Sir, – This is a great time for celebrating Irishness, between Seachtain Na Gaeilge and St Patrick’s Day.
We could make it even better by having a “Hunt the (Celtic) Tiger” festival culminating in a “Burn the Bondholder/Banker” ritual on a pyre atop the unfinished Anglo Irish headquarters.
It would represent, with drink taken, a sort of mishmash of banishing snakes and lighting the Pascal fire. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – As always, your weekly Science Today page is a joy.
In a minor lapse, Thursday’s article on the shamrock omitted to point out – as I did 30 years ago in my Atlantean odyssey – that the origin of the name lies in the world of Islam. A linguist friend in Morocco has today confirmed for me that “al-Shumrookh” is indeed an Arabic word; according to the Lisan al-Arab (The Tongue of the Arabs), the most famous Arabic dictionary, it means a “small (tender?) branch that stems on top of a bigger one”.
I learned in Egypt that the Arabs call any trefoil plant a “Shumrookh”. It is possible that the souvenirs brought back from the middle-east by the Crusaders were linguistic as well as cultural. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Before 1990, it was obligatory for Irish dancers to have pasty white skin. Since 1990, Irish dancers have bright orange skin. I think it may be time for Irish dancers to complete the Tricolour and have patriotic green skin.
Happy Patrick’s Day. – Yours, etc,