Roger O'Keeffe

I wince every time I read an American referring to "a pair of underwear".

On my side of the Atlantic, the word covers a multitude of garments.

A bag? You mean a solid gold casket? Which will be put in a mausoleum in the centre of the rose garden?

🏅

On 9 August it will be 50 years since I married my present and so far only French wife.

However, I take no responsibility for the exogamous nature of our relationship as she was already living (admittedly temporarily) in Ireland when I met her.

Let me know if you see any bijou holiday homes going for a song there. Or a tune on the pipes.

Is this "underwear" in the American sense or the European sense?

And btw which side of this divide does Canada fall on?

@lynneguist.bsky.social

Bargain-basement Darwinism.

Maybe she's just someone who knows genocide when she sees it.

I wish I shared your faith in US democracy and the rule of law.

The racism here is on steroids, as Trump tried to make case to MAGA that farmers need exemptions.

Says brown people do hard labor "naturally" and don't get bad back, while also saying they've tried to replace them with people "in the inner city" but they can't get them to do the work.

Funny enough that Switzerland doesn't even have a prime minister...

Yet what Trump refers to as "did something to Switzerland the other day" has dominated every Swiss news cycle since his 39% tariff rate bombshell – announced, of all das, on August 1, the Swiss National Day

I'll just note the list itself is a joke. There's a building unoccupied 15 years on our road, the roof has collapsed, and it's not on the register.

I need real-time information on the ethnicity and migration status of guys charged with raping children so I know whether to start a riot or sit back and not give a fuck.

Many are moved from state to state, often a day or two before a Federal hearing can happen, for no reason but to delay or deny that process. Over 100 have already been deported WITHOUT DUE PROCESS! In the meantime, DeSantis is gloating and praising the fascism. And now NPR is on life support.

I've just seen a sign that says "USE OF TOILETS IS RESERVED FOR CUSTOMERS OF THE MORGUE".

From which those familiar with South Dublin will correctly infer that I am in the village of "Templeeg".

With you on bagelle.

I have an English brother-in-law who has an encyclopedic knowledge of pop and rock music, but who, in all seriosity (as we say in Dublin), pronounces it "Zed Zed Top".

Literally though, mispronouncing words on purpose is mental stimming and I'm here for it!

"Beresk"and "pictureskew" used to be common, but these days one hears so many unintentional mispronunciations of other words that I only use these two with friends my own age, for fear that people might think I know no better.

A fully-grown angel being wafted through the skies

It seems we now acquire most of our theological knowledge, not from assiduously reading the bible or the Fathers, but from Christmas carols and popular oratorios.

"One More Angel in Heaven" by Rice & Lloyd-Webber has misled millions about the nature and origin of these purely intellectual beings.

I prosecute and defend the most serious sexual offences in our courts.

The overwhelming majority of offenders are British-born. Overwhelmingly the victim is someone known to them, either a partner or relative.

Anybody purporting to care about protecting women might start there.

Alan Dershowitz’s Grammarian Responds to Pierogi Incident When the police arrived, they also advised Dershowitz to use non-gendered pronouns. Dershowitz was hesitant. “I’ll use whatever language I choose t...

"First of all: 'Not anything the police should have anything to say over'? Alan, Alan, Alan. Perhaps you needed me more than I knew. "

"All settler colonial projects, including Israel, reach a point when they embrace wholesale slaughter and genocide to eradicate a native population that refuses to capitulate."
Chris Hedges

Jane the Baptist to Liz Truss's Brexit Messiah?

A passing reference I heard on the radio recently to a "TY debs" struck me as equally incongruous.

I'm old enough to remember when the debs wore white dresses and the dance was organised by the relevant girls' school past pupils' union. Boys' schools had a past pupils' union dinner dance

So to hear males talking about their "debs" is utterly bizarre for me.

OTD in 1914 Pro German forces with rifles bought from shop began to annex Belgium due to Kaiser Wilhelm's legitimate security concerns.

a man with a beard wearing a cowboy hat is holding a stick ALT: a man with a beard wearing a cowboy hat is holding a stick

Uncle Tom!

Yes, of course.