments

Actor Richard Harris dies "Don't let it be forgot - that once there was a spot - for one brief, shining moment - that was known as Camelot..." Such a sad day all around. R.I.P., Richard.
posted by dnash on Oct 25, 2002 - 21 comments

A nice introduction to the works of the hilarious and somewhat neglected Flann O'Brien, or Miles na Gopaleen, about whose novel At Swim-Two-Birds Dylan Thomas wrote was "Just the book to give your sister if she's a loud, dirty, boozy girl".
posted by interrobang on Oct 1, 2002 - 15 comments

Sunday, Bloody Sunday... On the night of 30 January 1972, Murray Sayle was sent by the Sunday Times to Londonderry to report on the fatal shooting of 14 unarmed civil rights marchers by British Army Paratroopers. The article he wrote diverged from the official line; it was never printed. Twenty-six years later, his lost copy was unearthed by the new Inquiry. In what follows, he returns to Derry to give evidence. His original article is reproduced in full, along with a map marking the locations of the dead and wounded, and a memo Sayle wrote to the editor of the Sunday Times when the article failed to appear.
posted by dejah420 on Sep 4, 2002 - 17 comments

Captain of Irish World Cup squad Keane sent home
This is big news here in Ireland. He's our best player - he keeps the team together on the pitch. But after some incidents in the past couple of days, and some prima donna style behaviour (something he's always been known for), he's been told to feck off. I think the manager did the right thing, but I can't help thinking that our chances of getting out of our group have been diminished...
posted by tomcosgrave on May 23, 2002 - 27 comments

The Green Fields of Vietnam
There was an interesting program aired tonight on RTE (Irish TV), about Irish born soliders who fought in the Vietnam War. Although only one Irish born solider is officially listed as having been killed, there were 20 others, who gave their US address when they enlisted. It's believed that 2000 Irish born men served in that conflict (they had emigrated and a Greencard means you can be conscripted) but the vast majority of these remain unknown.
posted by tomcosgrave on Apr 23, 2002 - 2 comments

In the midst of your St. Patrick's Day celebrations, won't you please take a moment to consider the struggle to save one of our most beloved Irish institutions...
posted by jonmc on Mar 17, 2002 - 33 comments

I'd like to wish a happy St. Patricks Day to Irish readers, Irish-Americans, Irish-Britons, Irish-Australians, Irish-New Zealanders, and whoever is of Irish descent. And if you don't have Irish blood, go to the pub, drink some Guinness and you soon will!
posted by tomcosgrave on Mar 17, 2002 - 33 comments

Learn Irish Slang In Under 20 Seconds
Jaysus - an expression of disbelief or despair: "Jaysus! Didya see that?" "Jaysus woman! Will ya leave me be?"
discuss amongst the fecking banjaxed gobshites in your midst.
posted by quonsar on Mar 10, 2002 - 27 comments

Muhammad O' Ali. Geneologists have uncovered his Irish roots. His great grandfather was an Irish emigree who married an African American woman in Kentucky.
posted by Lanternjmk on Feb 8, 2002 - 12 comments

"Biggest flame war of all time: Danny Boy - sentimental Irish favorite, or stupid song decried by true Celts everywhere?" A link to a discussion in another forum about how one prevents the banal from driving out the profound in online public-participation forums. (Their conclusion: ruthless and efficient moderation.)
posted by Steven Den Beste on Jul 3, 2001 - 4 comments

Irish Students' Drinking Linked to Dropout Rates -- 38 gallons of beer per year on average leading to a almost 1/3 student dropout .. but its ok because "per capita consumption of alcohol was higher at the bar in the Irish parliament than in student pubs."
posted by stbalbach on May 29, 2001 - 9 comments