If you hadn’t already assumed from the title of this blog, today is St. Patricks Day! That’s right, today is that day where everyone is just a wee bit Irish, and by that I mean today is the day where everyone goes to a bar sober talking in their normal speaking voice, but by the third beer starts attempting to say things in what they perceive to be an “Irish” accent.
And let’s face it, we have ALL done this, right? Just for fun at first, you attempt to say something quick in an accent even though that voice in your head is like “dude…you can’t do an Irish accent”. Here’s the thing about booze though, it gives us confidence where we otherwise never had it! So as we consumer more of that liquid courage, we begin to say more things, louder, in our “Irish” accent. Uh-oh…here’s where it can get a bit embarrassing.
You’re four or five beers in, got a decent buzz going on right, and you slug back that last bit of beer and go to the bar for your next. That’s when you hear the coolest thing you’ve ever heard in your entire life! The person beside you orders their drink and they have an authentic Irish background, voice and all! (or they are just really good at doing an Irish accent and are committed to doing it all night) They sound like Chibs from Sons of Anarchy and you lose your mind! You can’t even contain your envy for their accent and you just feel compelled to buy them their beer and ask that they come back over to your group of friends, not realizing how that is slightly creepy, but you don’t care, you just made an Irish friend!
They now feel somewhat obligated to at least come say hi, which if they are just starting to drink, is going to be so awkward. Being around a group of drunk people when you are sober is just the worst, because all you want is to have them say things with their accent, and after each line they recite, you and all your drunk friends laugh HYSTERICALLY! Of course, to the all-too-elusive sober Irish person you have befriended against their will, there is nothing about this funny, yet! After they do their movie quotes for you and your friends, they say something along the lines of “I gotta get back to my friends” and as you and your friends all sigh loudly, they creep away back to their friends who are probably about to have a laugh at your expense. But, the fun part comes a few beers later when now that Irish person has a slight buzz on, bumps into you again at the bar and now begins to see the humor in their accent, and you two can’t laugh harder at anything. You get your beers, the two drunken groups stumble together and raise a pint to being Irish (even though the only person who is Irish is that one person) and surely you all attempt to say the cheers in an Irish accent, which at this point in your inebriated state, sounds like it’s perfectly spot on!
So today, on this St Pattys Day of 2016, find an awkward Irish person to raise a glass to, hell, buy them a round and just enjoy good company and good drinks just because it’s the day we all get a pass to start drinking the moment we wake up! Hmm…kinda wish every day was St. Pattys Day…
Top of the day to ya,
-Adam O’Rondeau
