Melissa5: GO ALREADY!!!!

fennellkevin · Senior Member

Melissa5: GO ALREADY!!!!

Melissa5 · Guru

Kevin, you won't be rid of me for another couple of weeks. Meanwhile you'll find me doing my pre-trip freaking out here!

I always do that, but we always have great trips, thanks to all the information and support I find with on-line travellers.

Once upon a time, before the travel forums, we didn't travel much. Hubby used to go places without me, like Africa. I was afraid to travel. Now I just power through that fear, and travel has greatly enriched our lives. But I need you all on-line to help every step of the way! Thanks everybody!

Ireland, here we come! And be ready for a long trip report when I return.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Melissa,

We can't wait for a super-long trip report. Kevin, you divil (as they say and pronounce it in Ireland)!

Michele

Mark D · Senior Member

Melissa5,

It's been over 2 yrs since our last visit to Ireland, and I still look forward to reading all the posts everyday ! I am certain that I will be planiing another trip within the next year. Everyone's input makes it that much easier for the next person......Share the wealth I say !!

Keep posting your last minute fears...Cuz you know if one person posts it, numerous travelers think it without posting.

I have terrible travel anxiety, and sharing stuff really helps !

Cheers!
Mark D.

Melissa5 · Guru

Michele, I am inspired by people who have phonetically spelled words the way the Irish pronounce them, like "divil" (devil) and "chunes' (tunes). Thanks for giving me more ideas of what to put in my travel journal. A page of my favorite Irish speech, to sprinkle in my very super long trip report!

Melissa5 · Guru

Mark D, when you get ready to take your next trip, be sure to post your terrible travel anxiety, because I am first in line to know EXACTLY what you're talking about!

Here are some anxieties I see swimming around in my noggin' :

SOPPING WET LUGGAGE:
If my luggage gets sopping wet in the Irish rains, it may ruin my year's accumulation of printed info! (We actually did have 1 piece of sopping wet luggage once, wet all the way through, but luckily nothing important got ruined. I think the airlines sent it THROUGH the ocean on the back of a whale...

SOLUTION: Memorize everything and eat all the evidence.

EMPTY LUGGAGE:
Perhaps I will keep postponing packing until I have to dash to the airport with no luggage at all.

SOLUTION: More shopping in Ireland! Good idea.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE
We will arrive in Ireland and I will wonder what we are doing there, and I won't remember why I wanted to come.

SOLUTION: Guinness will surely cure this one!

Okay that's enough for today! Can't wait to see your list, Mark. I'll find a cure for yours too.

fennellkevin · Senior Member

Dear Melissa,

Just want you to know that I truly meant it all in fun. Mark D is right. I will always be grateful for the generosity of Michelle and all the participants on this forum, including you, in answering every question I ever posted, no matter how big or small. I know it made our trip richer, more organized and more relaxed than it ever could have been otherwise.

The divil in me made me do it, as the great Irish comedian Flip O'Wilson's character Geraldine used to say.

I appreciate your warm wishes to me before our trip and after our return (when I posted my report) and, as I said, I hope you have a great time.

Kevin

Melissa5 · Guru

Thanks, Kevin, and I agree, this forum is very special, because you all make it that way, Michele and everybody.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Melissa,

You are off to Ireland very shortly. It will give us a break here on the forum! (Just kidding.) Have an absolutely fabulous time. Bon voyage and safe journey.

Michele

Melissa5 · Guru

Michele, I will make up for lost time when I return.

wojazz3 · Guru

May I humbly suggest that you continue to use your American pronunciation of these standard words like tunes etc. I mistakenly ordered a "Smiticks" once and got a dirty look from the bartender who then said .... "A Smithicks then?". The Irish (and the English) tend to pronounce a "t" followed by a "u" as a "ch" ... "chunes", "Chuesday" and "opporchunity" for example. I don't think that it is good form to try to copy this when you are there. It sounds like trying too hard to fit in.

It's sort of like telling an Irish person that you are Irish because you have Irish ancestry. Unless you were born there, you're not Irish in their eyes. They seem to find it rather offensive if you suggest that you are. They may ask you if you "have people here", but that doesn't mean you're Irish.

