Hi there,

Here's your weekly dose of Irish for Friday, February 4th 2022...

This week: Learn, laugh, love.

Irish Wisdom - God is good but never dance in a small boat.

Did you know? - The Céide Fields in County Mayo are the most extensive Stone Age site globally. It contains the oldest known field systems globally (6,000 years old) and Europe’s most massive stone enclosure (77 km).

Latest updates:

• I put a collection of my past 18 weeks of Irish jokes into an article. Sure, why not! You can give them a read here.
• Are you looking to learn Irish? I published this article on the five best ways to learn. But if you are looking for one to one classes, you can get $5 free credit with Italki here. It is like private lessons from the comfort of your own home! Mollie looks to be the most popular.
• Valentine's day is in 10 days! You can read some Irish sayings about love here.

It is only 41 days until St Patrick's day 2022! ☘️

This week's posts:

☘️Five Best Ways To Learn Irish Online (Including Free And Paid Apps)

Fáilte(Welcome), so you are looking to learn Irish online?

Then you have come to the right place!

The Irish language seems to be making a bit of a resurgence in …

The post Five Best Ways To Learn Irish Online (Including Free And Paid Apps) appeared first on Irish Around The World.

Click here to read more.

😂 A Collection Of The Funniest Irish Jokes

I think I have shared over 100 Irish jokes on the blog at this stage.

But I have also shared a unique Irish joke every week on my weekly dose …

The post A Collection Of The Funniest Irish Jokes appeared first on Irish Around The World.

Click here to read more.

🗒️ Irish Poem: For Rita With Love, by Pat Ingoldsby

This week I went to the end of the top 100 Irish poems list.

Number 90 is titled “For Rita With Love” by Pat Ingoldsby.

The post-Irish Poem: For Rita With Love, by Pat Ingoldsby, appeared first on Irish Around The World.

Click here to read more.

🏃🏃 The True Story Of Two Dublin Boy’s Who Ran Away To New York In 1985

First of all, move over “home alone” I have a unique story to share with you today.

 Back in 1985, the two Irish kids aged 10 and 13 managed …

The True Story Of Two Dublin Boy’s Who Ran Away To New York In 1985 appeared first on Irish Around The World.

Click here to read more.

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This week's Irish joke: The fish and the warden

The warden catches Seamus leaving the vicinity of the reservoir with a bucket of fish. "Aha! I've caught you poachin' fish red-handed," says the warden.

"What do you mean, red-handed?" says Seamus. "You've got a bucket full of them right there. You can't talk your way out of it this time." "Oh, you don't understand," says Seamus, "I've not poached a thing. These are me pet fish. I bring them to the reservoir once a week for exercise.

After they've had a good swim, they come back to the bucket, and we go back home." "Do ya expect me to believe such an outlandish tale?"

"I can prove it," said Seamus. So they walk back to the reservoir, and Seamus dips the bucket in, and the fish swim away. They stand in silence for 20, 30, 40 minutes - no sign of the fish returning to the pail.

"Ha, ya lying rogue!" shouts the warden. "Where are your fish?"

"What fish?"

Bonus Irish joke:

Sean and his wife, Aoife, debated buying a vehicle for weeks. He wanted a truck. She wanted a fast little sports-like car so she could zip through traffic around town. He would probably have settled on any beat-up old truck, but everything she seemed to like was way out of their price range.

"Look!" she said. "I want something that goes from 0 to 100 in just a few seconds. Nothing else will do. My birthday is coming up, so surprise me!" Sean did just that. For her birthday, he bought her a brand new bathroom scale.

Nobody has seen or heard from Sean since.

So what is this week's top Irish poem?

This week I went to the end of the top 100 Irish poems list. Number 90 is titled “For Rita With Love” by Pat Ingoldsby. 

As Valentine’s day is fast approaching, I felt it appropriate to find a poem about love. I had previously started writing about number 83(Woodman, Patrick Deeley), but I could not find that poem anywhere online! Please let me know about that poem in the comments if you know about that poem. 

But this touching Irish poem is about a different kind of love—a love for a person who has a disability. In particular, in this case, it is believed to be down syndrome. But rather than reflect on the hardship she has to face, Ingoldsby speaks about how wonderful a person they are and how “Normal people will hurt you”, suggesting that she might get taken advantage of. 

A powerful poem for sure. 

Who is Pat Ingoldsby? 

Pat Ingoldsby (born 25 August 1942 in Malahide, Dublin, Ireland). Pat has pretty much disappeared from mainstream media since the mid-1990s and is most widely known for his poetry collections. Previously, he would be selling them on the streets of Dublin (usually on Westmoreland Street). 

According to his website, since 2015, he has retired from selling on the streets. His website says he will most likely be at The Winding Stair Bookshop in the Dublin centre for trying to contact Pat.

I also came across this Facebook page that shares old photos of Pat.

Now back to his poem, it is a deep and meaningful poem. 

For Rita With Love

You came home from school

On a special bus

Full of people

Who look like you

And love like you

And you met me

For the first time

And you loved me.

You love everybody

So much that it’s not safe

To let you out alone.

Eleven years of love

And trust and time for you to learn

That you can’t go on loving like this.

Unless you are stopped

You will embrace every person you see.

Normal people don’t do that.

Some Normal people will hurt you

Very badly because you do.

Cripples don’t look nice

But you embrace them.

You kissed a wino on the bus

And he broke down and cried

And he said ‘Nobody has kissed me

For the last 30 years.

But you did.

You touched my face

With your fingers and said

‘I like you.’

The world will never

Be ready for you.

Your way is right

And the world will never be ready. We could learn everything

That we need to know

By watching you

Going to your special school

In your special bus

Full of people

Who look like you

And love like you

And it’s not safe

To let you out alone.

If you’re not normal

There is very little hope

For the rest of us.

What did you think of the poem? 

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