Irish America

Irish America

1994

Sláinte!: There is Nothin Like a Spud

By Edythe Preet

July/August 1994

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Whether they're baked, boiled, roasted, fried, mashed or hashed, potatoes are a cornerstone of Ireland's diet. Hardly a dinner is served without its helping of boiled spuds. Fish invariably comes with a side of crisp chips. Colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage) can almost be called a national dish. In fact, potatoes are so much a part of life in Ireland that many … [Read more...] about Sláinte!: There is Nothin Like a Spud

Irish Roots: O’Connell, Connolly, Conlon and Connellan

James G Ryan

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The name Connolly is derived from several different roots. In Connaught and Monaghan it derives from the Gaelic O'Coingeallaigh. Both are anglicized to Connolly although the spelling form Connelly is often found in Galway. There have been several famous bearers of the name. In the early 18th century William Connolly (1660-1729) was an eminent lawyer and politician. His family … [Read more...] about Irish Roots: O’Connell, Connolly, Conlon and Connellan

A Musical, Magical, Mystical Tour of Ireland

By Nancy Lyon

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Mick Moloney, the folklorist, tenor banjo player, songster, wit, and raconteur offers a tour of Ireland to end all tours. On both sides of the Atlantic, Mick Moloney is known for his expressive traditional singing and tenor banjo playing dexterity, and he performs widely with Derry fiddler Eugene O'Donnell and set dancing champion Regan Wick, and with the touring ensemble The … [Read more...] about A Musical, Magical, Mystical Tour of Ireland

The Origin of “The Fighting Irish” Nickname

By Murray Sperber

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This exchange in a novel about college sports in the 1920s catches the prejudices that many Americans of the time held toward citizens of Irish-Catholic descent. However, unlike other immigrant groups who tried to submerge their ethnicity into the American melting pot and considered such terms as "Polack" and "Bohunk" insults, Irish Catholics gloried in many of their nicknames, … [Read more...] about The Origin of “The Fighting Irish” Nickname

New England’s Irish “Witch”

By Mike Tubridy

January / February 1994

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Goody Ann Glover was hanged as a witch on November 16, 1688. Could it have been that it was because she was a Catholic whose first language was Irish? Had one not known the dour Puritans of this New England town better, one might have thought they were celebrating a holiday but, in fact, they had come out to witness the hanging of a witch. From jail to the gallows they … [Read more...] about New England’s Irish “Witch”