Just my humble opinion.

Bill

Mark D · Senior Member

When I asked for a Smithwicks in Galway, I was told by the bartender to pronounce it Smidicks.....so I have pronounced it that way ever since.. Even in our pub here in Burlington, VT. Never had a problem.

Do see you point though...Lots of folks try to pick up the New England accent, with different degrees of success !

Cheers !
Mark D.

-- Edited by Mark D at 13:20, 2006-07-06

Melissa5 · Guru

Mark D and Bill, well wait til Ireland meets my family. Hubby's hobby is to pronounce things wrong on purpose. My 19-year-old daughter found it quite embarassing for her Dad to be ordering a "samich" in public instead of a "Sandwich". He has a master's degree from UCLA but nothing gives him more jollies than to play this pronunciation game.

Bill, it is mainly to add some local flavor to trip reports and forum travel talk that I think words like "chunes" are useful. Using them in person would be like trying to imitate somebody...unless it started happening naturally, by osmosis. This happens to me sometimes, I know some spanish, when I'm talking English to Spanish speakers I find my English just bends itself around their spanish accents all by itself...it has to do with your ear for language I think.

And then there are folks who refuse to let their speach bend a little when they are travelling. That is a hard way to be understood.

I am interested in language, linguistics, poetry, all are related. Language is one of the beautiful things about travelling.

Night...

Mark D · Senior Member

Hello Mellisa5,

I pick things up all the time, and use the phrase or word repeatedly till my wife smacks me !

I think it's fun !

Mark D.

I

-- Edited by Mark D at 14:57, 2006-07-07

Irisheyes · Senior Member

I got a few grins and giggles in Ireland -- the Irish don't pronounce the "TH" sound. I can't tell you how many people told us "tank you" and "dat way". So of course we had to buy a silver "timble" in Kilkenny...just for fun.

caseyhen · Member

Melissa 5,

I think you're in Ireland as I write - I (and many others, I'm sure) feel as though we've planned your trip right along with you and can practically imagine being there!

We leave on 8/17 so will await your trip report with bated breath.

I was moved to post, though, by your comments about language and your husband's antics, especially. I'm a speech-language pathologist by profession so I find it incredibly ironic that my dear husband is an Irish boy from Queens. This means that he not only speaks "Irish," complete with the lack of "th" and the references to "me shoes," etc. (his parents were from Sligo)...but also butchers the English language with his "Queenspeak"...mispronouncing words, both intentionally and unintentionally, master's degree and all! Phrases like "I'll go wichoo" and "I seen him last week" seem incredibly incongruous from an educated professional...but that's the beauty of cultural diversity, no?

So...I've taken a break from trip planning, but now realizing that there are only 4 weeks to go, I'm thinking I'd better get back at it. Trip anxiety is creeping in here on two main fronts...the fact that, long ago when we discussed this trip I committed to being the driver...and the fact that I am the world's worst packer! I want to pack skirts and tops but, looking at the forecast, realize that long pants will be wiser. I think I've read too much on these forums and am all confused now by whether to bring jeans (I know, they don't dry, but it's what I have...)...whether comfy sandals are fine, in additional to closed shoes...and I don't want to not bring cooler clothes and find ourselves in a heat wave! Decisions of these sorts are not easy for me...

Looking SO forward to Melissa5's trip report, and, in the meantime, welcoming any and all advice...

Michele Erdvig · Host

Caseyhen,

Melissa is indeed in Ireland right now enjoying the "brilliant" weather. They are having a heatwave there and it is actually in the 80s!! I'm sure Mellissa will tell us when she returns that the reason for the great weather was because she bought rainproof windbreakers for the whole family. She checked in from Westport under the heading hello from ireland in JULY! Her capris and sandles are coming in handy.

The problem with predicting the weather is that it could actually have been sweater weather too. You just don't know what you will get. That is why I advise people to layer their clothes. That way you are prepared for anything.

Don't panic over the driving or packing. If you have any questions we are here to help.

Michele