The Irish culture has given birth to some of the world's most intelligent, humorous, and truthful proverbs. A country that throughout its history has survived invasion, famine and political turmoil, the fact that humor exists is a tribute to the frankness that is the essence of the people of Ireland.

If you're lucky enough to be Irish......you're lucky enough.

Come and take pot-luck with me. My hearth is warm, my friendship's free.

Better be quarrelling than lonesome.

A hair on the head is worth two on the brush.

Nodding the head does not row the boat.

Another important component to Irish culture is "Blarney". Blarney is a word that means talking so persuasively and believably that you can charm your way out of any situation. In Ireland it's called "having the gift of the gab" and a lot of Irish seem to come by it naturally. Talking blarney can also mean talking foolishly, or in an exaggerated way. But blarney is usually viewed as charming and it is laughed at and admired.

Listen to author Eve Bunting read from her latest release, Finn McCool and the Great Fish.

The letter X does not exist in the Irish alphabet except in math, science, or proper names, nor do the letters J, K, Q, V, W, or Z.

Ireland has two official languages, English and Gaelic, more often called "Irish." Between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, the Irish language was gradually replaced by English. It is said that the Irish are the only people who took the language of the oppressor and made it sing! Today only a small portion of the people speak Irish and most of them live on the west coast.

But the native language is in a time of deliberate revival. By order of the national government, names of towns on road signs in the west of Ireland will now have both the English and Irish spellings. For example, Dingle, a favorite tourist town in Southwest Ireland, will be written as Dingle and also as An Daingean (pronounced awn-DANG-in). This way both the English speakers and the Gaelic speakers will be sure to get there. Don't worry though. You can still sing the song "The Dingle Puck Goat" the way you always sang it, if you have a mind to!

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