What Do Southies Think of Northies?

When I first visited the Republic of Ireland back in 2005, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. It was exactly the way you would imagine Ireland to be, green, lots of sheep, castles, fiddle-dee-dee music, and very friendly people. Really good craic! People so friendly that once you step in the pub, within 5 seconds locals would come up to you, buy you a pint, and automatically welcome you as an honorary member of their family.

Ever since I returned to the States, I 've had sporadic communication with my friend who I met on that Ireland trip. She is a Dubliner and damn proud of it. When I first got here, I called her and told her the news that I am in the UK. She asked where, and I said, "Belfast!". I could have sworn she fell to the floor in disbelief because I heard a very loud thump. "Belfast?!? Why on earth would anyone want to go there??!?". Of course, she was joking. Er...maybe not?

In a recent email exchange with her, I asked what people in the South think of people in the North. Her reply was:

We think of them just as much as Americans think of Canadians. We don't, really. Imagine that Ireland is one big house. The Northies are the rambunctious children whose room is always a mess. As long as they keep their door closed and don't spread their mess to other parts of the house, we don't care what they do. They also seem to think that our roads don't have speed limits!

In-ter-es-ting analogy! Although, it is untrue about the American vs. Canadian bit. We thought about Canada all the time for 8 years when the idiot was in office.