Jill_Valentine
Sacred and Profane
Now, some would say I've been unfairly harsh on David B's Oirish Accent. To those people I repond that there is no such thing as too harsh on David B's Oirish Accent. However - it's only to fair counter this with praise for the shows researchers who did some outstandingly nifty work.
Galway
Galway is a port city on the western shore. After Galway, it's all open sea until you reach America. Boston is considered the neighbouring parish. Galway was a prosperous city until Cromwell practically levelled it in the 1600's and expelled all the Catholics.Norman and Welsh settlers were encouraged to settle there, but the plantation failed. Cromwell more or less gave up, and dumped the dispossessed native Irish there instead. Because of this, and because of it's distance from Dublin, it remained with Cork, one of the Irishest of Irish cities. It also meant that Galway was more able to hold onto Catholicism moreso than other cities where the laws against it were better enforced. In short - when Liam was growing up, there was nowhere in Ireland more defiantly religious, and brutally oppressed, than Galway.
Galway was always a merchant city, because it faced the Atlantic. It came to be known for it's merchant families. In particular, textile traders, like Liam's dad. Liam would have been then, pretty well off. The Paris Hilton of his day. Before the Cromwell invasion, the fourteen families, known as the tribes, actually ran the city's government. Assuming Liam comes from what remained of these disgraced families, that puts his surname as Lynch, Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, D'arcy, Deane, Ffont, Ffrench, Joyce, Martin, Morris or Skerrett.
The Spanish Arch
Because of it's location, Galway was always under threat of invasion from Spain. If the (Catholic) Spanish had managed to invade, it's very, very likely that the locals would have welcomed them as liberators. For this reason, a defensive wall was built in the 1580's. Part of the wall remains today: The Spanish Arch, and I'm reasonably sure that the place where Darla sires Angel is intended to be through the arch, or at least a visual reference to it.
Claddagh!
Claddagh Rings are named after the town where they originated. Claddagh Town was a little fishing village outside of Galway, though the city has swallowed it in the last few years. The story goes that they were originally made by a guy called Richard Joyce, who learned how to smith while he was a slave for a Moorish goldsmith. But that doesn't really matter - what matters is that Claddagh Rings started as a tradition among the lower classes, people who couldn't afford (or couldn't risk...) a church wedding.
The symbols are important (Heart for love, Crown for fidelity, Hands for friendship) but so is the material. A true Claddagh Ring absolutely, positively has got to be silver. Silver doesn't degrade, but it's also more affordable and not so flashy as gold or platinum. Any other material is sort of against the spirit of the tradition. Silver represents a love that's beyond wealth or status: all that matters is the true hearts of the people involved, it's not about showing off how expensively you love somebody. The rules are: heart facing out on the right hand: taking bids, sweetheart. Heart facing in on the right hand means you fancy somebody, but haven't acted on it yet. Heart facing in on the left hand means that you're well and truly off limits.
Wedding. There's the word. When Angel and Buffy sleep together, they do so, as far as he's concerned, as man and wife. Although God only knows how he defines "Til death do us part".
Anyway, the point is, all the little details about Angel's Oirishness fit quite well with the character. The researchers have done quite nicely. Even if, and I feel it needs saying again, Angel's Oirish accent is horrible.
Galway
Galway is a port city on the western shore. After Galway, it's all open sea until you reach America. Boston is considered the neighbouring parish. Galway was a prosperous city until Cromwell practically levelled it in the 1600's and expelled all the Catholics.Norman and Welsh settlers were encouraged to settle there, but the plantation failed. Cromwell more or less gave up, and dumped the dispossessed native Irish there instead. Because of this, and because of it's distance from Dublin, it remained with Cork, one of the Irishest of Irish cities. It also meant that Galway was more able to hold onto Catholicism moreso than other cities where the laws against it were better enforced. In short - when Liam was growing up, there was nowhere in Ireland more defiantly religious, and brutally oppressed, than Galway.
Galway was always a merchant city, because it faced the Atlantic. It came to be known for it's merchant families. In particular, textile traders, like Liam's dad. Liam would have been then, pretty well off. The Paris Hilton of his day. Before the Cromwell invasion, the fourteen families, known as the tribes, actually ran the city's government. Assuming Liam comes from what remained of these disgraced families, that puts his surname as Lynch, Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, D'arcy, Deane, Ffont, Ffrench, Joyce, Martin, Morris or Skerrett.
The Spanish Arch
Because of it's location, Galway was always under threat of invasion from Spain. If the (Catholic) Spanish had managed to invade, it's very, very likely that the locals would have welcomed them as liberators. For this reason, a defensive wall was built in the 1580's. Part of the wall remains today: The Spanish Arch, and I'm reasonably sure that the place where Darla sires Angel is intended to be through the arch, or at least a visual reference to it.
Claddagh!
Claddagh Rings are named after the town where they originated. Claddagh Town was a little fishing village outside of Galway, though the city has swallowed it in the last few years. The story goes that they were originally made by a guy called Richard Joyce, who learned how to smith while he was a slave for a Moorish goldsmith. But that doesn't really matter - what matters is that Claddagh Rings started as a tradition among the lower classes, people who couldn't afford (or couldn't risk...) a church wedding.
The symbols are important (Heart for love, Crown for fidelity, Hands for friendship) but so is the material. A true Claddagh Ring absolutely, positively has got to be silver. Silver doesn't degrade, but it's also more affordable and not so flashy as gold or platinum. Any other material is sort of against the spirit of the tradition. Silver represents a love that's beyond wealth or status: all that matters is the true hearts of the people involved, it's not about showing off how expensively you love somebody. The rules are: heart facing out on the right hand: taking bids, sweetheart. Heart facing in on the right hand means you fancy somebody, but haven't acted on it yet. Heart facing in on the left hand means that you're well and truly off limits.
Wedding. There's the word. When Angel and Buffy sleep together, they do so, as far as he's concerned, as man and wife. Although God only knows how he defines "Til death do us part".
Anyway, the point is, all the little details about Angel's Oirishness fit quite well with the character. The researchers have done quite nicely. Even if, and I feel it needs saying again, Angel's Oirish accent is horrible.
A
Anchovy
Holy Crap, man! Awesome info!
Mr. Pointy
I must've missed this when you first posted JV - so, better late than never, "Good job"