Birds and Blokes Lend Me your Ear
 

A very interesting incident happened to me at work last night. I am a sever at an English Pub (in America). Its owned by "liverpudlians" and has come to know in the 29 years that it has been open as a great respite for the american and British-Americans alike. Last night I was serving a birthday party of about 20 "20 somethings". Most were American,but there ere about 4 or 5 English people in the group. The host, in keeping with true American "lets get severely drunk" protocol, decided to buy the entire party the quintessentially American "lets get severely Drunk" drink. Te name of this drink is an "Irish Car Bomb". If you are an american you've no doubt heard of it if not consumed many on afoggy very hard to recall the events of evening but for those of you "across the pond" who havent heard of this drink its 1/2 a pint of Guinness wits a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey poured into it served with shot glass of Bailey's Irish cream on the side. You take the shot glass of baileys and drop it directly into the glass and then guzzle the whole thing down as quickly as you can. This is what young adults do to annihilate their brain cells in this country. OK, here's the rub. Upon consuming this beverage and then being told the name of the concoction. one of the english gentleman in the party became extremely irate and belligerent toward the gentleman who had ordered the round of drinks. "How would you like it if i served you a drink called an 'Alkida bomb' or a '9-11' " It was all we could do to reason with the man and let him know that there were no political or cultural implications being made, this is just what we drink when we want to get really messed up with our friends. my question to you all is "would you have gotten as offended or offended at all?" I feel I can see both sides. What do you think?

i can see both sides too but even if there are no political or cultural references being directly made i can definitely see how it could offend. basically instead of having social/political implications a serious issue became trivialized for the entertainment of people who (most likely) have never really been directly affected by the actual issue.

i'm figuring the alcohol probably played a factor in his outburst but i think he's quite justified in having gotten a little pissed off at the situation. i think he was totally in line with his comparisons.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/cont...er_370x290.jpghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/cont...te_370x290.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/cont...re_370x290.jpghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/cont...el_370x290.jpg

This is Manchester in 1996 and this is what the effects of an Irish car bomb looks like.
Incredibly in this case there was no loss of life, but scenes like this weren't uncommon in Britain all through the 70's, 80's and 90's.
Dave's right...alcohol probably had a lot to do with the reaction, but there is a feeling in England that so called 'Irish/Americans' financially aided the I.R.A. during the troubles, in the mistaken belief they were aiding "freedom fighters".

Personally, I wouldn't have taken offence unless the man who ordered the drink was one of those plastic 'Irish/Americans'.

Out of interest SATCHMO (I know you're a reasonable guy), but how would you feel if a foreigner bought a round of 9/11's for a group of Americans you were with, while guests in a foreign country?

I can definately understand how someone would be offended. I never really looked at it like that... the more I think of it, it's really ignorant and unsensitive.

Agreed. I think it's rather an odd drink to be serving in an "English" pub...:|

It's run by Scousers...not strictly English!

I didn't know 'lets get severly drunk' was an exlcusive american protocal.

Living in England right now, and i got to say, they certainly have a dark sense of humour.

Ive already been teased about our bridge collapsing in MPLS and 9/11, and i havent even been here very long.

So maybe they should just stfu and drink. :)

I would definitely be concerned whether or not there were any hostile implications being made toward ME. I don't think I would be offended about any implications being made about my country. I only say this because a lot of young americans tend to be very sympathetic toward the global image of America being "The spoiled rich bully of the neighborhood". Plus we tend to be very flippant about our sense of patriotism. I mean I understand, but my curiosity about what other english people would think or feel was aroused by the fact the when you say the phrase "Irish Car Bomb" to anyone in this country the immediate image that comes to mind is not the death and destruction of English citizens, but of the death and destruction of one's liver. Is it crazy that were so detached from the horrid reality that lies behind the name of a popular drink in our country. If anything it makes me think of how politically narcissistic We Americans can be, in that we don't think about how alienated and offended someone could become in such a situation.

I wouldn't be offended if I were served a 9/11. Its a drink, nothing more.

I think this was more an instance of misunderstanding and overreaction than justifiable resentment. I wouldn't be offended if someone served an Oklahoma City.

It's just drunk Irish people being drunk and Irish.