Cuz Green's the Color of Money Baby.

AH!!!!! Just delivered a brand new baby bid. I'm a proud momma this morning. :)


I haven't posted in a long time about the differences between Ireland and the US. I bet you're wondering what else is different over here.

So one of the things that you notice right away are the cars. Beyond the fact that they're smaller and more colorful, the cars here are also almost all different makes and models. These are a few makes you'll see on the road here that aren't around back in the States:

• Citroen
• Skoda
• Peugeot
• Opel
• Vauxhall
• Daewoo
• Fiat
• Renault
• Smart
• MG

It's taken awhile to learn all the car makes by sight and get the lowdown on their reputations. You know how in the States if you say you drive a Chevy it means something different than a Kia which is different than a Buick. I had to learn those impressions too. For example, Skoda used to be a piece of garbage car, kinda akin to a Yugo. Now it's owned by Volvo with all Volvo parts so the reputation is growing, but there are still old schoolers who wouldn't be caught dead in a Skoda. News to me!

Something else you might not know is the story with the Euro. SO the European Union formed in '58 with a core group of countries and has been adding countries ever since. While each country (called a member state) maintains its own government, it also makes political and economic decisions through representitives elected to the EU government. The EU member states share a currency (€) but maintain individual economic integrity. Think of it a little like each country being a state and the EU being it's national gov't.....kinda. Just a little.

Irish Punt

Euro

So Ireland joined the EU in '73 and switched to the € several years ago, but before the Euro, Irish currency was the Irish £ or"punt". It worked out to a little less than the British pound. When the currency switch happened, you would pay for goods using your Irish £ and get € in change back. I hear it was a nightmare to try and figure out if you got the correct change.

In Northern Ireland they are a member of the UK and therefore use £, but each UK country prints its own pounds. Unlike US money, which is backed by gold held by the Federal Reserve, UK money is backed by silver held by UK banks; this is why the £ is sometimes called "sterling". In the UK banks print the money, not the government, so each bank's notes are a little different wtih different faces and figures on them.

Northern Ireland Pound

Scottish Pound (see, looks different)

Lastly, I need to tell you about "fuck". It isn't as filthy a word over here. Here they use it a lot, LOT more. My friend told me about a time he got in a Dutch taxi. The driver said, "you English?"
"Irish."
"Oh I know you fellas. You're the ones who say 'fuck' all the time."
"Yer fuckin' right we are."

The word is part of the general lexicon and even if you are very, very pure, the best you can do is say "flippin" instead--which still goes in all the time. People use the eff word constantly here. As the Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan says of the Irish people, "We're not meant to speak English. We're meant to speak Irish. But we don't understand a fuckin' word of Irish! English is a brick wall between me and you....and 'fuck' is my chisel."

Well put. Good Thursday!