Hazy Dublin Friday

**REMEMBER TO CAST YOUR VOTE IN THE RIGHTHAND COLUMN!**

It's a rainy day in Dublin, suprise suprise. It was a wet walk to work, with plenty of puddle splashies. Ughhhhhh.....

Actually, come to think of it, I bet a lot of people haven't been to Dublin and don't know the sites. Here's a few photos of the "Fair City"...

Ha'penny Bridge in city centre

Around St. Stephen's Green, the 'Central Park' of Dublin

The Spire, an artistic tribute to the rising Irish economy

Sooo there you go. But don't think this excuses you from coming to see me! It's nothing like seeing it in person....

Anyway, I realized this morning while listening to the radio that the Irish have a real, REAL hard time pronouncing non-Irish names. And it's funny, because Irish names themselves are seemingly impossible to pronounce. Well, here--take a stab at these. I'll help you out further down:

Niamh

Padraig

Meadhbh

Michael (you think you know, but you don't)

Eoin

Cliodnha

Rionan

How'd you do? Could you guess gender, too? Then you must be straight from the Emerald Isle! Here's what those really sound like:

Niamh = Neeve. Girl

Padraig = Pod-rig. Boy

Meadhbh = Mave. Girl

Michael = Mee-hull. Boy

Eoin = Owen. Boy

Cliodnha = Kleen-uh. Girl

Rionan = Ronan. Boy


And yet, they butchered "Jill" on the radio this morning. Hm. I'm beginning to understand why my favorite Irish drinking song says, "if you're name is Timothy or Pat, so long as you come from Ireland there's a welcome on the mat!" Basically, if you're name was Shaniqua or Pierre or Billy-Bob, they wouldn't know WHAT to call ya.

But no matter your name, have a great weekend!!!