The Irish “Ish”

(At least, I was informed later by an Irish person, that this moment was very Irish.)

He: “So we’ll meet up at, say, half-nine?”
Me: “Sure. Half-nine it is.”
Brief pause.
He: “Ish.”

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40 Responses to The Irish “Ish”

  1. peteb says:

    I’m only surprised the time mentioned was narrowed down to less than an hour.. 9-ish or 10-ish being the usual dividers ;)

  2. red says:

    hahahaha I love that!

    Imagine my surprise when he walked in at half-nine on the dot. There was no “ish” to be found.

  3. peteb says:

    Ah… but you never know what might have caused a delay, Sheila.

  4. red says:

    Totally. I relate to that. new Yorkers are NEVER on time to meet with one another – it’s all about the “ish”.

  5. red says:

    WE in NYC have the “ish” in our schedules because of the public transportation factor in our lives. Subways break down, skip stations, you can’t get a cab … Brooklyn may be just across the river but it feels like you are going to the ends of the earth when you get on the F … anything can happen. You have to have leeway. You must have “ish”.

  6. Mr. Bingley says:

    brazilians have a lot of ‘ish’ built into their clocks/schedules as well. i love them to death, but man is it frustrating at times for us gringo business types…

  7. red says:

    Mr. Bingley:

    As I recall the night I met you, I was dealing with a lot of subway “ish”. Perhaps I should call it “ish”ues.

  8. Mr. Bingley says:

    ah, the night…sigh…

    i guess you could call me “ish” male…

  9. Ken Hall says:

    Double groan with a side order of groan. :-P

  10. Emily says:

    If you people don’t cut the crap with the puns, I’m going to pop a cap in your ass. :)

  11. Mr. Bingley says:

    will you pun-ish us?

  12. Emily says:

    You’re getting the worst of it, Mr. B.

  13. Mr. Bingley says:

    ‘course, you’re just grumpy ‘cos you drank too much Ishmills the other night

  14. Emily says:

    That’s it. Messing with the mighty name of Bushmills is a capital offense. Off with your head (and I don’t mean the one above your neck, sweetie-pie. But don’t worry, I hear they’re hiring at the Forbidden Palace in China.)!

  15. peteb says:

    Ouch.

    Not to say that it isn’t undeserved, Emily.. but.. ouch.

  16. Mr. Bingley says:

    sorry, but that inspires no fear…i’ve been married for 15 years, so…

  17. peteb says:

    sheesh… I think I added one too many negatives in my last post…

    and it’ll still be ‘ouch’, Mr Bingley.

  18. Mr. Bingley says:

    no, i think the number was about right, peteb, 2-ish…

  19. peteb says:

    My brain is rapidly descending into mush-ish.. I’ve been neglecting my worship of Bacchus and I must make amends.

  20. Mr. Bingley says:

    yeah, i may have some cheese and a nice cold LiebfraumIsh. with desert, a good Ishwine, or a TrockenbeerenIshlese would hit the spot.

  21. Emily says:

    Mr. B. – the knife will be rusty and dull. Just so you know.

  22. Mr. Bingley says:

    and i promish thish ish the last post i’ll make on thish

  23. Mr. Bingley says:

    so it won’t slish cleanly, emily?

  24. peteb says:

    Sounds lovelyish..

    I have a Cabernet Merlot from Barossa Valley that goes by the name of Ebeneezer.. Bah Humbug it is not.

  25. Mr. Bingley says:

    that does sound yum. i’m having a bunch of brazilians over for dinner on saturday, and i’ll be grilling up a lot of pork chops and lamb loin chops. with the appetizers, which i think will be a ceviche, i’ve got 4 bottles of wolf blass president’s reserve chardonnay. for the meat i’ve got a jeroboam (it might be a double magnum; shit, it’s just a big honking bottle) of a 90 kenwood artist series cabernet. i hope that bottle is still drinkable. if it’s not, i’ve got half a case of lehman’s 2001 the barossa shiraz which will do quite nicely. and of course, several bottles of sheep dip to top off the evening.

    needless to say, i am skipping church on sunday.

  26. Mr. Bingley says:

    oh, i forgot to add that i’ll be making twice-baked potatos and grilling some marinated asparagus as well.

  27. peteb says:

    That sounds very yum…

    Skipping church also sounds a wise decision.. even if you adhere to Emily’s tips of avoidance

    I may have to open one of my Rustenberg’s ‘Peter Barlow’ label to compete with your excellent list :)

  28. Mr. Bingley says:

    i really don’t know sa wines that well. i’ve had the occasiuonal pinotage(?), but not much else

  29. Emily says:

    A post about the Irish that winds up being about alcohol. Who’da thunk?

  30. peteb says:

    The Rustenberg list is a good place to start for SA wines, but a lot of other producers are overly-sweet for my taste. The Stellenbosch region tends to be the best source.

    Rustenberg’s Merriman label is a good standard of SA Cab Sav to compare others with.. but I do tend to stick with more familar grapes – even more so when I’m trying new options.

    The Peter Barlow ’99 bottles (another Cab Sav) are my Christmas treat. :)

  31. peteb says:

    Withdrawal symptoms, Emily. Bacchus is calling :)

  32. Mr. Bingley says:

    i’ll look them up. actually, one sa wine that i like a lot for everyday drinking is ‘goats do roam’. yummy, and quite reasonably priced.

    (emily, please notice how i’ve managed to work both alcohol and hints at deviant practices into this irish thread)

    (and please put the knife down)

  33. red says:

    Good Lord. I go out for a couple hours and thish ish what happens?

  34. Emily says:

    You should know by now we can’t be trusted to play nice, Sheila.

    Mr. B. – okay, you’re off the hook. This time. Believe it or not, I don’t really enjoy chopping off penises.

  35. peteb says:

    We thought it might provide a useful balance to all the talk of plushies, Sheila.

    Well, I didish. :)

  36. red says:

    I was going to say that “playing nice” is boring, and reminds me of the kind of behavior expected at … say … cuddle parties and the like.

    God forbid we play nice!

  37. Mr. Bingley says:

    at the cuddle parties they play ‘mice’…

  38. JFH says:

    Sheila,

    It’s not the “ish” part that gets me… it’s the “half-nine” (which I believe is Scot/Irish in origin)… I was in northern England on business a while ago, I played the part of smart-ass American about this (“played?”, says my wife):

    He: So we’ll meet for dinner at half-eight.
    Me: At 4:00? a little early for dinner.
    He:
    Me: Half eight is four right?
    He: No, I mean 8:30!
    Me: Shouldn’t that be eight-half then?
    He:
    Me: ‘Cus if we’re not going to treat the phrase from a strict mathematical sense, half-eight from a Roman numeral sense (which like invaded you guys and civilized the country initially) would be 7:30.
    He:
    Me:
    He: Let’s make it eight.

    For some reason they forgot to invite me to dinner with them for the rest of the week.

  39. Mr. Bingley says:

    i trust you were wearing loud bermuda shorts while saying this, jfh?

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