10/19/00: The Creeping Willies
I was in a pub in Ireland, talking to Keiran and Conner and Joe, and I was feeling pretty happy, despite the mild fever I had, because I was sort of in love with Keiran, and Conner and Joe were lovely fellows I enjoyed talking to, and Juliet was there, and it was nice. I had a lovely pint of Guiness to sip on and it was St. Patrick's day and maybe I was leaving the next day but that was the next day.
Keiran went off for a mo and I chatted with Conner. Conner was an adorable kidling. He was 17 and looking over his shoulder all the time because he knew any moment the Guardi* would show up and bust his arse.
Conner was telling me that there were more members in the Ra then there were members of the Irish Army. I must have looked confused because he said, "You know, the Ra. The I.R.A.?" And I said, "Oh! The RA you mean. Ah."
We said some other things and then we were talking about how if George W. Bush is elected president, the country will go to hell. "George Dubya gives me the creeping willies," I said, and Conner started to laugh. I felt like I had missed something so I asked about it, and he said that in Ireland, a willy is a slang term for the male genetalia. "Oh," I said, rather wittily I think.
Conner said, "Yeah, so there's the joke, it's kind of mean but the joke goes, what do homosexual ghosts give each other?" Pause. "The creeping willies." Longer pause. "I don't think I told it right."
Anyway, now whenever I hear the term "the creeping willies" that's what I think of.
*Guardi = Irish police. I'm probably misspelling it but then again, I'm probably mispronouncing it, too.
More Irish stuff -- links and musings and stuff.