Random Irritations

[Voyager EMH]

Think St Andrews day gets some attention in Scotland same with St David’s Day in Wales

St George’s - well unfortunately I think it’s hard because some use it as an excuse to go beyond patriotism

This is true and a huge problem.
It could be rectified if the English re-learned how to celebrate their historic English culture. I say "re-learn" because they/we seem to have lost track of what the historic English culture is.
Any attempt to do so runs the risk of being perceived as one of the perverse "beyond patriotism", so many have shied away from celebrating Englishness.
Every geographical place has a culture relevant to the history of that place. England is not an exception.

 

[Orikoru]

Think St Andrews day gets some attention in Scotland same with St David’s Day in Wales

St George’s - well unfortunately I think it’s hard because some use it as an excuse to go beyond patriotism

Yeah, you're not wrong. The good-natured celebrations of St Patrick's Day are what you'd like to see on St George's. Unfortunately it's always used as an opportunity for biggots to mouth off instead.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I think The Simpsons got it about right with their portrayal of it in the US.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Problem with St George’s day is knob heads have already tried to weaponise the flag, there isn’t really anything remotely English you could use to promote it. Unlike the Irish the English take themselves to seriously and can’t take a proper joke or fin poking. We don’t have a brand like a Guinness, we don’t have a national dish like a Haggis and our patron Saint isn’t even from the country .

That’s just a few reasons it’s hard to get behind that and I’m not in the slightest bit patriotic .

 

[Doon frae Troon]

It was Arthur Daley in Minder I first heard this.

I think that was 'her indoors'.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Self entitled people with an obsession for money.. Some of the conversations I've heard today at work have at some points left me open mouthed and other points just angry and bemused that people like that exist.

 

[Red devil]

Self entitled people with an obsession for money.. Some of the conversations I've heard today at work have at some points left me open mouthed and other points just angry and bemused that people like that exist.

Do you work in the White House?

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Do you work in the White House?

Some of the views of people in here you'd think I do!

 

[The Squirrel]

As every year, the clamber to celebrate St Patrick's Day from people who mostly aren't even Irish or had one Irish relative 4 generations ago. While St George's Day is decidedly quieter - not to mention St David's and St Andrew's days which are not even mentioned. The whole thing just feels like a marketing triumph by Guinness these days.

I'm going to morph this into my own irritation.

Disclaimer; I've travelled quite a lot in America and love Americans generally - they're friendly, generous to a fault, incredibly hard-working and one hell of a lot more intelligent than they're often given credit for (thanks to some rather high-profile exceptions to this rule), but one thing that does wind me up about the....

.... the number of them that will insist they are Scottish/Irish/Cornish/Scouse/Italian/Swedish/Danish/German etc when what they actually mean is "I'd struggle to locate that country or place on a map, have never been and know nothing about it beyond watching half a PBS documentary once, but one single relative 6 generations back MIGHT have been from there so I am in fact possibly 1/32 genetic Irish (if there even is such a thing) ... which in my mind makes me 'Irish' ".

I'm always standing there thinking "I don't know of any non-English ancestry but I do know of many scandalous-for-the-time goings on a few generations back in my family so some of my genetic origins could be from almost anywhere. I'm probably more Irish than you " but of course I'm (genuinely) British (i.e. I reside permanently in Britain) therefore far too polite to say it.