One day Ike and Mike go into a bar.
I won me a goat in the raffle! Mike brags to Ike.
Where ya gonna keep you a goat?
In me room.
In y'r room? Where ya gonna keep y'r goat in y'r room?
Under me bed!
But Mike! What about the stink?
Awrr, says Mike after a moment. The goat'll get use t'it.
My dad (who lived on Lincoln Street in Brighton, MA, during his first years in the United States) loved to tell this story . . . And here ends the retelling . . .
the goat story, was not of Ike and Mike, but of Pat and Mike. They were part of the typical irish ethnic humor that had been circulating concomitant with ‘no irish need apply’ signs hanging outside the door of commercial enterprises at the turn of the 19th century. What made dad’s telling of these stories unique was that the humor was there without the blood of prejudice being shed. He was prejudiced, alright, but not in a way that crippled him, that prevented him from loving his neighbor as himself. He just did not want his children to love them martially, which is understandable, and makes the stories even more compelling.
ReplyDeleteDad loved the Irish. He would go around singing 'My Wild Irish Rose', 'Danny Boy', 'When Irish Eyes are Smiling'. The Armenians called him 'IRRISH' (with a rolled R) because he was blonde with blue eyes, and he grew up with a gang of Irish boys in Brighton until he was 13 years old! (There'll be plenty of blogs in the future on this!) And all of his great grandchildren are half Armenian and half IRRISH!!
ReplyDeleteone of the many remarkable qualities Peter had was the love of his neighbor. he hated roman catholicism,yet, never allowed that to interfere with his love of those who were Roman Catholics.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that later in life, Dad realized that the Evangelicals and the Roman Catholics were the only ones that were 'keeping the faith'; that in fact, the Evangelicals and the Roman Catholics were closer theologically than the churches that preached social gospel.
ReplyDeleteI Like your Dad's sense o'humor... and your incredible blog!
ReplyDeleteGetting one’s Goat…
One day Ike
Goes into a bar
And sees his pal Mike
“I won me a goat
In the raffle!”
Gloats Mike.
Baffled, Ike asks
His friend Mike
“Where ya gonna
keep you a goat?”
“After givin’ it
Some thought,”
Says Ike’s pal Mike,
“I reckon I’ll keep it
In me room.”
“In y'r room?
Where in y’r room?”
Persists Ike.
“Under me bed!”
Replies Mike.
“What about the stink?
Y’thought o’that…?
Shoots back Ike,
“…You nitwit!” and
Flashes a mean smile.
“Awrr,” says Mike
“The goat'll get use t'it,
After a while…”