What being 'Irish' means...

Sticking with my Irish theme this week, (well, my Ethnic joke did have an Irish person in it) in honor of St Patricks Day, I like to share with you some of the results of an Irish Times poll on what it means to be Irish.

Apparently being Irish means:

 - Having an Auntie Mary!  (That's a good start.  I have one of those)
 - You don't have the foggiest idea how to speak Irish.  (Hold on a minute - Ta cupla focal as Gaeilge agam!!  But wait I also have a few words in German, so does that make me German.  Yikes)
 - Answering the question "How are you" with "How are you"  (OK, that can be confusing for foreigners)
 - That you complain about everything but never do anything about it.  (Eh....guilty as charged!)
 - That every other nationality loves you  (Of course they do - they're painting their buildings green....oh wait)
 - If there's not some form of potatoes with it, then it's not dinner.  (Maybe that's why I hate pizza for dinner)
 - Having great pride in our Nobel prize winning authors - but never reading their works  (Eh.....guilty again)
 - Being able to laugh at yourself and not take anything too seriously  (What?  Never!)
 - Saying "That's Grand" all the time  (It never sounds the same when a non Irish person says it....)
 - Enjoying a traditional Irish breakfast at any time of the day or night  (What exactly is an Irish breakfast?)
 - Having freckles!  (I'm under no illusions now)
 - Having our own words i.e. craic (fun), banter (chat), shift (eh....eh....click with somebody!), morto (embarrassed), jaysus (oh my word!), state of yer wan (goodness, have you seen how she is dressed today?), and 'feckin' (Eh...I have no idea how to translate that into any other language)
 - You can mime the whole national anthem  (that goes back to the not speaking the language thing)
 - If Pennys closed then half the country would be naked  (If Dunnes goes too then the other half are in trouble)
 - Getting travel directions that consist of pub names, churches and roundabouts  (Road numbers, what are they?)
 - Going to Mass to check out the talent  (Well now, there's an idea....)

And my favourite:

 - Never having to say sorry, oh wait no.....that's just the Government!! 

I'm adding up my score to see how I did.  Although I did notice tho' that nobody seemed to mention having a sense of humour....Or spending a week celebrating our national 'day'...